Oceanographers have gathered fresh evidence that turbulence in the Arctic Ocean, driven by the wind, is stirring up heat from the depths.

As dwindling ice exposes more water to the wind, this turbulence could close a vicious circle, accelerating the melt.
The research team has measured heat rising from below that matches what is arriving from the autumn sun.
They spoke to the BBC by satellite phone as their month-long voyage headed back into port.
Although their findings are preliminary, the "ArcticMix" team has been taken aback by what they've seen in the raw data.
"The strength of heat coming up from below the surface has been as strong as the heat coming down from the Sun," said the mission's chief scientist, Jennifer MacKinnon, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
"Admittedly, the days are getting short here, and so the sunlight is not incredibly strong at this latitude. But still, that very rarely happens; that's kind of blown us all away."
The source of that deep heat is a layer of warm water that is saltier - and therefore denser - than water at the surface.
"There's a reservoir of heat in the Arctic Ocean, well beneath the surface, that historically - when there's been a lot of ice - has been fairly quiescent," Dr MacKinnon explained. "It's just been sitting as a warm, salty puddle beneath the surface."
Now that shrinking sea ice is exposing more water to the air, scientists are worried that this warm, salty puddle might get stirred upwards.
And, indeed, Dr MacKinnon's team has detected heat being brought to the surface by surprisingly strong eddies - which they studied in detail using a gadget that looks like "a torpedo with a record-player needle at the front".
Matthew Alford, the project's chief investigator, explained how this "microstructure profiler" - developed in the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory - works when it is dropped into the sea.
"When it encounters very, very small currents of turbulence, the needle just gets deflected slightly - exactly as it would if it was travelling over a record," said Dr Alford, also from the Scripps Institution.
"[These tools] are allowing us to get a clearer view of not only the 3D structure of these eddies, but also really directly measuring the heat flux out of the top of these eddies, and into the bottom of the ice."
Some of these currents were bringing water as warm as 6C to depths shallower than 50m; these are even more dramatic disturbances than the team had expected.
"The strength of [these currents] has been incredible," Dr MacKinnon said. "We now need to disentangle what the contribution of that process is to the multi-year, inexorable decline of the sea ice."
The expedition reached its conclusion on Saturday, when the US National Science Foundation's research vessel the Sikuliaq returned to port in Alaska.
Among the team's other toys were a "Swims" (shallow water integrated mapping system) which could be trailed behind the boat to take continuous measurements of temperature, depth and conductivity, and a "bow chain" to probe the water in front of the boat.
"We're interested in the structures of the ocean, not in the ocean after we just rammed through it with a huge 261ft (80m) ship," explained Dr Alford. "So the idea is to dangle sensors in front of it, and have them sample the unperturbed ocean. That's been showing us some very nice structures in the upper 20m or so of the ocean."
They also deployed a stationary mooring: a heavy weight chained to a float, with an automated profiler that crawled up and down the chain collecting data until the team came back to pick it up.
"It was exactly where we left it, which was amazing," Dr Alford said. "Sometimes these things go drifting or get dragged by fishing boatsâ€¦ This was a very boring recovery of our mooring and that's the way we like it."
The researchers encountered walruses, puffins and a lone polar bear during their weeks at sea. Dr MacKinnon said the wildlife count was lower than usual. "It's actually been super-quiet up here."
Quiet - but fierce. "It's been chilly. There's been a number of nights when people have been out working on deck, when it's snowing, it's windy, and it's maybe -5C on board."
Dr Julienne Stroeve, an arctic expert at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said the new results were valuable and interesting.
"I think it is quite important to understand this type of mixing of warmer ocean waters at depth with the sea ice," she told the BBC.
It will be crucial, Dr Stroeve added, to quantify exactly how much heat is reaching the ice and how much melting it has caused.
"In 2007 more than 3m of bottom melt was recorded by [an] ice mass balance buoy in the region, which was primarily attributed to earlier development of open water that allowed for warming of the ocean mixed layer. But perhaps some of this is also a result of ocean mixing."
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A Spanish-led police operation has cracked a racket in horsemeat unfit for human consumption, the EU's police agency Europol says.

Police in Spain made 65 arrests for crimes including animal abuse, forgery, money laundering and racketeering.
Horses in Portugal and Spain deemed unfit for consumption were slaughtered and their meat passed off as edible.
A Dutch businessman arrested in Belgium is said to have controlled the illegal trade from south-east Spain.
He was first sought in connection with a scandal in the Republic of Ireland in 2013, when horsemeat was found in beef burgers, but his whereabouts were unknown at that time.
The issue in the earlier scandal was one of food fraud rather than food safety.
Spain's Guardia Civil (police) began Operation Gazel a year ago after detecting unusual behaviour in horsemeat markets.
They worked in co-ordination with Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and the UK, Europol said in a statement.
The unnamed Dutchman controlled the crime ring from Calpe in Alicante, on Spain's Costa Blanca, "putting his most trusted men in charge in every country affected by the scam", Europol says.
Police carried out raids in both Alicante and Leon, in the north of Spain, blocking or seizing bank accounts and properties, and confiscating five luxury cars.
Other charges brought against those arrested were perverting the course of justice and committing crimes against public health.
Horses in bad shape, too old or simply labelled as "not suitable for consumption" were being slaughtered in two different slaughterhouses, Europol says.
Meat from the animals, which came from Portugal and several parts of northern Spain, was processed in a specific facility and from there sent to Belgium, a major horsemeat exporter.
Microchips and documentation were modified by the crime group.
Analysis of samples conducted in The Hague concluded the meat was destined mainly for markets outside Spain, as the samples matched others found abroad.
One of the charges brought is animal abuse but details are not yet available.
However, a photo released by Europol shows one horse with a bloody slash close to its mane.
Italy and France are the biggest consumers of equidae (horses, donkeys etc) meat, according to a report by the UK's Guardian newspaper in 2013.
According to that report, Italy imported 21,693 tonnes and France 11,898 in 2012, while Belgium was the chief exporter, shipping 17,320 tonnes. Spain exported 3,910 tonnes in that period.
However, the trade is small compared, for instance, to the beef market.
Total EU horsemeat imports in 2012 came to 50,250 tonnes and exports 54,853, while EU beef imports in 2011 totalled 315,000 tonnes and exports - 510,200.


A 69-year-old woman is being held by police in connection with a suspected arson attack at a flat.

Police said residents had to be evacuated from a property below when the blaze broke out in Shakespeare Street, Wallsend, late on Friday.
A woman was later arrested on suspicion of arson and is currently being interviewed by detectives from the Northumbria force.
Anyone with information is urged to come forward.


A man has been airlifted to hospital by Royal Navy helicopter after he fell while walking on Carrick-a-Rede island off the coast of County Antrim.

He is not thought to be seriously hurt, but a decision was taken to airlift him because of the remote location.
The island is a popular tourist spot reached by a rope bridge suspended almost 100 ft (30 m) above the sea.
Emergency services called a helicopter rather than taking the risk of walking the casualty back over the rope bridge.
The Royal Navy search and rescue rescue helicopter was sent from its base in Prestwick, Scotland.
Its crew transferred the injured man, who is in his 60s, to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, County Londonderry.
A spokesman for the hospital said the patient is in a stable condition.


It's taken almost a quarter of a century to become a reality but the Shakespeare Theatre in Gdansk is finally opening its doors to the public.

You may be wondering why the Polish Baltic port city would build a theatre dedicated to England's Bard.
"The idea of having a Shakespearean theatre in Gdansk is not out of the blue, it has strong historical backing," the theatre's director, Jerzy Limon explains. The 64 year-old Shakespearean scholar came up with the project 25 years ago.
"English actors first came to Gdansk in 1601. They kept coming for over half a century and Shakespeare's plays were performed here during his lifetime."
Prof Limon sees it as a wonderful monument for cultural relations between Gdansk and London and monument to the artistic impact of English culture on the continent.
"Rock music is today's most conspicuous example of British cultural presence worldwide. But it started long ago with these companies that toured the continent and came to Gdansk almost every summer."
The touring English actors' written applications to perform in Gdansk for over 20 seasons still exist.
They came seeking patronage from aristocrats or royalty to enable them to earn enough money to survive the winters.
And they appear to have been popular.
"In one of the surviving documents the author says the English were followed by virgins who travelled from one town to another," Prof Limon says.
"Like groupies?" I ask. "Exactly," he says.
At first they performed in English. Gdansk at the time had one of the largest English-speaking communities on the continent, numbering about 1,000 English and Scots.
The port city was part of the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns that dominated trade along the coast of northern Europe.
But the league's lingua franca was German, so by about 1610 the English actors began performing in that language using prose translations.
They performed in a wooden playhouse called the Fencing School, a galleried unroofed building which hosted fencing classes and bear baiting as well as performances of Shakespeare's plays.
The new theatre is built in the place where the Fencing School stood.
The original plan was to follow the example of the open-air Globe Theatre in London but they decided it should stay open throughout the year because of the cost.
Venetian architect Renato Rizzi won a competition to design the building, and some have likened his work to an oyster: ugly on the outside but beautiful inside.
The theatre is next to the remnants of the city's 14th Century walls and the exterior contains some of the Gothic elements that dominate the style of Gdansk's Old Town, such as buttresses.
It's built of dark Belgian brick and there are no visible windows because they are obscured by a six-metre-high perimeter wall.
The contrast with the light interior is sharp. The lobby has pale cream walls, a Bulgarian marble floor and Polish birch wood ceilings and interiors.
The auditorium is modelled on the old Fencing School, with wooden galleries on three sides and a standing area in front of a classical box stage.
A series of 56 lifts enables the area in front of the stage to be transformed into an Elizabethan-era thrust stage.
Above there is a 90-tonne retractable roof that opens in three minutes to allow for daylight performances in good weather.
Poland lost its connections with the West after World War Two when it was cut off by the Iron Curtain.
But when the Berlin Wall came down, Prof Limon created an NGO in the 1990s to promote his theatre idea.
During early fundraising attempts, potential early sponsors were more interested in the free sparkling wine on offer than giving concrete support.
Things began to change in 1993 when the Prince of Wales agreed to be patron of the project.
"In my 25 years' experience of dealing with all circles of society he is the only person so far who responded to a letter from a nobody," he said.
The local authorities gave the project a valuable piece of real estate on the outskirts of the Old Town.
Funding the construction only became possible after Poland joined the EU in 2004. Brussels' cash has paid for three-quarters of the Â£18m (23m euros) cost, with the remainder provided by local authorities. Building finally began in 2011 with the bulldozers performing a ballet.
Following the opening there will be a British week with performances of Hamlet by the Globe Theatre and Missing by the Gecko Theatre.
Later this month, the theatre will host the city's 18th Shakespeare Festival, which has so far included more than 200 different subtitled productions from 40-plus countries.
Shakespeare is still popular enough in Poland to be taught in schools and his plays are staged in practically all theatres across the country, with about a dozen new productions every year.
He is also one of the relatively few historical figures to have his name Polonised. In Poland he's known as Szekspir.
"Shakespeare always reminds us how much we have in common because the language he uses and the problems he describes are universal," says Prof Limon.


