The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP; figure 1) is one of the most climatically sensitive regions on Earth and one of the most variable. The strong climatic variability gives us the opportunity to study and understand how the ocean responds to-and gives feedback on-climate change, and hence to learn about the key mechanisms that are at work, which might apply around the Southern Ocean as a whole. Data coverage is still inadequate across the Southern Ocean (because of remoteness and harsh conditions) and, despite being better observed than many other regions around Antarctica, the nature of oceanographic and atmospheric change on the WAP is poorly constrained. This theme issue addresses some of the most important and pressing questions surrounding marine system variability at the WAP. How has the WAP changed and how will it change in future? What's driving these changes? And why is there such an extraordinary degree of spatial and temporal variability in the region?