Antarctic marine explorers reveal first biological changes after collapse of polar ice shelves

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A suspected new species of Shackletonia an amphipod crustacean sampled near Elephant Island Antarctic Pensisula during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII8 in the Weddell Sea 200607. Credit: C. dUdekem Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences ...
A suspected new species of Shackletonia, an amphipod crustacean sampled near Elephant Island, Antarctic Pensisula, during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. Credit: © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007

Once roofed by ice for millennia, a 10,000 square km portion of the Antarctic seabed represents a true frontier, one of Earth's most pristine marine ecosystems, made suddenly accessible to exploration by the collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves, 12 and five years ago respectively. Now it has yielded secrets to some 52 marine explorers who accomplished the seabed's first comprehensive biological survey during a 10-week expedition aboard the German research vessel Polarstern.


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