The little auk Alle alle polaris of Franz Josef Land: a comparison with Svalbard Alle a. alle populations

Breeding biology, nestling growth and development, and biometry of the little auk Alle alle polaris were studied in Franz Josef Land. A total of 103 adult birds were measured, 60 in the field and 43 in the St. Petersburg Museum. The development of 16 chicks was compared with that of Alle a. alle chicks from Spitsbergen. At particular stages of development, both adults and nestlings of A. a. polaris are larger than those of A. a. alle .
In Franz Josef Land the breeding season is more extended and less synchronised than that of Svalbard. The majority of the little auks in the studied colonies in Franz Josef Land nested on steep rocky cliffs, possibly as an adaptation to the severe climatic conditions and heavy mammalian predation in subcolonies located on accessible mountain slopes. Glaucous gulls Larus hyperboreus exerted negligible predatory pressure. This study confirms the existence of morphologically distinguishable populations of the little auk on Franz Josef Land and Svalbard, supported by recent studies of climatic and oceanographic conditions in the two areas that parallel the morphological differentiation.     

中晚全新世毛乌素沙地东南部气候变化过程

位于中国北方半干旱区的毛乌素沙地对气候变化响应敏感,是研究气候变化的理想区域。通过对毛乌素沙地东南部锦界剖面磁化率、有机质含量、CaCO₃含量的分析,重建了7.5 ka BP以来的气候变化过程。结果显示：中晚全新世毛乌素沙地东南部环境与气候变化可分为3个阶段：7.5～4.6 ka BP,夏季风占主导,气候暖湿,与全新世大暖期对应;4.6～3.3 ka BP,气候突变为干冷并波动频繁;3.3～2.5 ka BP气候以干冷为主。另外,存在5次千年尺度的干旱事件：7.0～6.8 ka BP、6.6～5.7 ka BP、4.6～4.1 ka BP、3.7～3.5 ka BP、3.3～2.5 ka BP。研究区气候变化与全球具有较好的一致性。     

Bathonian and Callovian (Middle Jurassic) dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs from Franz Josef Land, Arctic Soviet

Well preserved dinoflagellate cyst and acritarch assemblages are recorded from Upper Bathonian and Callovian deposits on Northbrook Island, Franz Josef Land. More than 45 species have been identified. Two new species are proposed: Parvocysta bjaerkei sp. nov., and Meiourogonyaulax spongiosa sp. nov. The recorded marine microfloras are compared with assemblages reported from contemporaneous strata in Svalbard.     

Petrochemistry of Jurassic and Cretaceous tholeiites from Kong Karls Land, Svalbard, and their relation to Mesozoic magmatism in the Arctic

A study of the whole-rock geochemistry and mineral chemistry of high-TiO₂ Upper Jurassic and medium-TiO₂ Lower Cretaceous basalts from Kong Karls Land, Svalbard, is presented. Geochemical criteria indicate that the basalts are initial rifting tholeiites with weak signs of crustal contamination. The Upper Jurassic basalts appear to be associated with the Olga Rift, part of a trans-Barents rift system which failed to link the proto-Atlantic and proto-Arctic basins. The Lower Cretaceous basalts may be more closely related to initial rifting tholeiites on Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen generated during the rifting stage of opening of the Canada Basin. During break-up of the Barents Shelf, the sequence of magma types corresponds to the pre-, syn- and post-rifting stages established in other areas of continental break-up. Evidence for a possible hot-spot or plume trail, extending from Siberia to the Yermak Plateau over 250 Ma, is assembled.     

太湖8000年来沉积物元素变化特征及古环境指示

通过对太湖北部钻孔沉积物地球化学元素的测试分析,可以很好的反演太湖8 000年来沉积环境演变,大体可以分为4个阶段:1)8.0~6.6 kyr BP气候温暖湿润阶段;2)6.6~2.6 kyr BP气候趋冷及频繁波动阶段;3)2.6~1.5 kyr BP气候回暖阶段;4)1.5 kyr~现在,气候再次快速变冷阶段。认为两次暖湿阶段指示近8 000年来东亚季风两次明显的加强,此变化导致长江中下游湖泊在全新世期间两次明显的高水位期。     

E. B. Baldwin and the American–Norwegian discovery and exploration of Graham Bell Island, 1899

This next paper in Polar Research's series of not-formally-reviewed biographical/historical articles comes to us from anthropologist Pete Capelotti, who specializes in the history of exploration. In 1993, he conducted archaeological research on the base camps of the Andrée and Wellman polar balloon expeditions at Virgohamna, Danskøya, Svalbard. In this account of Walter Wellman's attempt to reach the North Pole from Franz Josef Land in 1898-99, he examines the lone success in that effort, when one American and four Norwegians discovered and explored the last large island in the archipelago.     

