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Explorers Amazed by Thriving Marine Life on Seafloor That Was Exposed After Massive Iceberg Calved From Antarctic Ice Sheet

Scientists were lucky to have the research vessel nearby when the glacier calved, which helped them examine the iceberg immediately.

BY SOMDATTA MAITY

PUBLISHED 1 DAY AGO

A74 iceberg after its calving (Cover Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-1 imagery)

Some places on planet Earth are inaccessible due to their difficult terrain. Experts studying planet life are not able to study them unless something reveals the underlying secrets. One such location is the Antarctic region, where in 2021, researchers were able to access a treasure of rich marine life after a glacier calving, stated AWI.

A view of Antarctica’s ice sheet and mountains seen from a U.S. Air National Guard LC-130 aircraft (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by NASA/Christy Hansen)

Experts got this opportunity when a massive iceberg calved from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Seeing the iceberg break apart from the ice sheet, a research vessel named Polarstern took the opportunity to go near the iceberg and examine it. The iceberg was floating near the Brunt Ice Shelf at that point. The iceberg was named A74 by experts, stated BBC.

Polarstern did not go into eastern Weddell in anticipation of the calving, it was there on a pre-planned expedition. The vessel had to place itself in the narrow gap between the iceberg and the Ice shelf. Thereafter, the team used special equipment to look at the seafloor, which had become ice-free for the first time in five decades. The special equipment was called Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS).

Polarstern with tugboats (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by Llez)

OFOBS was towed beneath the waters to record as much data as possible of the exposed seafloor. In five hours, OFOBS managed to collect 1,000 high-resolution images and several long videos of the region. The team saw a variety of beings in the media collected by OFOBS. They noted that filter-feeding animals dominated every single piece of hard substrate on the seafloor. These organisms included beings like slow-growing sponges and bryozoans.

Along with filter-feeding creatures, there were also plenty of mobile animals such as sea cucumbers, fish, and octopuses. Researchers were a little surprised not to find burrow structures, which are a common presence in deep-sea regions.

Dr Huw Griffiths from the British Antarctic Survey was very elated to see the images collected by Pyolarstern. He claimed that it was possibly the largest area of this kind to be surveyed with advanced tools. The creatures proved that there was a rich supply of food, 30km beneath the ice shelf. "This food is produced by plankton in the sunlit sea surface nearby, then dragged under the ice shelf by the currents of the Weddell Sea. These same currents will eventually move the iceberg westward around the Weddell Sea and then northwards to its doom," Griffiths added.

Researchers claim that the iceberg is twice the size of Berlin, covering an area of 1270 square kilometres, stated AWI. Experts are delighted by the work done by the vessel, as it helps them understand more clearly the consequences of calving on the environment and creatures. Polarstern was fortunately at the right place at the right time, because it is not often that experts get to view an exposed seafloor, so soon after breaking apart. The calving of an iceberg of such a size, supposedly, takes place once in ten years. "It’s extremely fortunate that we were able to respond flexibly and explore the calving event at the Brunt Ice Shelf in such detail," said Dr Hartmut Hellmer, a physical oceanographer at the AWI and head of the expedition.