New US President Donald Trump has banned Syrian refugees from entering the US until further notice.

Syria is a country in the Middle East that has been greatly effected by violence and war causing many ordinary people living there, including lots of children, to leave the country to try and find safety.
The President made immigration a big issue in his election. The things he has said about migrants and refugees have made him popular with his supporters.
Mr Trump says the decision is part of new plans to protect US people and keep radical terrorist groups out of America.
Donald Trump's supporters say he's made the right choice to make Americans safe.
But many people say banning all refugees from Syria is not right because it will punish people who have nothing to do with terrorism:
Mr Trump has been heavily criticised for the decision, including by female rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai, who said she's "heartbroken" that President Trump is closing the door to children fleeing violence and war.
She says Mr Trump shouldn't be "turning his back on the world's most defenceless children and families."
President Trump has also signed an order to stop people from six other mainly Muslim countries, including Iran and Iraq in the Middle East and Somalia and Sudan in Africa, being given permission to travel to America for the next three months.


Hundreds of tourists were evacuated from New York's Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island as a precaution due to a bomb threat and suspicious package.

A 911 caller said "they were going to blow up the Statue of Liberty", the National Park Service said.
Federal police arrived and when sniffer dogs found "an area of interest" near lockers at the statue's base, the island was evacuated.
After a sweep, the area was declared safe by late afternoon.
The city's fire department said it had been called at 12:57 local time (16:57 GMT) for the investigation of "a suspicious package".
Statue Cruises, which takes tourists to the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, said ferries were postponed after officials found a suspicious package at Liberty Island.
Karen Mason, 68, of Cincinnati, Ohio, said they had just boarded a boat at Ellis Island at 12:40 p.m.
"All of a sudden, they said 'Disembark, disembark, disembark. We have to evacuate the boat,'" she said.
There was no sense of danger, she added. "But we saw helicopters and we knew something was going on," she said.
The statue was given to the US by France in 1886, in recognition of the friendship between the two nations.


BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru both ended 2016 with a small rise in the number of listeners compared with the rest of the year, figures have shown.

Radio Wales attracted 375,000 listeners while Radio Cymru had 114,000 people tuning in during the last quarter.
The weekly reach figures released by audience researcher Rajar were up on previous quarters in the year.
Between April and June, listening numbers were at their lowest level since 1999.


A former priest has denied he was "a monster" who "exploded with temper" as he punished pupils at a former Catholic boarding school at Fort Augustus.

Father Benedict Seed, 83, is charged with assaulting eight pupils in the 1970s and 1980s. He denies the charges.
Appearing under the name Thomas Michael Seed, he has given evidence in his trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.
He told the court that caning pupils at Fort Augustus Abbey school "was very rare" and belting was "pretty rare".
The jury in his trial has heard from five former pupils that Father Benedict Seed would cane or belt them until they bled, with one accusing him of using a spiked golf shoe.
Another said he was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit in the private parts with a hockey stick because he refused to go to sports as he was ill in bed.
The witnesses each described how they would be punched or kicked and sometimes dragged along floors or down stairs to Father Seed's study where he would inflict corporal punishment.
The boys, now adults, were aged between 11 and 15 at the time, and claimed the priest was excessive in his use of the cane and/or tawse. They also accused him of being "in an uncontrollable rage".
His defence counsel John Campbell QC asked Father Seed: "You have been characterised as an intemperate, quick to anger, aggressive and disproportionate with your punishment man - a monster on the loose who explodes with temper.
"Does that ring true for you?"
Father Seed replied: "No. It is not me. I could have been impatient or mistaken. None of us are perfect all the time."
But the former priest conceded: "I think there may have been some times that I could have been excessive but not all the time. That is not my general character. No."
He said that after he had been a housemaster at the school, he was promoted to headmaster.
He said: "The housemasters gave corporal punishment. The headmaster did not.
"Another monk told me that I was the one who abolished corporal punishment at the abbey. But I don't remember that."
He added: "Caning was very rare, belting was pretty rare."
A police interview given by Father Seed, who was himself a former abbey school pupil, was read out to the trial earlier.
In it he revealed that when he was a pupil at the abbey, he was a "bad boy" and got caned for 40 successive days.
He also told officers that when he became a housemaster he tested tawses on himself.
He also insisted that the pupils preferred the "short sharp punishment of the tawse" rather than the alternatives of lines, detention or physical labour like weeding or going for a half-hour walk.
Details of the allegations being made against him by the former pupils were given to the priest and he denied knowledge of all of them but one.
In the case of Paul Curran, who was the first to tell the trial that his wrists bled after a belting, Father Seed denied he had been excessive.
Mr Curran told the jury that he was belted until his hands bled and the monk was in "a rage".
The former priest said he remembered Mr Curran, that he had belted him and said he was "high-spirited" but "a good influence on the school".
However, he denied that he had lost control.
The trial continues.


Judy Murray has insisted that a new sporting and housing development in Dunblane would deliver "big" for tennis and the local community.

The mother of Wimbledon champions, Andy and Jamie Murray, had been giving evidence to an inquiry looking at the Â£37.5m Park of Keir scheme.
Ms Murray and golfer Colin Montgomerie are both backing the plan.
Scottish ministers will decide on its future after Stirling Council turned down approval.
More than 1,000 objections had been lodged with the local authority.
The development  - on land between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan - consists of a 12-court tennis venue, golfing facilities, a hotel and spa, and 19 luxury homes on land which is currently allocated as green belt in the local plan.
The Scottish government-appointed Reporter Timothy Brian has been asked to review the decision.
He is taking evidence from a number of interested parties, including Ms Murray.
On Wednesday she told the hearing that she was keen to find a site suitable for a tennis centre in a "central location" of Scotland.
Ms Murray said: "For me being a Dunblane person, when this site was mentioned to me it ticked all of the boxes."
She added that it would "deliver tennis on a big scale and serve the local area too".
Ms Murray explained that the tennis facility would not be viable without the golf academy and housing.
"Tennis doesn't stack up by itself - it has to have other things around it," she said.
Ms Murray added that she wanted the development to to be built debt free in order to keep the costs of hiring the tennis courts down.
She believed the sports facility needed to be open to "as many people as possible, regardless of means".
Ms Murray also told the public inquiry the Park of Keir development team involved her and property firm the King Group but there was no "formal" business partnership
She said a state-of-the-art tennis facility would "complement" community-based tennis clubs.
Stirling Council's planning and regulation panel rejected the planning application in December.
At the time, Mark Ruskell, a Green councillor on Stirling Council, said the decision to reject the Park of Keir application was "democratic and based on agreed national and local planning policies".
However, the developers lodged an appeal with the Scottish government in March.
The appeal document said: "We consider that the net economic and social benefits of the amended proposals are significant and considerably outweigh any perceived local concerns over the scale or type of the enabling housing element or any environmental impact of the proposed development."
It also stated that the developers believed Stirling Council "erred in its policy assessment" by focusing on the "residential element instead of considering the development as a whole".
The hearing, by the Scottish government's planning and environmental appeals division, will take evidence over the next two weeks including from those objecting to the plan.


Holders Newtonmore earned the most significant victory of their stuttering season when they cruised past Kyles 4-1 at the Eilan in the quarter-finals of the Camanachd Cup.

There was also straightforward progress for Oban Camanachd, who beat lower-league Inveraray 5-0, while Skye were made to work harder than expected for their 5-3 victory over Strathglass at Cannich.
The remaining place in the semi-final draw went to 2015 winners Lovat who defeated Kilmallie 3-1 away from home.
In Kyles' absence on cup duty, Kinlochshiel joined them at the top of the Marine Harvest Premiership with a 4-0 hammering of bottom side Lochaber while Kingussie consolidated third place with a 3-2 away win over Glenurquhart.
Evan Menzies set Newtonmore on their way to the last four with an opener on the half hour. Glen MacKintosh made it 2-0 early in the second half before Iain Robinson contributed the holders' third. Grant Irvine pulled one back for Kyles and MacKintosh completed the scoring deep into stoppage time.
Newtonmore's victory, which also inflicted Kyles' first defeat in any match this season, may finally have called time on the indifferent start to the Badenoch side's programme. It may also provide them with a big psychological bonus in the league where they currently trail Kyles by six points.
It was plain sailing at The Winterton for Oban Camanachd whose Malcolm Clark scored their first and last goals which bracketed one each from Lorn Dickie and Willie Neilson in the first half and Matt Rippon in the second.
At Cannich, Will Cowie and Danny Morrison got two each for Skye whose Iain MacLellan was also on target while Scott Pye, Josh Fraser and Darren Reid replied for a stubborn Strathglass side.
In the remaining quarter-final, Lewis Tawse, Scott MacKenzie and Callum MacAuley had Lovat 3-0 up by half-time before Lewis Burrell got one back for Kilmallie in the final quarter.
The semi-final draw takes place at BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow on Monday 10 July.
There was a MacRae monopoly on Kinlochshiel's Premiership goals when Finlay and Keith both got one in each half without reply from Lochaber. The visitors remain one of three sides level on points at the bottom of the table, but have now played an extra game, and are blighted by a far inferior goal difference.
At the top Shiel sit alongside Kyles on 17 points, but with one more game played and a poorer goal record by four.
Twice Lee Bain put Kingussie ahead at Drumnadrochit and twice Daniel MacKintosh equalised for Glenurquhart, before Savio Genini got their winner with 10 minutes left. Kingussie remain third, but now only three points behind Kyles, having played three more games.
In the National Division, Fort William maintained their unbeaten record with a 4-0 home win over Beauly, but remain third since they have only played five games. Meanwhile Inverness are now three points adrift at the bottom following at 6-4 defeat at Bught Park by Oban Celtic whose Daniel Madej scored a hat trick.