Climate changes in East Siberia (Russia) in the Holocene based on diatom,chironomid and pollen records from the sediments of Lake Kotokel

We analysed a 620-cm-long sediment record from Lake Kotokel located in East Siberia (Russia) for subfossil diatoms, chironomids and pollen to provide a reconstruction of the climate history of the area for the last 12.2 kyr. The subfossil records show differing time lags in their responses to climate change; diatoms and chironomids were more sensitive to climate change than the pollen record. Changes in the biogenic proxies seem related with changes in insolation, the temperature of the North Atlantic and solar activity. The chironomids Chironomus plumosus-type and Einfeldia carbonaria-type and the diatom Aulacoseira granulata were interpreted as markers of warm climate condition. The proxy records were divided into four periods (A, B, C and D) suggesting differing climate in East Siberia during the Holocene. Period D (12.2–9.5 kyr BP) at the beginning of the Holocene, according to chironomid and diatom records, was characterized by warm climate with summer temperatures close to modern. However, forest vegetation had not become fully established yet. During Period C (9.5–5.8 kyr BP), the climate seemed to gradually become colder and wetter from the beginning of Period C to 7 kyr BP. From 7 to 5.8 kyr BP, the climate seemed to remain cold, but aridity increased. Period B (5.8–1.7 kyr BP) was characterised by frequent and sharp alternations between warm and cold conditions. Unstable conditions during this time are also registered in records from Lakes Baikal, Khubsugul and various other shallow lakes of the region. Optimal warm and wet conditions seemed to occur ca. 4 kyr BP. During Period A (the last 1.5 kyr) the diatom and chironomid records show evidence of cold conditions at 1.5–1 kyr BP, but the forest vegetation did not change significantly.     

A late glacial Antarctic climate teleconnection and variable Holocene seasonality at Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand

We present the first continuous paleolimnological reconstruction from the North Island of New Zealand (37°S) that spans the last 48.2?cal kyr. A tephra- and radiocarbon-based chronology was developed to infer the timing of marked paleolimnological changes in Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand, identified using sedimentology, magnetic susceptibility, grain size and geochemistry (carbon, nitrogen and sulphur concentrations and fluxes, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes). Variable erosional influx, biomass and benthic REDOX conditions are linked to changing effective precipitation and seasonality within three inferred broad intervals of climatic change: (1) the Last Glacial Coldest Phase (LGCP) of reduced effective precipitation and cooler temperatures, from 28.8 to 18.0?cal kyr BP, (2) the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT) of increasing effective precipitation and warmer conditions, from 18.0 to 10.2?cal?kyr?BP, and (3) a Holocene interval of high effective precipitation, beginning with a warm period of limited seasonality from 10.2?cal?kyr?BP and followed by increasing seasonality from 7.6?cal?kyr?BP. The LGCP and LGIT also contain millennial-scale climate events, including the coldest inferred glacial conditions during the LGCP from 27.8 to 26.0 and 22.0?C19.0?cal?kyr?BP, and a climate reversal in the LGIT associated with lower lake level, from 14.5 to 13.8?cal?kyr?BP, coeval with the Antarctic Cold Reversal. The onset of seasonal thermal stratification occurred at 5.7?cal?kyr?BP and was linked to natural eutrophication of Lake Pupuke, which produced enhanced organic sedimentation.     

