This special issue of Advances in Polar Science contains seven selected papers that were presented at MISA8 and the two SCAR related workshops, Tropic Antarctic Tele-connection (TATE) and State of the Antarctic Ecosystem (AntEco), which were held at the Universiti Putra Malaysia from 18th to 20th of June 2019. It also includes an Editorial Opinion “Arctic Environmental Change Research and Antarctic Studies Have Mutual Benefits” that is related to the main theme of MISA8—Polar Regions in the Global Climate System.
The seven MISA8 articles cover the fields of atmospheric and environmental sciences, and research on Antarctic micro-organisms. One article presents observations of surface ozone variations at the Great Wall Station, Antarctica during austral summer while another evaluates tropical-Antarctic connections of an explosive cyclone in southern Brazil based on rainfall isotope ratios and synoptic analysis. Two papers consider the effects of a changing environment on polar microalgae: the toxic impacts on microalgae of oxybenzone, an ultraviolet filter introduced into Antarctica in sunscreens; and the impact of warming temperatures on the physiological and photosynthetic performance of two polar Chlorella sp. The three remaining contributions cover further aspects of research on Antarctic microorganisms. These are on the efficacy of the bacterium Rhodococcus sp. for bioremediation of fuel spills that are also contaminated with heavy metals; the structure and function of the cold shock domain (CSD)-containing protein from a psychrophilic yeast, Glaciozyma antarctica; and the genome of an Antarctic thermophilic bacterium, Geobacillus sp.