Argentina will go to the polls on Sunday for a run-off election - the first in the country's history - after neither presidential candidate managed to win the initial vote outright.

Daniel Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires province, is up against Mauricio Macri, the city's mayor.
On the eve of the vote, centre-left candidate Mr Scioli lags behind his centre-right rival in the polls.
Mr Scioli was marginally ahead in the first round, with 36.7% to 34.5%.
But under Argentinian law, a presidential candidate needs 45% of the vote or a minimum of 40% with a 10-point lead over the nearest rival to win outright.
Both candidates have been back on the campaign trail in the month since the first round. Sunday's vote will mark the first time a presidential election in Argentina has gone to a second round.
All to play for
A tale of two women voters
Kirchner era draws to a close
Mr Scioli, a close ally of current President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, had been expected to win by a greater margin in October.
A member of President Fernandez's Front for Victory party, he was handpicked by the outgoing leader, who cannot seek a third term.
Since 2007 Mr Scioli has been governor of Buenos Aires province, considered one of the most influential posts in Argentine politics. Before that, he was vice-president to the country's late former leader and Ms Fernandez's husband, Nestor Kirchner.
The son of one of Argentina's richest men, Mr Macri had a long career in business before entering politics.
In 1991, he was kidnapped and kept captive for 12 days by a gang of corrupt policemen demanding millions in ransom.
Four years later, he became president of Boca Juniors Football Club and used his success at the club as a springboard for his political career.
He leads the conservative Cambiemos (Let's Change) coalition.
Whoever wins the presidency faces significant economic challenges.
While the country gained strength after a financial crisis in 2002, its economy, the third-largest in Latin America, has slowed in recent years, with GDP growing by only 0.5% last year.
The government is also locked in a battle against American hedge funds who disagree with how it wants to restructure $100bn (Â£65bn) of debt on which it defaulted in 2001.
While the firms successfully sued Argentina for repayment, Ms Fernandez refused to pay.
14.5%
Official, but disputed, inflation level
28.2% the inflation level in 2014, according to the World Bank
0.7% amount IMF predicts the economy will shrink in 2016


Final approval has been given to plans for a £10m holiday village at Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire.

A new holiday and caravan park will be be opened at the attraction, that will include timber lodges, safari tents and showmen's wagons for visitors to stay in.
The safari enclosure will be extended in the development which is set to create up to 30 new jobs at the site.
Pembrokeshire Council has given its approval for the development to begin.


A "Walter Mitty-like" man who threatened to behead a UKIP election candidate in Newcastle has been handed a community order.

Aftab Ahmed denied making threats to kill but was found guilty at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.
The court heard the threat occurred during a phone conversation with David Robinson-Young on 21 April.
Ahmed, 45, and of Winchcombe Place, Newcastle, was handed a 12 month community order.
He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work in community and told to pay Â£1,660 court costs, in addition to a Â£60 victim surcharge.
The court was told that Mr Robinson-Young, 62, who was standing for the constituency of Newcastle East in May's general election, was feeling extremely concerned about his personal safety.
Someone called Mr Khan had called him after receiving a UKIP leaflet, wanting to talk about the Middle East.
The conversation became heated and the threat was made.
Ahmed was later arrested after the number was traced to his parents' home.
Sentencing him, Judge Stephen Earl said: "I'm still not convinced if I know who you are. A character I can most align you with is Walter Mitty."
He added that he did not think the remark had been serious and that it displayed a "lack of mature thought".
"I am satisfied that the threat that was made from your point of view was a throw away remark at the end of an agitated phone call," he said.


The drop in milk prices has taken £220m out of the Northern Ireland economy this year, it has been claimed.

Pressure on the beef, cereal and vegetable sectors means the total reduction in spending power could be almost double that figure.
The claim was made by the head of a body set up by the Northern Ireland Executive to oversee expansion in the agri-food industry.
Tony O'Neill said the food industry was Northern Ireland's "economic priority".
The chair of the Agri-Food Strategy Board, which was established several years ago, said that in the face of an "unsympathetic" response from Westminster it was up to the assembly to take the lead in pushing for significant EU support to shore up the milk price.
The Ulster Farmers' Union is planning a protest of the agri-food sector at Stormont on Friday.
The Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association called on its members to support the protest.
It said that with a turnover of £4.8bn and employing about 100,000 people, the agri food sector's importance could not be "overstated".
Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill, Northern Ireland's MEPs and the chairman of the assembly agriculture committee met the EU Farm Commissioner Phil Hogan on Tuesday.
Mr Hogan had been resistant to calls for an increase in the so-called intervention price at which the EU buys product to support the market.
There have been some indications in recent days that he may be reviewing that position.
Ms O'Neill said the delegation had emphasised the "unique circumstances" of Northern Ireland's farmers who are heavily reliant on export markets.
The milk price issue will be discussed again at a meeting of EU Agriculture ministers on 7 September.


Planned cuts by Coventry City Council could force disabled children who use special bus services to travel by public transport instead.

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8 December 2014 Last updated at 16:52 GMT
The council said although a final decision has not been made, Â£420,000 could be saved if children are given training in how to use ordinary buses.
The measure would be part of Â£15m cutbacks by the authority after the money it received from central government was cut by 37% over the past five years.
As BBC Midlands Today's Kevin Reide reports, parents have said they are "horrified" at the suggestions.


Floyd Mayweather has denied reports he has already agreed a bout with Conor McGregor, but called on the UFC champion to "get the fight done".

In a Twitter post, Mayweather wrote: "There haven't been any deals between myself and any other fighters.
"If any changes are to come, I will be the first to let the world know."
In reply, McGregor posted a photo of himself sitting on a throne with the caption: "I am in Las Vegas. Floyd has retired on my arrival."
And later Mayweather added: "Listen Conor McGregor, if you really want to get this fight done... take care of your business with the UFC and have your people get in touch with my people."
Mayweather, 39, retired from boxing for a second time in September 2015 after defending his WBC and WBA welterweight titles with a 49th win from his 49th fight, a victory that equalled Rocky Marciano's career record of 49-0.
The American, widely considered to be the best fighter of his generation, also retired in 2008 after 39 fights. In January he told ESPN he had offered McGregor $15m (£12m) to face him in the ring.
McGregor, 28, has never fought a professional boxing match and has said he wants $100m (£80m) to fight Mayweather.
The Irishman became the UFC's first dual-division champion in November and has previously challenged Mayweather to a fight under mixed martial arts rules.
His boxing licence was granted by the California State Athletic Commission in December, allowing him to box in the US state.
However, he is under contract with the UFC and any potential fight with Mayweather would require approval from the body.
UFC president Dana White has said he would pay each fighter $25m (£20m), but on Tuesday he told the Los Angeles Times: "No deal is even close to being done."
Speaking in February of last year, Mayweather said he had been offered "crazy numbers", "nine-figure" sums to fight again.
"If I do get the itch to come back, it really won't be for the money but I have to get paid. That's why the nickname is Floyd 'Money' Mayweather," he added.
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A man who was killed when he leaned out of a train window and hit his head on a gantry was standing next to a warning notice, a report has said.

Simon Brown, from West Sussex, died on the Gatwick Express on 7 August.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said it would investigate the clearance between the train and the signal gantry and measures to control risks from leaning out of windows.
It said a notice read: "Do not lean out of window when train is moving."
A preliminary report said the train from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria was travelling at about 60mph.
It said Mr Brown, 24, originally from East Grinstead, sustained fatal injuries near Balham in London.
The report noted witness evidence indicated Mr Brown was standing at a door, intended for the use of the train guard, which opened inwards and had a droplight window.
The notice was above the window, it added.
The RAIB found the distance between the train and gantry post to be 26cm (10.25in).
British Transport Police is treating the death as non-suspicious.
Mr Brown was described by friends as a "lifelong railway fanatic", had volunteered on the Bluebell Railway as a child and was working as an engineering technician with Hitachi Rail Europe in Bristol.


Wolves head coach Kenny Jackett says the Championship club have not yet had any official approach for England Under-21 defender Dominic Iorfa.

Iorfa, who has played 44 games this season, has been linked to several southern-based Premier League clubs.
But Jackett remains unconcerned until interest in the highly-rated 20-year-old becomes somewhat more concrete.
"There's been enough speculation but we've had no bids or inquiries from clubs, which is good," he told BBC WM.
"That's not to say that we won't. We can only react when that happens. As a general principle, we want to work hard to keep our best players, if that is possible.
"We have one or two promising players here, which is a plus for us. But we would prefer to keep our best players and build around them."
Iorfa, a pacy, overlapping full-back who can also play in the middle, is a Wolves academy graduate and is now considered to be the club's most marketable asset.
Since making his professional debut on loan at Shrewsbury Town in March 2014, he has gone on to make a total of 73 career appearances to date.
Jackett admitted that any plans he might have to strengthen his first team squad are affected by the up-for-sale club's continued failure to find new owners.
"We do need to change things and the recruitment team here will have a good idea of exactly which players we need and which are available. But it's an ongoing situation with the club up for sale," he added.
"It doesn't appear that there is a takeover imminent, but it does affect the plans for the summer, there's no doubt about it.
"To really have enough to make a difference in this league you have to have deep pockets and then spend the money wisely."
Wolves head coach Kenny Jackett was talking to BBC WM's Rob Gurney.