Holocene environmental changes and development of Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

The lithology, radiocarbon chronology, granulometry, geochemistry and distribution of diatoms were investigated in three sediment cores from fresh-water Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Our paleolimnological data provide a record of Holocene environmental changes for this region. In the early Holocene (prior to 9.0 ± 0.5 kyr BP), warm climate conditions caused intensive melting of either the floating glacier ice mass or glaciers in the immediate lake surroundings, leading to the accumulation of terrigenous clastic sediments and limiting biogenic production in the lake. From ca. 9.0 ± 0.5 to 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, highly biogenic sediments dominated by benthic mosses formed, indicating more distal glaciers or snowfields. A relatively cold and dry climate during this period caused weaker lake-water circulation and, likely, occurrence of lake ice conditions were more severe than present. The distribution of marine diatoms in the cores shows that, sometime between 8 and 5 kyr BP, limited amounts of marine water episodically penetrated to the lake, requiring a relative sea-level rise exceeding 10–11 m. During the last ca. 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, sedimentation of mainly biogenic matter with a dominance of laminated microbial mats occurred in the lake under warm climatic conditions, interrupted by relative coolings: the first one around 2 kyr BP and then shortly before recent time. Between ca. 5.5 and 4 kyr BP, the drainage of numerous ice-dammed lakes took place in the southern Bunger Hills and, as a result, drier landscapes have existed here from about 4 kyr BP.     

Late Pleistocene: Holocene record of environmental changes in Lake Zirahuen,Central Mexico

Geochemical data obtained from X-ray fluorescence, physical properties, total organic and inorganic carbon content (TOC/TIC), and diatom analysis from a 6.61-m-long sedimentary sequence near the modern northern shore of Lake Zirahuen (101° 44′ W, 19° 26′ N, 2000 m asl) provide a reconstruction of lacustrine sedimentation during the last approximately 17 cal kyr BP. A time scale is based on ten AMS ¹⁴C dates and by tephra layers from Jorullo (AD 1759-1764) and Paricutin (AD 1943-1952) volcanoes. The multiproxy analyses presented in this study reveal abrupt changes in environmental and climatic conditions. The results are compared to the paleo-record from nearby Lake Patzcuaro. Dry conditions and low lake level are inferred in the late Pleistocene until ca. 15 cal kyr BP, followed by a slight but sustained increase in lake level, as well as a higher productivity, peaking at ca. 12.1 cal kyr BP. This interpretation is consistent with several regional climatic reconstructions in central Mexico, but it is in opposition to record from Lake Patzcuaro. A sediment hiatus bracketed between 12.1 and 7.2 cal kyr BP suggests a drop in lake level in response to a dry early Holocene. A deeper, more eutrophic and turbid lake is recorded after 7.2 cal kyr BP. Lake level at the coring site during the mid Holocene is considered the highest for the past 17 cal kyr BP. The emplacement of the La Magueyera lava flows (LMLF), dated by thermoluminiscence at 6560 ± 950 year, may have reduced basin volume and contributed to the relative deepening of the lake after 7.2 cal kyr BP. The late Holocene (after 3.9 cal kyr BP) climate is characterized by high instability. Extensive erosion, lower lake levels, dry conditions and pulses of high sediment influx due to high rainfall are inferred for this time. Further decrease in lake level and increased erosion are recorded after ca. AD 1050, at the peak of Purepechas occupation (AD 1300–1521), and until the eighteenth century. Few lacustrine records extend back to the late Pleistocene—early Holocene in central Mexico; this paper contributes to the understanding of late Pleistocene-Holocene paleoclimates in this region.     

Ice draft and current measurements from the north-western Barents Sea, 1993–96

From 1993 to 1996, three oceanographic moorings were deployed in the north-western Barents Sea, each with a current meter and an upward-looking sonar for measuring ice drafts. These yielded three years of currents and two years of ice draft measurements. An interannual variability of almost I m was measured in the average ice draft. Causes for this variability are explored, particularly its possible connection to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. We found that the flow of Northern Barents Atlantic-derived Water and the transport of ice from the Central Arctic into the Barents Sea appears to be controlled by winds between Nordaustlandet and Franz Josef Land, which in turn may be influenced by larger-scale variations such as the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation.     

