Context:
A team of scientists have discovered dozens of new species on the newly exposed seafloor, as an enormous iceberg broke off from Ice Shelf.
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The enormous (510 sq km iceberg) A-84 iceberg broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf into the Bellinghausen Sea on 13th January 2025.
- The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, between Alexander Island and Thurston Island.
A remotely-operated submersible got to the seafloor on January 25, where it captured photos and videos, and collected specimens.
The submersible mission was part of Challenger 150, a UNESCO-endorsed global initiative for deep-sea research.
The findings of the discovery, published in the journal “Frontiers in Marine Science,” provide new insights into how ecosystems function beneath floating sections of the Antarctic ice.
Key Findings of the Discovery:
- Using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, scientists explored the seafloor for eight days, and found flourishing ecosystems at depths of up to 1,300 metres.
- Scientists in Antarctica have found life flourishing in some of the most inhospitable conditions on Earth.
- These Antarctic ecosystems have been covered by 150-metre-thick ice for centuries, completely cut off from surface nutrients.
- Their observations include large corals and sponges supporting an array of animal life such as icefish, giant sea spiders, octopi, giant phantom jelly, a species of jellyfish that can grow up to a metre wide, and a vase-shaped sponge that might be hundreds of years old.
- It is very surprising for researchers to find diverse ecosystems under the ice shelf is that deep-sea communities typically depend on photosynthesising organisms to rain down nutrients from the surface to the seafloor.
- Scientists have hypothesised that ocean currents, glacial meltwater or something else could be transporting essential nutrients, sustaining life beneath the ice shelf. The precise mechanism fueling these ecosystems are yet to be understood.