Tony Blair is a focus of press commentaries in the world's newspapers following Wednesday's report on the UK's involvement in the Iraq War, and there is little sympathy for the former British prime minister.

Some commentators see him as a luminary who has been turned into a pariah, following a UK inquiry - led by Sir John Chilcot - into the decisions taken by Mr Blair's government.
They say he now faces compensation claims from the families of British soldiers killed in the war.
In the Middle East, some writers say apologies for the errors involved in the invasion of Iraq are insufficient, and that more needs to be done to overcome its consequences.
There has been little coverage of the Iraq War report in Iraq itself. Papers there generally do not publish during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which Muslims celebrate following the fasting month of Ramadan.
"After 13 years, Britain admits the crime of destroying Iraq" - Egypt's private daily Al-Watan
"Shameful Blair is a war criminal. Chilcot report exposes and condemns Blair for invading Iraq" Bahrain's pro-government Akhbar al-Khaleej daily
"The West has a consistent urge to see our Arab world stumbling. Who could forget Sykes-Picot, Balfour Declaration, the establishment of Israel and the continuous attacks on Arabs since the Crusades… And in all of this, always search for Britain" - Zuhayr Maged of Oman's pro-government Al-Watan
The report "will change nothing… The war left wounds that will never heal, conflicts that will not end and contributed to the emergence of the Islamic State group" - Othman al-Merghany of London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily
"Apology is not enough and there should be efforts made to alleviate the disastrous consequences… How could Britain burn a country and destroy its political and economic entities with regrets only?" - United Arab Emirates' pro-government paper Al-Khaleej
"The most brilliant British politician of recent decades, elected three times, has become a pariah in his own country" - Florentin Collomp in French daily Le Figaro
"British participation in the US operation was a stab at European solidarity, especially at France and Germany, who opposed the war" - Jacques Hubert-Rodier in French daily Les Echos
The Chilcot report ended "where it actually could become risky for Blair: on the question of criminal responsibility" - Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung
"Planning for the subsequent occupation of the country turned out to be 'totally inadequate', and the bloody civil war opened the floodgates for Islamist terrorism" - Germany's Berliner Zeitung
"The world needs to learn the lessons of this report so that it does not go back to taking action without multilateral consensus and beyond the umbrella of international law" - Spain's El Mundo
"Tony Blair became a puppet in the hands of George Bush... The conclusions of the investigation… are the fiercest political condemnation and sad for the former Labour leader" - Fabio Cavalera in Italy's Corriere della Sera
"The report has seriously damaged Blair's reputation... However, the Iraqi sins may take their toll on Blair's purse. Families of the victims hope to take advantage of the report to file a civil suit" - Yevgeny Medvedev in Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta
"Blair faces a long fight to escape lawsuits… he definitely won't be put behind bars, but he will be publicly beaten to his knees" - Dmitry Gololobov in Russian Vedomosti
"Britain's establishment never forgave itself for taking the country to war in Iraq in 2003, and Wednesday's publication of a public inquiry into the invasion provided a fresh opportunity for self-flagellation… the so-called Chilcot Inquiry tells us nothing we didn't know" - Wall Street Journal
"Those who said that Mr Blair and his government were 'misled' by faulty intelligence on weapons of mass destruction before the war have lost their claim" - Carne Ross in New York Times
"For all the evidence of close relations between Blair and the former US president, the Chilcot inquiry actually found that London ultimately had very little to show for offering unwavering support to Washington" - Time magazine
"Scathing report on Blair's Iraq War role prompts contrition, defiance and a reckoning" - Griff Witte in Washington Post
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring  on Twitter and Facebook.


Theresa May has urged Britain to "unite and move forward" after the Brexit vote in her first Christmas message as PM.

In the year that saw the UK vote by 52% to 48% to leave the EU, Mrs May said there was an "historic opportunity" to forge "a bold new role".
However, UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his Christmas message to call for faster progress on Brexit in 2017.
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the plight of the homeless while Lib Dem Tim Farron focused on child refugees.
The Green Party urged people to fight for a future based on equality and hope in its Christmas message.
The prime minister said there had been much to celebrate in 2016 - with the Queen's 90th birthday and British successes in the Olympics and Paralympics.
She added: "As we leave the European Union we must seize an historic opportunity to forge a bold new role for ourselves in the world and to unite our country as we move forward into the future."
She pledged to "stand up for the freedom of people of all religions to practise their beliefs in peace and safety" and paid tribute to those who work over Christmas, including health and care workers, emergency services and the armed forces.
"Wherever you are this Christmas, I wish you joy and peace in this season of celebration, along with health and happiness in the year ahead," she said.
In a separate message to the armed forces, including the 5,000 deployed on operations over the holiday period, she said: "Just as your commitment to our country is unfaltering, so in return we owe you the same deep commitment and unflinching support."
She pledged to "honour the commitments" to help service personnel buy their own home and support their children in school.
UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his first Christmas message since becoming leader to say his top priority would be to ensure "much faster progress" on Brexit.
He warned MPs who attempt to disrupt the process of leaving the EU "will find their prospects for re-election greatly diminished".
Mr Nuttall added that Brexit alone would not be sufficient for the "revival" of the UK to help those forgotten by the "political elite", adding that it was time to reorder the priorities of our governing class.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used his Christmas message, which he posted on Twitter, to point to Shelter figures suggesting 120,000 children would spend Christmas without a home to call their own while rough sleeping had increased by 30% in the last year.
He praised charity workers, adding: "It's the goodwill and generosity of ordinary people, public service and charity workers who give tirelessly to help the most vulnerable and the lonely.
"They remind us of Christmas values: love for your neighbour, working together and hope, hope that things can be different."
In a message filmed at a child refugee centre in Paris and posted on YouTube, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the Christmas message should encourage the UK to open its doors.
He said the children were fleeing "appalling circumstances" and wanted to come to the UK "because of Britain's reputation as a place of peace and of security and tranquillity" to start afresh, urging Britons to "be true to British values and be really proud of our country".
The Green Party's newly elected co-leaders, Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas, praised people who worked with refugees and those who campaigned on climate change, as well as NHS workers.
Noting that 2016 had brought the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in the US, Mr Bartley said: "Nobody owns the future.
"Not Donald Trump. Not Nigel Farage. Not Theresa May. We have to fight for the future we want to see - a future based on fairness, on equality, on hope."


The head of US intelligence has told lawmakers that discerning foreign leaders' intentions is a key goal of the nation's spying operations.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said such efforts were a "top tenet" of US intelligence policy.
But he told the intelligence panel of the House of Representatives the US did not "indiscriminately" spy on nations.
Mr Clapper was reacting to a growing international row over reports the US eavesdropped on foreign allies.
"Leadership intentions is kind of a basic tenet of what we collect and analyse," Mr Clapper said, adding that foreign allies spy on US officials and intelligence agencies as a matter of routine.
He said that what he called the torrent of disclosures about American surveillance had been extremely damaging and that he anticipated more.
By Mark MardellNorth America editor
But he said there was no other country that had the magnitude of oversight that the US had, and that any mistakes that had been made were human or technical.
The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Washington says if anyone was expecting apologies or embarrassment from the leaders of America's intelligence community they were in for a  disappointment.
Also testifying before the House intelligence committee was National Security Agency (NSA) director Gen Keith Alexander, who called media reports in France, Spain and Italy that the NSA gathered data on millions of telephone calls "completely false".
The information "that led people to believe that the NSA or United States collected that information is false, and it's false that it was collected on European citizens," he added. "It was neither."
Gen Alexander said much of the data cited by non-US news outlets was actually collected by European intelligence services and later shared with the NSA.
Gen Alexander added: "It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a programme that would result in this nation being attacked."
Our correspondent says the intelligence pair were not given a tough time by the committee but that sentiment is turning within Congress toward tightening up the reach of American intelligence agencies.
The testimony came amid a series of reports in the international news media that the NSA had spied extensively on the leaders, diplomats and citizens of nations friendly to the US, including Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain.
The revelations stem from documents leaked by fugitive ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who now lives in Russia and is wanted in the US in connection with the unauthorised disclosures.
President Barack Obama has faced significant criticism over reports he was unaware of the extent of the spying.
In a television interview, the US president said the country's national security operations were being reassessed to ensure the NSA's growing technological capability was kept under control.
"We give them policy direction," he told ABC's Fusion network.
"But what we've seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand, and that's why I'm initiating now a review."
In one of the most significant disclosures, German media have reported that the US bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone for more than a decade - and that the surveillance only ended a few months ago.
It has also been reported that the NSA spied on French diplomats in Washington and at the UN, and that it conducted surveillance on millions of French and Spanish telephone calls, among other operations against US allies.
On Monday, US Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein called for an end to eavesdropping on leaders of the nation's allies.
Ms Feinstein said the White House had told her such surveillance would stop, but a senior administration official told the BBC there was no policy change so far.
"With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of US allies - including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany - let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed," she said in a statement.
"It is my understanding that President Obama was not aware Chancellor Merkel's communications were being collected since 2002. That is a big problem."


Bournemouth midfielder Dan Gosling is expected to be available on Saturday after a calf problem.