Distribution of Calanus species off Franz Josef Land (Arctic Barents Sea)

The spatial distribution of Calanus species was examined near Franz Josef Land archipelago in August 2006 and 2007. Surface and bottom water temperatures exceeded the average multiannual values. Calanus species dominated the total mesozooplankton abundance and biomass, accounting for 818 ± 178 individuals m⁻³ (mean ± SE) and 803 ± 163 mg wet weight (WW) m⁻³, respectively, in 2006. In 2007, the values were much lower (153 ± 29 individuals m⁻³ and 192 ± 17 mg WW m⁻³, respectively), reflecting the weaker influence of warm Atlantic water that year. Calanus glacialis dominated the Calanus populations, contributing 95% and 60% of the biomass in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Older copepodite stages (CIV–CV) predominated in the C. finmarchicus (69% and 76%, respectively) and C. hyperboreus populations (80% and 77%, respectively), whereas young copepodites (CI–CIII) were predominant in C. glacialis (45% and 59%, respectively). A clear negative relationship between the average water temperature and the total Calanus biomass was observed in 2006, whereas a positive correlation between these parameters was observed in 2007. The distributions of three Calanus species off Franz Josef Land were mainly associated with hydrological conditions and circulation patterns.     

新疆伊犁河谷晚全新世风沙沉积粒度旋回与气候变化

对新疆伊犁河谷可克达拉剖面(TKP)晚全新世沉积粒度参数及其气候意义分析结果表明:总体为植被较好、输沙势较弱的沉积环境。可以划分为5个气候变化阶段:3.71~3.06 ka B.P.风力由强到弱,气候暖由干到凉湿;3.06~2.78 ka B.P.风力很强、气候暖干;2.78~2.10 ka B.P.风力较弱,气候湿润;2.10~0.5 ka B.P.前期风力振荡频繁,气候较湿润;后期风力减弱、气候冷湿、成壤作用较强;0.50 ka B.P.以来,以相对冷湿为主,最近100 a来风力加强、气候趋于暖干。各阶段起止与全球气候变化基本一致,但受西风环流传递北高纬大西洋区域气候变化的影响,各气候期水热组合呈现典型西风带模式特征。     

Provenance of sediments deposited at paleolake San Felipe,western Sonora Desert: Implications to regimes of summer and winter precipitation during last 50 cal kyr BP

Rare earth element, major and trace element and mineralogy in the sediments representing last 50 cal kyr BP from the summer precipitation fed paleolake San Felipe identify the different association of minerals and selective transportation of different grain size fractions and relate them to the variation in pluvial discharge into the basin as well as aeolian activities in the western Sonora Desert. Period of lower pluvial discharge during 14–48 cal kyr BP is contemporary to the regime of dominant winter storms in the region. Transportation of coarser quartz and plagioclase during 40–48 cal kyr BP and dominant finer fractions during 14–40 cal kyr BP possibly mirror the variation in the frequency of winter storms. During 3–14 cal kyr BP, higher catchment erosion (sedimentation increased 4–12 times) and transportation of REE bearing heavy minerals into the basin indicate higher pluvial discharge. We relate this period to a regime of dominant summer precipitation associated with the North American Monsoon and tropical cyclones. Geochemical and mineralogical signatures of the sediments deposited during ca. 8, 12–13 and >48 cal kyr BP suggest selective mobilization of quartz and plagioclase from the surrounding sand dunes by the aeolian processes.     

A diatom-inferred record of reduced effective precipitation during the Last Glacial Coldest Phase (28.8–18.0?cal kyr BP) and increasing Holocene seasonality at Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand

A continuous, 1,420-cm sediment record from Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand (37°S) was analysed for diatom taxonomy, concentration and flux. A New Zealand freshwater diatom transfer function was applied to infer past pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved reactive phosphorus and chlorophyll a. A precise, mixed-effect regression model of age versus depth was constructed from 11 tephra and 13 radiocarbon dates, with a basal age of 48.2?cal kyr BP. Diatom-inferred changes in paleolimnology and climate corroborate earlier inferences from geochemical analyses (Stephens et al. 2012), with respect to the timing of marked climate changes in the Last Glacial Coldest Phase (LGCP; 28.8?C18.0?cal kyr BP), the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT; 18.0 to ca. 12?C10?cal kyr BP) and the Holocene, the onset of which is difficult to discern from LGIT amelioration, but which includes an early climatic optimum (10.2?C8.0?cal kyr BP). The LGCP is readily defined by a reduction in lake level and effective precipitation, whereas the LGIT represents a period of rising lake level, with greater biomass during the Holocene. There was limited change in diatom assemblage structure, influx or inferred water quality during a Late Glacial Reversal (LGR; 14.5?C13.8?cal kyr BP), associated with heightened erosional influx. In contrast, an LGIT peak in paleoproductivity is recorded by increased diatom influx from 13.8 to 12.8?cal kyr BP. Changes in sediment influx and biomass record complex millennial-scale events attuned to the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR; 14.5?C12.8?cal kyr BP). Additional millennial-scale environmental change is apparent in the Holocene, with marked changes in lake circulation beginning at 7.6?cal kyr BP, including the onset of seasonal thermal stratification and rapid species turnover at 5.7?cal kyr BP. The most rapid diatom community turnover accompanied widely varying nutrient availability and greater seasonality during the last 3.3?cal kyr. Rising seasonality appears to have been linked to strengthened Southern Westerlies at their northern margins during the middle and late Holocene.     

