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by Eva Corlett
in
Wellington
June 06,
2022
from
TheGuardian Website
New
Zealand scientists
'jumping
up and down'
at find during
investigation
of
climate-induced melt of ice shelf...
Beneath a
vast Antarctic ice shelf, in a
cathedral-like cavern hundreds of meters high, are swarms of
little shrimp-like creatures in a newly discovered underwater
ecosystem that, until recently, had remained an ice-locked secret.
A team of scientists from New Zealand,
discovered the
ecosystem 500 meters below the ice in a suspected estuary,
hundreds of kilometers from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Antarctica New Zealand
supported researchers from universities in Wellington, Auckland and
Otago, the National Institute of Water and Atmospherics (Niwa) and
Geological and Nuclear Sciences to investigate what role the estuary
could play in climate-induced ice-shelf melt.
But when they drilled down through the ice and into the river, their
camera was swarmed by
amphipods, little creatures
from the same lineage as lobsters, crabs and mites.
"For a while, we
thought something was wrong with the camera, but when the focus
improved, we noticed a swarm of
arthropods around 5mm in size,"
said Niwa's Craig Stevens.
Shrimp-like creatures
in a newly discovered underwater ecosystem
underneath the Ross Ice Shelf.
Photograph: NIWA / Craig Stevens
"We've done
experiments in other parts of the ice shelf and thought we had a
handle on things, but this time big surprises were thrown up."
While there was a
climate change motivation for the work, there was an element of
discovery on the expedition, Stevens said.
"We were jumping up
and down because having all those animals swimming around our
equipment means that there's clearly an important ecosystem
there."
The Antarctic research site.
A
network of hidden freshwater lakes and rivers
lies
below the ice sheets.
Photograph: Niwa/ Craig Stevens
The project's lead, Huw Horgan from Te Herenga Waka
Victoria University of Wellington, was the first to spot the
estuary, after spying a groove in the ice while studying satellite
imagery of the
Ross Ice Shelf.
Researchers have been aware of a network of hidden freshwater lakes
and rivers below the Antarctic ice sheets for some time but they
have yet to be directly surveyed, Horgan said.
"Getting to observe
and sample this river was like being the first to enter a hidden
world."
Instruments had been left
in the river to observe its behavior, he said, while lab researchers
would investigate what makes the water unique.
The team's findings extended further- it had just deployed its
mooring a few days before the enormous
eruption of Tongan volcano
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai.
A satellite image of Tonga’s underwater volcano eruption
on 15 January 2022, taken about 100 minutes after it began.
Photograph: Reuters
Click
image
The team's instruments
detected a significant pressure change as the tsunami made its way
through the cavity.
Seeing the eruption's effects reminded Stevens just how
connected the planet is.
"Here we are, in a
forgotten corner of the world, seeing real-time influences from
events that felt worlds away. It was quite remarkable."
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