Ryan Fraser is nursing an Achilles complaint and will be assessed, while Benik Afobe is still sidelined by a hamstring strain.
Burnley's Michael Keane missed last week's draw with West Brom because of a calf injury but has returned to training and should be fit.
His defensive partner Ben Mee is likely to miss out again with a shin injury.
Martin Fisher: "Before a ball had been kicked in August, Bournemouth and Burnley had both been picked by plenty of pundits to be among the favourites to go down.
"In fact, neither side has even seriously flirted with the relegation issue and to be safe with two games left to play represents a magnificent effort.
"It's Burnley's highest placing since the days of Leighton James, Ray Hankin and Alan Stevenson in 1975, while just one more point will cement Bournemouth's best ever finish in their 118-year history.
"A Cherries win is long overdue in this fixture. The last came in November 1998 when an even fresher-faced Eddie Howe starred in their defence."
Twitter: @mfisherfootball
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: "We try and improve every year, that has been our big way of working really, trying to develop players to improve the team, and step by step we have been able to do that.
"This year the objective was to improve on the 42 points and 16th (place) which we had achieved the season before. Now we have got two games left to try to do that."
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: "I think the key marker for me, without judging everyone else, is that it was only the first game of the season when we were in the bottom three.
"That's a fantastic marker for a side that was given no chance.
"Historically we have a strong way of finishing seasons and we want to finish this season strong as well."
Burnley's form has picked up in the past couple of weeks but Bournemouth always look good going forward and they will be confident of getting a goal, so let's go for a draw.
Prediction: 1-1
Lawro's full predictions v tennis world number one Andy Murray
Head-to-head
Bournemouth
Burnley
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale at the University of Salford that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.


Ashley Fletcher's late goal secured a hard-fought derby victory for Barnsley over South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster.

Sam Winnall headed narrowly wide for the Tykes early on, before Thorsten Stuckmann saved well from Adam Hammill as Barnsley pressed for an opener.
Doncaster struggled to create chances, while Winnall and Conor Hourihane both drew further stops from Stuckmann.
But the German keeper was unable to hold on to another Hourihane shot, and Fletcher tapped in to grab the points.
The victory, Barnsley's eighth in nine league games, put them 10th in the table, seven points outside the play-off places, with Doncaster still 17th.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Christian Dibble has left Oakwell to join National League South club Chelmsford City.


Gary Lineker believes Gareth Bale must put his "heart and soul" into his move to Real Madrid to thrive at the Bernabeu.

Bale, 24, has completed an £85.3m move from Tottenham to Real Madrid.
MOTD presenter and former Spurs striker Lineker had a stint at Barcelona during his playing career.
"It's very important to throw your heart and soul into it. It's different, it's huge, and it's whether he can cope with that," Lineker told BBC Sport.
"He's got it all. He showed that last season and the only question now is whether he's got the mental strength to be able to cope with such a big move and the spotlight that will be immense over there in Spain.
Tottenham's defeat at Arsenal was a timely reminder of what they will miss now Gareth Bale has finally completed his protracted move to Real Madrid.
They will miss those match-winning moments and brushstrokes of genius that decorated his recent seasons at White Hart Lane.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, however, was understandably confident in his statements following the completion of the deal that takes Bale to the Bernabeu.
Manager Andre Villas-Boas, with Levy and director of football Franco Baldini pulling the levers, has refurbished his squad with a succession of fine signings such as Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela and Paulinho.
The big question is can they replace Bale? And only time will provide the answer after the loss of this magnificent player.
"Ability-wise he is phenomenal. A player costing that much money, it's hard to justify that sort of fee. It's an incredible amount of money and no player is worth that, beyond perhaps [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo.
"If they came on the market now they would be worth more than Bale but along with Neymar they're the two players that are coming up as world superstars."
Lineker, who played for Barca between 1986-1989, feels that learning the language and immersing himself in the culture will be key to Bale's chances of succeeding in La Liga.
The former England captain thinks that the experiences of previous foreign moves for British players makes speaking Spanish a necessity for the Wales winger.
Lineker added: "It's important, more than anything, learn the language. If you're happy and communicate off the pitch that will reflect in your football and how things go on the pitch.
"If you look back at all of the British players that have been successful abroad, it's the ones that have got themselves into the culture, learnt the language and made life there enjoyable, rather than harbouring thoughts about England and getting back home.
"It's a fabulous opportunity for him and the important thing is he really needs to grasp it with both hands."


Opposition parties have defeated the Scottish government in a Holyrood debate on local health services.

Scottish Labour put forward a motion urging the government to step in over a series of proposals to close or downgrade NHS services.
Health Secretary Shona Robison insisted that no final decisions had been made about any of the services mentioned.
But the Tories, Greens and Lib Dems united behind Labour, with the SNP abstaining in the final vote.
The motion only calls on the government to step in over the plans, so does not bind the minority administration to any action.
The SNP narrowly avoided a defeat over tax reform a week ago only after Labour leader Kezia Dugdale's vote did not register.
Labour's motion for the NHS debate highlighted proposed changes to services at the Vale of Leven Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Inverclyde Hospital, Monklands Hospital, Lightburn Hospital, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Centre for Integrative Care.
The party argued that the proposals "constitute major changes in service provision" and therefore should be decided on by ministers rather than local health boards.
Opening the debate, Labour's Anas Sarwar said MSPs "can and should speak with one voice", and "put political partisanship to one side" over the issue.
He said: "Our NHS staff are facing ever-increasing stress whilst services face the axe. We have to do something. These cuts will have a direct impact on them and on patient care.
"It would be completely unacceptable for the SNP government to sit back and watch vital local services be hit with cuts, closures or downgrades. Especially when the SNP promised these services would be safe before the election.
"I reach out across this chamber to other constituency MSPs affected by these proposals. Today we have an opportunity to put aside our party allegiances and work together to protect our local NHS services."
However, Ms Robison said no final decisions had been made about any of the services cited in the debate, saying health boards were continuing to consult on them in the "proper and responsible way".
She said there was an "established, robust process" in place to make decisions, saying Labour were "quite inappropriately" trying to cut across the work of the Scottish Health Council.
She said: "This government remains committed to robust, evidence-based policy making. I am prepared to take difficult decisions where the evidence supports it.
"What we will not countenance is change being dictated to local communities as has happened in the past under a Labour administration.
"Local people can be assured that this government will always focus our approach on providing as many services locally as possible, and our record in government stands in stark contrast to that of the previous administration."
Tory MSP Donald Cameron said his party would back Labour over the issue, saying the government should "at the very least take a view" on the proposals instead of "sitting on its hands".
He said: "There is clearly a wider public interest at stake here. There is widespread public concern about the public services changes in issue.
"Given the public concern and controversy surrounding these particular proposals they should all be classified as major services changes so that the SNP government takes responsibility for these changes and can be held to account.
"We accept that tough decisions have to be taken, even when they are not popular, but what is difficult to fathom is the approach of a government which is content to do nothing."
Green MSP Ross Greer also voiced concern about the service changes, saying "the pace of change is too fast".
He said there has been a "lack of robust and meaningful debate", calling for "far more discussion" over the proposals.
Mr Greer and Lib Dem member Alex Cole-Hamilton joined Labour members and local health campaigners at a rally outside parliament prior to the debate.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said he found it "astonishing" that parliament had only been given time to debate the changes during opposition debates.
He said there were "challenging decisions" ahead, but said the current debate was an opportunity for Ms Robison to "enlist us as champions" for the redesign of services.
Ms Robison put forward an amendment defending the government's position, which was defeated by 64 votes to 62.
SNP members then abstained on the final vote, with Mr Sarwar's motion calling for the changes to be decided by ministers passing by 64 to nil, with 62 abstentions.
In a statement issued later, a Scottish government spokeswoman said: "The government has ensured that all proposals from NHS boards for any major change to services go through a proper engagement and consultation process, supported by the Scottish Health Council.
"That process is a hugely important part of the decision making process, and it is important it is allowed to complete its work.
"Following the conclusion of that process, and taking account of the views of parliament, we will report back to parliament on the designation of service change proposals."


Christmas is nearly upon us and with it comes turkey, maybe some sprouts, presents... and of course the Doctor Who Christmas special!

16 December 2016 Last updated at 16:06 GMT
This year's Christmas special looks to be a thrill ride, with the Doctor heading to New York City to stop a band of aliens' evil plot which puts Earth in serious danger.
And he's not the only one trying to save the world, he's joined by The Ghost, a superhero who got his powers from the Doctor himself many years before they meet again.
Ayshah met up with the Doctor, or Peter Capaldi as he is known in real life, to get the inside scoop on this year's episode.
Check out the video.


Tom Flanagan and Michael Duffy are new faces in the Northern Ireland squad for the opening World Cup qualifier away to the Czech Republic on 4 September.

