Latest news with #UniversityofAveiro
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What's Hiding in Antarctic Ice? Giant Lakes, Ancient Mountains, Prehistoric Creatures & More!
Antarctica is famous for its frigid temperatures, desolate landscape, penguins, and the predators who eat them. That's what it looks like from the surface, but there are hidden organisms and environments tucked inside and underneath the Antarctic ice. There is rocky land on the Antarctic continent, but it's covered by a thick layer of ice. The distance between the ground and the surface is an average 1.3 miles, but it gets considerably thicker in some places. And nearly the whole of the continent has been covered over like this for more than 30 million years. From above, the continent looks like a vast, nearly featureless waste of white but, like the researchers of The Thing learned the hard way, it's hiding a much more complex environment below. In early 2025, an international team of scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falcor (too) had to make a quick pivot in their research plans when an iceberg the size of Chicago broke loose from the George VI ice shelf. All at once, researchers had access to a whole new piece of exposed seafloor. Exploring this never-before-seen part of the planet revealed large corals, sponges, octopuses, giant sea spiders, bizarre ice fish with clear blood, and a whole lot more. Just a few years ago, scientists found an estimated 60 million ice fish nesting beneath the Antarctic ice. Odds are these sorts of communities are common beneath the ice. 'We didn't expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem. Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years," said Dr. Patricia Esquete from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, in a statement. As the ice sheet moves across the Antarctic continent, it grinds across the rocky ground below, but every so often it gets a break, courtesy of sub-glacial lakes and rivers. Using satellite data, scientists have identified hundreds of lakes and rivers beneath the ice, some of which seemingly defy our expectations. In ordinary environments, water always flows downhill, following the pull of gravity. But in some parts of Antarctica, the immense pressure of surface ice forces rivers to flow uphill, moving from one sub-glacial lake to the next. Not only are these subsurface waterways exciting places for scientists to study, but they might also help biologists understand how alien life might exist on places like Europa, where liquid water covered by ice is the norm. There are more than 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, and scientists have confirmed the existence of microbial life in some of them. With no access to sunlight or the surface, microbes have to survive on whatever nutrients they can find in the sub-glacial water. At the boundary between rock and ice, scientists have discovered erosion pulverizing rock. As that happens, nutrients and minerals are released into the water. Those nutrients support methanotrophs which use methane to create energy, methanogens which create energy by converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane, bacteria which convert ammonium into nitrite and nitrate, and more. If there's a useful chemical in the sub-glacial waters, scientists have uncovered a microbe which uses it. In addition to low-lying valleys, covered lakes, and bizarre sub-glacial rivers, the Antarctic ice is also hiding massive mountain ranges. The Gamburtsev Mountains are roughly equivalent in scale to the European Alps, stretching for approximately 750 miles. A study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters reveals the range formed about half a billion years ago during the formation of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, when two continental plates smashed together. Since then, they've been relatively stable and they remain there today, buried in the ice. Today, any animal living on the Antarctic continent or in its coastal waters must be specially evolved to survive the harsh conditions of the planet's South Pole. Ice fish, for instance, have evolved clear blood lacking hemoglobin in order to survive in the frigid polar ocean. In the deep past, things were different. When Antarctica was part of Gondwana, it was positioned closer to Australia, further from the South Pole, and rotated about 90 degrees. The continent supported lush plant life and a robust ecosystem filled with dinosaurs, ancient marsupial mammals, marine reptiles, and a wide variety of plant life. Researchers have discovered fossil remains of wood, pollen, fungal spores, leaves, and mosses alongside ankylosaurs (armored dinosaurs), mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs (both marine reptiles). From more recent parts of the fossil record, scientists have uncovered ancient whales and dolphins, dating to about 4.5 million years ago. These days, Antarctica is a frozen desert, the only place on the planet too extreme for us to set down roots. But there's plenty to see and plenty to learn about the rest of the planet if you're willing to look deeper. John Carpenter's 1982 frozen thriller, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New ecosystem found after Chicago-sized chunk of Antarctica breaks off
