Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the flow of water from the seafloor to the ocean. It includes all water, regardless of its origin and driving mechanism. SGD is an important process at the land-sea interface worldwide because it can transport chemical constituents and play a key role in geochemical budgets, ecosystem dynamics and seafloor geomorphic change. 

SGD is becoming recognised as an important process in Antarctica. Here, SGD includes fresh to brackish groundwater and recirculated seawater flow driven by sub-glacial melting, topographic/ice hydraulic heads and tides. Recent measurements of direct rates of SGD in Lützow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica, were greater than those found at similar depths in more temperate environments. Such measurements remain rare in Antarctica, however, due to the considerable logistical difficulties in making groundwater observations in polar environments, and in detecting and quantifying SGD. As a result, the extent, fluxes, pathways and origin of SGD in Antarctica remain poorly understood and quantified. 

The objectives of this study were to: 

1.     quantify the extent, fluxes and origin of SGD along the Antarctic Peninsula;
2.     assess the impact of SGD on seafloor morphology and benthic communities. 

Our study area is the Antarctic Peninsula, which comprises one of the fastest warming regions on Earth where thinning and retreat of >500 glaciers has been documented in the last 60 years.