Burton Albion defender Flanagan and Celtic midfielder Duffy, who is on loan at Dundee, have both impressed for the under-21 team.
Wigan striker Will Grigg is unavailable as his partner is expecting a baby.
Aaron Hughes is also absent, with the veteran defender deemed not match fit by manager Michael O'Neill.
There is also no place in the 23-man squad for veteran goalkeeper Roy Carroll, 38, after his move from Notts County to Irish League club Linfield, with Hartlepool's Trevor Carson drafted in.
Carroll, who has 44 caps, battled with Michael McGovern for the keeper's jersey during the Euro 2016 qualifiers but the Norwich player now looks the man in possession after his impressive displays in the finals in France.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Former Newcastle and Fulham player Hughes, who won his 100th cap in France, has signed for Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters.
"He will be back with the squad in October. He's in Australia and not worth bringing in for this game as he's not match fit and training on his own," said O'Neill.
O'Neill had praise for Flanagan and Duffy as he prepares for Northern Ireland's first game since the Euro 2016 finals in France, where his side reached the last 16.
"Tom has played his way in - he's a player we have known about for some time through the U21s and with Luke McCullough injured it's a good time to bring in a new defender," he said.
"Michael is rewarded for his work with Dundee and he has played consistently for the U21s - he has always made himself available for the U21 side."
O'Neill mentioned Paddy McNair's switch from Manchester United to Sunderland and speculation linking West Brom's Jonny Evans with Arsenal.
"It was always going to be difficult for Paddy - it was important to go to a club where the manager knows him and it's the right move," he added.
"Jonny was outstanding in France. He can switch in and out of systems. He's a top-level player and could play in a top-four Premier League club. The interest from Arsenal doesn't surprise me."
Goalkeepers
Michael McGovern (Norwich), Alan Mannus (St Johnstone), Trevor Carson (Hartlepool)
Defenders
Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans (both West Brom), Craig Cathcart (Watford), Conor McLaughlin (Fleetwood), Lee Hodson (Rangers), Michael Smith (Peterborough), Tom Flanagan (Burton)
Midfielders
Steven Davis (Southampton), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Oliver Norwood (Brighton), Corry Evans (Blackburn), Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest), Shane Ferguson (Millwall), Stuart Dallas (Leeds), Paddy McNair (Sunderland), Michael Duffy (Celtic, on loan at Dundee)
Forwards
Kyle Lafferty (Norwich), Josh Magennis (Charlton), Conor Washington (QPR), Liam Boyce (Ross County)


Salford Red Devils have signed hooker Logan Tomkins on a permanent basis from Wigan Warriors.

Tomkins, 23, will remain at the Red Devils for the 2016 season, after loan spells in 2014 and 2015.
He made 15 appearances last term, having also played 38 career games for the Warriors following his 2012 debut.
"Delighted that Logan Tomkins is now a Salford Red Devil. Great addition to the team," owner Dr Marwan Koukash tweeted about the signing.


A mural including messages welcoming refugees from Syria who arrived in Aberystwyth one year ago has been unveiled for the first time.

The first refugees arrived in the town on 9 December last year, and since then 11 refugees have settled in Ceredigion.
The mural, which was unveiled at Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth, includes messages from pupils and members of the public.
It was a special collaboration between Oxfam Cymru, the artist ValÃ©riane Leblond and the school.
Pupils Cari and Steffan said they hoped everyone liked their mural of welcome.
Kirsty Davies-Warner, head of Oxfam Cymru, said: "It's been one year since the first refugees arrived to Wales, and this wonderful mural symbolises the extent of support and welcome that the people of Aberystwyth have shown the newly-arrived families."
Earlier this year, Syrian refugees gave out flowers and thanked passers-by for welcoming them to the town.


Batsman Tom Fell is "desperate" to earn a recall to the Worcestershire first-team squad after getting the all clear from testicular cancer, says director of cricket Steve Rhodes.

Fell, 22, was diagnosed at the end of last summer and missed the start of this season after undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
He has now returned to action and is playing in Worcestershire's 2nd XI.
"We very much want him back," Rhodes told BBC Hereford and Worcester.
Fell was the youngest batsman in the country to pass 1,000 runs in 2015 as he hit three centuries and averaged 41.69, despite Worcestershire's relegation from Division One.
"He's a quality cricketer and one of our best bats," Rhodes added. "He's recovered from a serious illness and we're all delighted to have him back playing.
"I spoke to him the other day and he's desperate to get back into the first team, so he'll be pushing and making sure everyone else is on their toes."
Fell is not the only player in the Second XI trying to nudge Rhodes for a crack at first-team cricket.
Rhodes' son George made his debut in Worcestershire's One-Day Cup win at Yorkshire, with the all-rounder taking 2-34 from 10 overs.
Batsman Alex Hepburn was also in the squad for that game, after playing two matches in the competition last season.
Opening batsman Ollie Westbury and middle-order player Zen Malik have also struck second-team hundreds and Rhodes is delighted with the progress they are making.
"Our academy is showing there's another crop coming through," Rhodes said.
"George gets it tough because you don't want to be seen to be giving your son favouritism, but he's very professional and I was very pleased to see him start so well."
Worcestershire continue their One-Day Cup campaign against Leicestershire at New Road on Wednesday.


England have regained the Ashes after a 3-2 home victory over Australia.

The contest featured some moments of individual brilliance from both sides, but also some dire displays, especially with the bat.
England spinner turned BBC Test Match Special pundit Graeme Swann gives his series player ratings.
Matches: 5; Runs: 330; Average: 36.66
Swann: "His captaincy has been spot on, aside from the ludicrous decision to bowl first at The Oval. Without scoring heavily over the series, he looks to be getting back to somewhere near his best form."
Matches: 5; Runs: 115; Average: 12.77
Swann: "He has caught well at slip but has failed to grasp the opportunity to secure the opening berth alongside Cook."
Matches: 5; Runs: 215; Average: 26.87
Swann: "A very disappointing series by his standards. His catching has improved in the slips since the New Zealand series but he needs to score heavily in the UAE to convince himself and others that he still has a long future in the team."
Matches: 5; Runs: 460; Average: 57.50; Wickets: 4; Average: 33.75
Swann: "Exceptional. His hundreds at Cardiff and Trent Bridge were scored at times when his team needed them the most and he probably did more than any other player to help England regain the Ashes. He has gone from Test-class to world-class this summer."
Matches: 3; Runs: 118; Average: 29.50
Swann: "Played well at Trent Bridge and should be nailed on to bat at five through the winter. He was dismissed a couple of times by the short ball, although both were against the quickest bowler in the world."
Matches: 5; Runs: 201; Average: 25.12; Wickets: 11; Average: 33.45
Swann: "Mercurial with both bat and ball but England's best all-rounder since Andrew Flintoff. Magnificent bowling at Trent Bridge and the best catch I've ever witnessed."
Matches: 5; Runs: 122; Average: 15.25; Dismissals: 12
Swann: "Has been solid with the gloves all series, but worryingly short of runs, particularly against the finger spin of Nathan Lyon. Will need to iron out these shortfalls before the turning pitches of the UAE are thrust upon him."
Matches: 5; Runs: 293; Average: 36.62; Wickets: 12; Average: 45.50
Swann: "A hit-and-miss series for Moeen. His runs have at times proved vital down the order, not least at Edgbaston, and he must be the best number eight batsman England have ever had. However, his bowling is short on confidence and as a result he hasn't bowled the overs or taken the wickets that his talent is capable of."
Matches: 5; Runs: 134; Average: 19.14; Wickets: 21; Average: 20.90
Swann: "Started the series strongly without a great deal of reward. England's best bowler in a disappointing affair at Lord's and bowled the greatest Ashes spell in living memory to effectively win the Ashes on day one at Trent Bridge."
Matches: 4; Runs: 103; Average: 25.75; Wickets: 10; Average: 39.10
Swann: "Bags of talent. Has shown good control with the ball all summer without taking devastating amounts of wickets and produced some very useful cameos down the order. An extra mark for being both a Newcastle fan and one carrot short of a salad."
Matches: 3; Runs: 9; Average: N/A; Wickets: 12; Average: 22.50
Swann: "Brilliant return to Test cricket for Steven Finn. Would have got a higher mark if he hadn't kept taking wickets off no-balls."
Matches: 3; Runs: 11; Average: 2.75; Wickets: 10; Average: 27.50
Swann: "Proved himself in helpful conditions to be the best swing bowler in the world and joined the 400 club before injury ended his series. Best John Terry impression at Trent Bridge when he donned his kit for the celebrations."
Matches: 5; Runs: 418; Average: 46.44
Swann: "Has been one of the more successful Australia batsmen but played the worst shot of the Ashes at Lord's to throw away a hundred. Seems to be playing with a bit more responsibility, which should bode well for his future."
Matches: 5; Runs: 480; Average: 60.00
Swann: "Australia's most reliable player, he usually got them off to a half-decent start. He has had a short but highly successful career as an opener and will be hard to replace."
Matches: 5; Runs: 508; Average: 56.44; Wickets: 1; Average: 16.00
Swann: "Excellent knocks in two Australia victories but technically found seriously wanting against the swinging and seaming ball at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. He is not a number three and needs to move back to number four or five."
Matches: 5; Runs: 132; Average: 16.50
Swann: "I'm being generous because of his exceptional career. A fairly disastrous series with the bat and had to watch his team fail to win the Ashes in England - again. Sad to see him go."
Matches: 5; Runs: 201; Average: 28.71
Swann: "Got better and better as the series went on, but unable to play the Steve Waugh role in the frequent Aussie collapses."
Matches: 3; Runs: 48; Average: 12; Wickets: 8; Average: 18.62
Swann: "With the ball, he looks a find. With the bat, he looks to be two places too high in the order."
Matches: 4; Runs: 143; Average: 23.83; Dismissals: 17
Swann: "Has looked fairly solid with bat and gloves but doesn't look like the fulcrum which Brad Haddin was for the team to pivot around."
Matches: 5; Runs: 141; Average: 17.62; Wickets: 15; Average: 34.93
Swann: "Breathtaking spell at Lord's but unable to match the stratospheric heights of his previous Ashes campaign. Has accepted the Barmy Army banter in seemingly good spirits."
Matches: 5; Runs: 157; Average: 22.42; Wickets: 18; Average: 30.50
Swann: "Despite being their leading wicket-taker he hasn't bowled with anywhere near the control that he shows with the white Kookaburra ball. Definitely a big name for the future but seems strangely rough around the edges."
Matches: 4; Runs: 45; Average: 15.00; Wickets: 16; Average: 25.75
Swann: "The biggest mystery of the Australia team. I expected him to enjoy the Duke ball and the English pitches but couldn't come to terms with either. His performances were put into context by the excellent Peter Siddle at The Oval."
Matches: 5; Runs: 47; Average: 11.75; Wickets: 18; Average: 28.25
Swann: "The most consistent of the Australia bowlers without ever looking like winning a Test on his own. Two beauties bowled through the gate at The Oval, but the pitches were generally unhelpful."
Matches: 1; Runs: 1; Average: 1; Wickets: 6; Average: 11.16
Swann: "Thank heavens he didn't play at Trent Bridge or Edgbaston. Bowled like a dream at The Oval on a featherbed wicket."
Graeme Swann was speaking to BBC Sport's Sam Sheringham.