A GLACIAL STAGE SPANNING THE ANTARCTIC COLD REVERSAL IN TORRES DEL PAINE (51°S), CHILE, BASED ON PRELIMINARY COSMOGENIC EXPOSURE AGES

ABSTRACT. Initial cosmogenic ¹⁰Be results from a former ice limit in Torres del Paine indicate a shortlived stillstand or readvance of Patagonian ice culminating at 12–15 kyr BP with a mean age of 13.2 ± 0.8 kyr BP. The glacier extended some 40 km beyond the present ice margin and was within 15 km of the presumed Last Glacial Maximum limits. The timing of the glacier stage spans the cooling event recorded in Antarctic ice cores, termed the Antarctic Cold Reversal (14.5–12.9 kyr BP). This result implies that glaciers at these latitudes were out of phase with those in the northern hemisphere; instead they mirrored the climate structure of Antarctica during the last glacial to interglacial transition.     

Freshwater Ostracodes in Quaternary Permafrost Deposits in the Siberian Arctic

Ostracode analysis was carried out on samples from ice-rich permafrost deposits obtained on the Bykovsky Peninsula (Laptev Sea). A composite profile was investigated that covers most of a 38-m thick permafrost sequence and corresponds to the last ca. 60 kyr of the Late Quaternary. The ostracode assemblages are similar to those known from European Quaternary lake deposits during cold stages. The ostracode habitats were small, shallow, cold, oligotrophic pools located in low centred ice wedge polygons or in small thermokarst depressions. In total, 15 taxa, representing 7 genera, were identified from 65 samples. The studied section is subdivided into six ostracode zones that correspond to Late Quaternary climatic and environmental stadial-interstadial variations established by other paleoenvironmental proxies: (1) cold and dry Zyrianian stadial (58–53 kyr BP); (2) warm and dry Karginian interstadial (48–34 kyr BP); (3) transition from the Karginian interstadial to the cold and dry Sartanian stadial (34–21 kyr BP); (4) transition from the Sartanian stadial to the warm and dry Late Pleistocene period, the Allerød (21–14 kyr BP); (5) transition from the Allerød to the warm and wet Middle Holocene (14–7 kyr BP); and (6) cool and wet Late Holocene (ca. 3 kyr BP). The abundance and diversity of the ostracodes will be used as an additional bioindicator for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Siberian Arctic.     

Implications of diverse sedimentation patterns in Hala Lake, Qinghai Province, China for reconstructing Late Quaternary climate