Deborah Devonshire was the astute chatelaine of Chatsworth House for more than half a century.

She was also the last of the fabled Mitford sisters, whose doings fascinated - and sometimes scandalised - society in the 1940s.
Deborah had a refreshingly homespun outlook on life, unlike Hitler's acolyte Unity, left-wing polemicist Jessica and Diana - second wife of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley.
Nicknamed the "housewife duchess", she made Chatsworth one of the most successful and profitable stately homes in England.
The Honourable Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford was born on 31 March 1920, the sixth daughter of the 2nd Baron Redesdale.
The Mitfords' childhood, immortalised in her sister Nancy's novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, was the quintessence of British eccentricity.
Her parents made a poor job of hiding their disappointment that Deborah hadn't been born a boy, leaving their son Thomas the only male in the brood.
Their father disapproved of educating girls, famously insisting that hockey would make their ankles fat, so Deborah spent most of her formative years skating and hunting.
She was brought up at the Mitford home in the Oxfordshire village of Swinbrook and was distraught when the family moved in 1936.
Her sister Unity's infatuation with Hitler saw the young Deborah invited to tea with the German dictator in Berlin, although the  visit made little impression on her.
"If you sat in a room with Churchill," she later recalled, "you were aware of this tremendous charisma. Kennedy had it too. But Hitler didn't - not to me anyway."
A year later she met the young John F Kennedy and became close friends with the future US president.
She never shared the fascist inclinations of Unity and Diana or the leanings of Jessica, who became a communist.
She was closest to Diana, whom she adored. "Their politics," she once said, "were nothing to do with me."
Having studied at the Cordon Bleu cookery school in Paris, she married Andrew Cavendish in 1941.
The second son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, he was then an officer in the Coldstream Guards and a noted amateur jockey.
"If it wasn't love at first sight, it was certainly attraction at first sight," she later wrote.
He unexpectedly became heir to the Devonshire estate after his elder brother, William - who had married John F Kennedy's sister, Kathleen - was killed by a German sniper in Belgium.
She suffered heartbreak when her first child, born prematurely, died within hours in 1941. She would later lose two more children in the same way.
When her husband's father died in 1950, aged just 55, he left a vast estate and huge death duties, which would not have been due had he survived for another four months.
The new duke and his duchess took up their inheritance and the obligations that came with it, including a Â£7m tax bill.
Against all the odds, the Devonshire estates remained remarkably intact, though Hardwick Hall was given to the National Trust.
And more than 50,000 acres of land, and a tranche of Old Masters - including Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII - had to be sold to meet the death duties.
A huge amount of work had to be done in the main house before the duchess and her husband, who had been living in Edensor House on the estate, finally moved to live in Chatsworth in 1959.
Parts of the house had been opened to the public in 1949 but a decision was taken to expand this business to raise the huge sums necessary to maintain the property.
The duchess became the driving force behind many of the enterprises such as the farm shop, gift shop and restaurant.
She set up the Farmyard in 1973 to show city children where their food came from, an idea that was way ahead of its time.
She also marketed her own food brand and opened a cookery school and furniture workshop as well as a number of highly regarded hotels.
"To me, the most fascinating part of retailing," she once said, "is seeing what people want, and to be able to up the taste a bit, instead of dumbing it down."
In 1974, with Â£21m raised by the sale of Poussin's Holy Family, the Devonshires set up the Chatsworth Trust, securing the house's future as home to arguably the greatest private art collection in the UK.
Filled to the brim with works by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Lucien Freud and boasting Canova's bust of Napoleon, the estate now pays its way.
The marriage remained a happy one, despite the duke's serial philandering, and his alcoholism, which he finally overcame in the 1980s.
"He may have been difficult at times," she once said. "But he was never boring."
During her years at Chatsworth, the duchess was a hostess in the grand manner, entertaining everyone from members of the Royal Family to her husband's cousin, Harold Macmillan, and Sir John Betjeman.
When the duke died in 2004, the now dowager duchess remained at Chatsworth for 18 months before moving to a house on the estate.
She was realistic about the move, made to give her son Stoker, the new duke, room to create his own life.
"Nothing belongs to the person," she said. "It all goes with the title. I've lived in furnished rooms since I was married."
At the age of 90 she published her own account of her upbringing because she felt the media had portrayed her family unfairly.
Wait For Me: Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister shines a light on the vanished world of high society, debutantes and their delights and the traumas of World War Two.
Deborah Devonshire was an insightful literary reviewer, an outspoken defender of hunting and a longstanding fan of Elvis Presley.
She never stopped loving her family home.
"In all those years I never took the place for granted but marvelled at it and the fact we were surrounded by beauty at every turn."


Long queues continue outside banks and several ATMs have run out of cash in India, three days after 500 ($7) and 1,000 rupee notes were withdrawn as part of anti-corruption measures.

The BBC visited many ATMs of big banks in Delhi and Mumbai but found them either shut or not dispensing cash.
ATMs opened at midnight after being shut for 48 hours and hundreds queued up early morning to make withdrawals.
The surprise government move is aimed at tackling corruption and tax evasion.
But many low-income Indians, traders and ordinary savers who rely on the cash economy have been badly hit.
There are limits on cash withdrawals from ATMs and banks.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise announcement on Tuesday night, the banks were closed on Wednesday.
Thousands of panicked Indians have been flocking to banks since they reopened on Thursday as the two notes accounted for about 85% of the cash in circulation.
Banks have extended working hours and deployed additional staff to deal with the rush.
Some bank officials said they had also brought in extra cash to deal with the situation.
The 500 ($7; Â£6) and 1,000 ($15; Â£12) rupee notes are the highest denomination notes in the country and are extremely common in India. Airports, railway stations, hospitals and fuel stations will only accept them until the end of today.
People will be able to exchange their money at banks between 10 November and 30 December.
The actual figure is unclear but correspondents say the issue of "black money" - which may have been acquired corruptly, or is being withheld from the tax authorities - is a huge problem. India's government hopes to flush out tax evaders and make money that is unaccounted for visible for tax purposes. There have been reports of tax raids in many parts of India.
An individual can put as much as he or she likes into the bank - but withdrawals are limited so the banking system may end up being flooded with cash.
Government guidelines say it is possible to exchange up to 4,000 rupees per day up to 24 November - anything over this will be subject to tax laws. People can also withdraw up to 10,000 rupees from a bank per day and a maximum of 20,000 rupees per week.
New 2,000 and 500 rupee denomination notes with new security features are being given to people to replace those removed from circulation.
A new 1,000 rupee note "with a new dimension and design" will also be introduced in due course, a senior government official said on Thursday.
They can purchase foreign exchange equivalent to 5,000 rupees using these bank notes at airport exchange counters until midnight on Friday.


Away fans have been banned from all football matches in France until mid-December following the Paris attacks.

On 13 November, 130 people died in attacks across Paris, with three suicide bombs outside the Stade de France where France took on Germany.
French league games went ahead the following weekend without away fans.
The Interior Ministry has extended the ban due to a "lack of police forces available" during the ongoing state of emergency and upcoming climate summit.
A French League (LFP) statement said no away fans would be permitted at the 15th round of Ligue 1 matches and 16th round of Ligue 2 matches this weekend.
It added another order would be issued soon applying the same provisions to all top football games in the country until at least the final round of Europa League group-stage matches on 10 December.
Monaco have said they will prevent fans of Belgian side Anderlecht from attending their Europa League meeting on Thursday.
The United Nations climate summit is being held in the French capital from 30 November until 11 December.


Spring is nearly here so the time is right to head down to your local park and feed the local ducks.

Media playback is unsupported on your device
6 April 2015 Last updated at 07:10 BST
But the people who look after lots of rivers in England and Wales want us to stop giving them their traditional snack.
So what should we feed the ducks instead?
Ayshah's got more details.


A father and his two children have drowned after their car was driven off the end of a wharf in Australia.

Police were called to Brennen Wharf in South Australia's Port Lincoln after witnesses saw the white Ford drive into the water early on Monday.
The act "appeared deliberate" and the car quickly sank in 30m (nearly 100ft) of water, police said.
Divers later recovered the bodies. They also found a rifle with a telescopic sight, local media said.
"It's obviously a tragedy for the community," said Port Lincoln Mayor Bruce Green, according to the newspaper.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Detective Superintendent Paul Yeomans confirmed that the three were from a Port Lincoln family.
"We are not treating it as an accident," he said.
The car is reported to have been driven at very high speed before hitting the water.
South Australia Police appealed to the public for more information.


Legal proceedings have begun against a developer that promised to provide social housing in Berkshire.

The 37 affordable homes in Newbury's flagship Parkway complex have been empty for almost two years.
Standard Life Investments said it remained entirely focused on fulfilling its contractual obligations.
West Berkshire Council, which is taking the action, put Â£900,000 towards the homes.
Council leader Gordon Lundie said: "I am extremely cross. There's 37 families in Newbury who are waiting to get access to this affordable housing.
"We're going to take legal action now and the first part of that is a 28-day process whereby we will see if they can remedy the situation and get the affordable housing produced."
In a statement the developer said it shared the frustrations of the council over the delay and that it was in advanced negotiations with its preferred affordable housing provider.
It added: "Our team is working hard to bring the sale to a conclusion."


A man who hid from the Charlie Hebdo gunmen is suing French media who revealed his whereabouts.