Hala Lake is located in the Qilian Mountains, Qinghai Province, China, at 4,078?m a.s.l. Its sediments contain an archive of climate and hydrologic changes during the Late Quaternary, as it is located close to the area influenced by the East-Asian summer monsoon and westerly-driven air masses. Sedimentation patterns and depositional conditions within the lake were investigated using eight sediment cores from different water depths, and this information was used to evaluate the feasibility of using a single core to reconstruct past climate and hydrological conditions. Long core H7, from the center of the lake (65?m water depth) and core H8 from a western, near-shore location (20?m water depth), were compared in detail using sediment composition and geochemical data (X-ray fluorescence, loss-on-ignition and CNS analysis). Age models were constructed using 17 AMS radiocarbon dates and indicate negligible reservoir error for sediments from the lake center and?~1,000?year errors for the near-shore sediment core. Cores H1?CH5 and HHLS21-1 revealed a sediment succession from sand and silty clay to laminated clay on the southern side of the lake. Undisturbed, finely laminated sediments were found at water depths???15?m. Core H5 (2.5?m long), from 31?m water depth, yielded abundant green algal mats mixed with clayey lake deposits and was difficult to interpret. Algae occurred between 25 and 32?m water depth and influenced the dissolved oxygen content of the stratified lake. Comparison of cores H7 and H8 yielded prominent mismatches for different time periods, which may, in part, be attributed to internal lacustrine processes, independent of climate influence. We thus conclude that data from a single sediment core may lead to different climate inferences. Common shifts among proxy data, however, showed that major climate shifts, of regional to global significance, can be tracked and allow reconstruction of lake level changes over the last 24,000?years. Results indicate advance of glaciers into the lake basin during the LGM, at which time the lake experienced lowest levels, 25?C50?m below present stage. Stepwise refilling began at ca. 16 kyr BP and reached the ?25?m level during the B?lling/Aller?d warm phase, ca. 13.5 kyr BP. A desiccation episode falls within the Younger Dryas, followed by a substantial lake level rise during the first millennium of the Holocene, a result of climate warming, which promoted glacier melt. By ca. 7.6 kyr BP, the lake reached a stable high stand similar to the present level, which persisted until ca. 6 kyr BP. Disturbed sediments in core H7 indicate a single mass flow that was most likely triggered by a major seismic event?~8.5 kyr BP. Subsequent lake development remains unclear as a consequence of data mismatches, but may indicate a general trend to deteriorating conditions and lake level lowstands at ca. 5.0?C4.2, 2.0 and 0.5 kyr BP.     

A late Pleistocene and Holocene mineral magnetic record from sediments of Lake Aibi,Dzungarian Basin,NW China

We studied mineral magnetic properties of a 6-m-long, late Pleistocene through Holocene sediment sequence from Lake Aibi in Dzungaria (Zunggary, Junggar), northern Xinjiang, China. Results were used to infer environmental changes and are compared with previously studied cores from Lake Manas. Both water bodies occupy the deepest parts of the Dzungarian Basin and are remnants of large Holocene lakes. During the Late Pleistocene, the magnetic mineralogy in both lakes was dominated by detrital, iron oxide minerals. Oxic conditions, which dominated during sedimentation and early diagenesis, persisted over the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Later, during the middle Holocene, lake bottom conditions enabled authigenic formation of iron sulphide minerals such as pyrite (FeS₂) in Lake Aibi, and pyrite and greigite (Fe₃S₄) in Lake Manas. This iron sulphide mineralogy suggests increased biological activity in stagnant, anoxic bottom waters. Anoxic bottom conditions started about 9.8 cal kyr BP in Lake Manas and at about 7.2 cal kyr BP in Lake Aibi. A short dry event recorded in Lake Manas between 6.8 and 5.2 cal kyr BP is not clearly observed in Lake Aibi. In the late Holocene, i.e. the last 2.8 cal kyr, sediments of both lakes are again characterised by iron oxides, suggesting well-mixed, shallow water bodies. For this recent period, it seems that the detrital material in the two lakes had a common origin. Magnetic properties of sediments in Lakes Aibi and Manas show broadly similar environmental evolution during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Nevertheless, despite the close proximity of the two lakes (~200 km) in the same basin, they display some different magnetic properties and record environmental changes at different times.     

Summer diet of seabirds from the Frans Josef Land archipelago, Russian Arctic

Food samples from 102 seabirds from eight species (fulmar Fulmarus glacialis , common eider Somateria mollissima , glaucous gull Larus hyperboreus , kittiwake Rissa tridaayla , arctic tern Sterna paradisaea , Briinnich's guillemot Uria lorn via , black guillemot Cepphus grylle , little auk Alle alle) were collected during the period August 1991–1993 in the southern part of the Frans Josef Land archipelago, 80°N, 53°E. The pelagic amphipod Parathemisto libellula and polar cod Boreogadus saida were the two most commonly taken food items (frequency of occurrence over 50% and weight contribution more than 70%). Ice-associated crustaceans contributed to some 10% of the weight in the samples. In general, the food composition was very similar to that reported from Svalbard. However, birds from Frans Josef Land fed on a lower diversity of prey compared to Svalbard populations.