Lilian Lepere stayed under a sink for eight hours after the gunmen began a siege at the printing shop in which he worked in a Paris suburb in January.
The men - Said and Cherif Kouachi - had killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine the day before, and were later shot dead at the printing shop.
Mr Lepere says his life was endangered by details revealed on TV and radio.
The initial allegation of a man hiding at the factory in Dammartin en Goele was made on the RMC radio station by the area's French assembly member, Yves Albarello.
The claim was then repeated by the TF1 and France 2 television networks, two of France's largest.
Mr Lepere's whereabouts were also confirmed to France 2 by his sister, although it was never stated exactly where he was hiding.
After Mr Lepere's boss was freed by the gunmen, he continued to hide under the sink until the siege ended.
Mr Lepere then gave a detailed interview about his ordeal to France 2.
He lodged a complaint with prosecutors in Paris last month, and an investigation against the networks was launched last week, French media say.
"The divulging of information in real time, while the Kouachi brothers - armed and dangerous - were able to follow how the operation was going, presented a real risk to Lilian," his lawyer, Antoine Casubolo Ferro, told Le Parisien newspaper.
The networks have not responded to the investigation.
In April, another lawsuit was lodged by survivors of a siege at a Jewish supermarket in Paris, that took place two days after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed four people at the Hypercacher Jewish store on 9 January before police shot him.
Six of the survivors filed a lawsuit against television networks, saying live images broadcast from the supermarket scene "lacked the most basic precautions".


The mayor of New York has rebuked hundreds of the city's police officers who turned their backs on him as he spoke at the funerals of two officers.

Bill de Blasio said the public snubbing had been disrespectful to the families of the two men and to the city.
Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot dead last month by a gunman with a grievance against the police.
Many police have resented the mayor's expressions of sympathy for anti-police protesters in recent months.
"Those individuals who took certain actions the last two weeks, they were disrespectful to the families involved. That's the bottom line," Mr de Blasio told reporters at police headquarters.
"They were disrespectful to the families who lost their loved ones. I can't understand why anyone would do such a thing in the context like that."
Mr de Blasio also dismissed suggestions that police had been working to rule since the killing of the two officers.
He described the apparent fall-off in arrests and court appearances for minor offences as an aberration.
"I certainly don't think a few very aberrant days suggest anything compared to what you see over the course of the whole year," he said.
Mr de Blasio's remarks were supported by New York's police commissioner, William Bratton, who said that the officers who turned their backs on him had "embarrassed themselves".
"The idea of what is effectively a labour action being taken in the middle of a funeral where we are honouring the death of two police officers - I just don't understand it," Mr Bratton said.
Speaking after the policemen were shot, the head of the city's largest police union, Patrick Lynch, hit out at the liberal mayor, saying there was "blood on many hands".
The shootings followed a wave of demonstrations over killings of unarmed black men by white police officers, beginning in the Missouri town of Ferguson last summer.
There was anger in New York after a grand jury decided not to press charges against a white police officer over the death of unarmed black man Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold while being restrained by police officers.
Mr de Blasio had expressed solidarity with the protesters and had publicly wondered if his son, who is mixed-race, was safe from police.
Critics have argued that such rhetoric helped to create an environment that encouraged violence against police.
The man who shot the two officers - Ismaaiyl Brinsley - killed himself in a subway station as police were closing in.
Brinsley, 28, had a history of violence and mental instability. On the day of the shooting, he went on social media to say he was planning to kill police officers.


The UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of 2012, further fuelling fears that the economy could re-enter recession.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the fall in output was largely due to a drop in mining and quarrying, after maintenance delays at the UK's largest North Sea oil field.
The economy had grown by 0.9% in the previous quarter, boosted by the London 2012 Olympic Games.
For the whole year, growth was flat.
The ONS said that the "bumpy economy" was on a "sluggish trend".
Manufacturing fell by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, the services sector was flat, but construction output rose by 0.3%.
Within the manufacturing sector, mining and quarrying output fell by 10.2%, the biggest decline since records began in 1997, driven by disruption to North Sea oil and gas fields.
The Buzzard oil field, about 100 kilometres north east of Aberdeen, was shut in early September for maintenance work that was expected to take about 28 days, according to reports.
But Buzzard resumed production in early November, and it was not until the end of that month that full capacity was reached.
Buzzard, run by Nexen and with BG Group a 21.7% shareholder, is one of the biggest North Sea fields to be developed in 10 years.
The field holds enough crude potentially to deliver about 10% of the UK's annual forecast oil demand.
Nexen declined to comment on the maintenance work's impact on the GDP figures, but added: "The shutdowns occur every five years, are planned, and are required in order to comply with regulatory requirements. The shutdowns enable us to repair and upgrade equipment that cannot be accessed when the facilities are operating."
If oil and gas extraction were excluded from the overall gross domestic product (GDP) calculations, then the data would have shown that the economy shrank by only 0.1% in the fourth quarter, the ONS said.
GDP is the sum of all goods and services made in the economy.
This is the first estimate of how the economy performed in the fourth quarter, and is subject to at least two further revisions as more data is collected.
Still job hunting, 18 months on
Chancellor George Osborne said the figures were a reminder that the UK faces "a very difficult economic situation".
He described them as "a reminder that last year was particularly difficult, that we face problems at home with the debts built up over many years, and problems abroad with the eurozone, where we export many of our products, deep in recession".
"Now we can either run away from those problems or we can confront them. And I'm determined to confront them so we can go on creating jobs for the people of this country," Mr Osborne said.
But Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "Today's news confirms what business leaders, retailers and families have known for many months - that depressed confidence and a chronic shortage of demand mean our economy continues to flat line.
"This government's failing plan has now seen our economy stagnate for over two years and borrowing is now rising as a result."
Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: "We are now mid-way through the coalition's term of office and its economic strategy has been a complete disaster.
"The economy has grown by just 1%, real wages have fallen, and the manufacturing and construction sectors have shrunk. We remain as dependent on the City as we did before the financial crash."
If the economy were to also shrink in the first three months of 2013, then the UK would re-enter recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
The CBI business group said it expected growth "to continue to be fairly flat through the winter but momentum will gradually build later in the year, as the global economy picks up a little and confidence lifts".
Capital Economics believes another contraction in the first quarter is "quite possible... especially given the snow disruption".
However, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that while the economy was struggling to maintain momentum, its research showed that small firms were slightly more confident going into 2013 than they were going into 2012.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government's independent financial watchdog, has forecast growth of 1.2% this year, slightly above most other independent forecasts.
Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its growth forecast for the UK to 1% from 1.1%, but this is a rosier picture compared with its outlook for the eurozone, which it expects to shrink by 0.1% this year.
By Stephanie FlandersEconomics editor
The ONS data for the fourth quarter showed the drop-off in activity in the services sector following the end of the  Olympics and Paralympics.
Services make up about three-quarters of the UK's economic activity. In the third quarter of the year - when the Olympics and Paralympics took place - the sector grew by 1.2%.
The ONS said there was some evidence of "fallback" in the fourth quarter, seen in the hotel and restaurant industries and in land transport.
The biggest impact, though, was in sports activities, amusement and recreation, which dropped 22.5%. This was mainly due to increased ticket sales for the Games in the third quarter, and contributed 0.2 percentage points to the fall in overall GDP in the fourth quarter.
Across the year as a whole, services grew by 1.2% , while total industrial production fell by 2.5% and construction dropped by 9.3%.
Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, said there were "no positive takeaways" from the figures.
"Even assuming some unwinding of activity from the Olympics boost in the previous quarter, this still leaves no real signs of underlying growth in the economy.
"The news from industry was particularly weak, with November's sharp drop on output contributing to a rather grim fourth quarter and leaving the overall picture for manufacturing in 2012 the weakest since 2009."
Economists at IHS Global Insight noted that GDP in the fourth quarter of 2012 was 3.3% below the peak level seen in the first quarter of 2008. They estimate that it will not return to that level until the first half of 2015 - a gap of seven years.
The government's economic policies came under focus on Thursday when the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the chancellor should consider slowing down austerity measures in his March budget, because of their effect on growth.
"We think this would be a good time to take stock," Olivier Blanchard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
But Mr Osborne later rebuffed Mr Blanchard's advice. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said that spending cuts must continue if the government is to retain its credibility.
"We have a credible and flexible debt reduction plan. That credibility is very hard won and easily lost," he said.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said that the coalition made a mistake in cutting back capital spending when it came to office.
He told The House magazine that ministers had reassured themselves at the time that the reduction was in line with plans drawn up by Labour.
But they now realised investment in infrastructure was crucial for economic recovery, he added.
When asked about Mr Clegg's views, Mr Osborne responded: "What Nick Clegg has said is that capital investment is important and I agree with that, which is why we have added £20bn of capital investment to our plans over the last couple of years.
"But you can only do that if you have convinced the world that you can pay your way - that investors have confidence in the UK. We've got that confidence."


The father of a student nurse caught up in the London Bridge attack felt "utterly helpless" when she said she was hiding in a pub store room.

Rhiannon Owen was at a cash machine on Saturday night when a taxi driver shouted at her to run.
The 19-year-old said she was about 10ft (3m) from one of the knife attackers and had warned people in a nearby pub.
She told her father David they were hiding and had heard gunshots outside the pub when he called at 23:00 BST.
Mr Owen, from Nantwich, Cheshire, added: "She got a warning from a taxi driver who got her attention.
"She hadn't seen him [the attacker] coming.
"He got within 10ft of her. She saw the guy wielding a knife, saw him stab at, or stab someone, as she ran away, but she didn't look back after that point."
More updates on this story
Miss Owen, who is a student nurse, ran into Applebee's pub where she joined 30 or 40 others and hid in a store room.
Her father said he saw her about an hour later on the BBC News Channel.
"She ran into an open fronted cafe-bar and yelled 'there's people with knives' and the bar staff locked themselves into a storage room upstairs," he added.
"It was so surreal. We're a bit shaken up, still a little bit disorientated, but the relief is palpable.
"I felt utterly helpless on the night.
"You're just relying on the police and security services to protect people... they reacted very quickly."
Miss Owen is appealing for the taxi driver to get in touch because she believes he saved her life and allowed her to warn others.