(NewsNation) — An ecosystem in Antarctica may have existed for hundreds of years, researchers learned after an iceberg the size of Chicago broke off the continent, exposing an area previously inaccessible to humans. An international team of researchers with the Schmidt Ocean Institute was working in the Bellingshausen Sea, which is located on the west side of Antarctica, when an iceberg broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf on Jan. 13. The ice was 209 square miles in size, and when it detached, it revealed a whole new world. By Jan. 25, the explorers reached the sea floor, becoming the first to investigate this uncharted area. 'Being right there when this iceberg calved from the ice shelf presented a rare scientific opportunity,' said Schmidt Ocean Institute Executive Director Dr. Jyotika Virmani in a news release. 'Serendipitous moments are part of the excitement of research at sea – they offer the chance to be the first to witness the untouched beauty of our world.' 9-foot gator lassoed out of Louisiana home by police The team, which included scientists from the United States, Chile, Germany, Portugal, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, used a remotely operated vehicle, ROV SuBastian, to observe the deep seafloor for eight days. They found animal and marine life as deep as nearly 4,300 feet. The species in the newly discovered ecosystem include crustaceans, sponges, corals and octopus, many of them never seen before. 'The discovery offers new insights into how ecosystems function beneath floating sections of the Antarctic ice sheet,' the release said. 'We didn't expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem. Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years,' said expedition co-chief scientist Dr. Patricia Esquete at the University of Aveiro Portugal, in the release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'We didn't expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem': Hidden world of life discovered beneath Antarctic iceberg
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A gigantic iceberg that broke off of an Antarctic glacier has revealed a thriving never-before-seen ecosystem in the depths beneath. The iceberg A-84, which is roughly the size of Chicago, calved from Antarctica's George VI Ice Shelf on Jan. 13, 2025. After receiving news of the iceberg's movement from satellite imagery, scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor quickly hurried to the site. Just 12 days later, they arrived to find a never-before-seen ecosystem filled with giant sponges, fish, enormous sea spiders and octopuses exposed to the open air for the first time. "We seized upon the moment, changed our expedition plan, and went for it so we could look at what was happening in the depths below," expedition co-chief scientist Patricia Esquete, a marine biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, said in a statement. "We didn't expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem. Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years." What lies beneath Antarctica's roughly 500 feet (150 meters) of ice is scarcely known, but scientists have suspected that it is filled with a gigantic network of rivers, lakes and estuaries. Yet it wasn't until very recently that scientists discovered that this hidden underworld harbored life. Related: Scientists create new map showing ice-free Antarctica in more detail than ever before Without sunlight or nutrients raining down from above, this life is likely sustained by deep-sea ocean currents that slip beneath the surface of the shelf, although scientists are unsure if this is the only mechanism at play. RELATED STORIES —Ocean's 'heart' is slowing down — and it will affect the entire planet's circulation —Massive Antarctic icebergs' split from glaciers may be unrelated to climate change —When was the last time Antarctica was ice-free? To investigate the once-hidden biome, the scientists deployed a remotely operated submarine (named SuBastian), which — due to the thick ice blocking off GPS signals — navigated using sound waves to arrive at the ocean floor. Once there, the submarine collected biological and geological samples from among the region's coral and sea sponges. Some of these creatures' enormous sizes suggested they'd been growing for centuries. The researchers also deployed other autonomous vehicles to study how meltwater is affecting the region. "The science team was originally in this remote region to study the seafloor and ecosystem at the interface between ice and sea," Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, said in the statement. "Being right there when this iceberg calved from the ice shelf presented a rare scientific opportunity. Serendipitous moments are part of the excitement of research at sea — they offer the chance to be the first to witness the untouched beauty of our world."
Euronews
23-03-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Scientists were in Antarctica when a giant iceberg broke free. Here's what they found in its shadow
ADVERTISEMENT Giant sea spiders, ice fish and octopuses are among the surprisingly abundant creatures scientists have found in a stretch of sea that used to be covered by ice. An international team onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's Falkor (too) research vessel were on a trip around Antarctica earlier this year, studying 'the interface between ice and sea' when a rare opportunity suddenly opened up. On 13 January, an iceberg the size of Chicago named A-84 broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet. The remnants of a massive iceberg calving event, seen from Research Vessel Falkor (too). Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute 'We seized upon the moment, changed our expedition plan, and went for it so we could look at what was happening in the depths below,' says expedition co-chief scientist Dr Patricia Esquete from the University of Aveiro, Portugal. 'We didn't expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem. Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years.' Related World Glacier Day: UN warns of 'avalanche of cascading impacts' as ice melt increases What did the scientists find under the iceberg space? Pausing their work in the Bellingshausen Sea, the team reached the site of the vacated iceberg on 25 January, becoming the first to investigate an area never before accessible to humans. They carried out the first detailed study of the geology, physical oceanography and biology beneath such a large area once covered by a floating ice shelf. The ice that calved off of the sheet was approximately 510 square kilometres - exposing an equivalent area of seafloor . Patricia Esquete inspects a suspected new species of isopod that was sampled from the bottom of the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica. Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute Using Schmidt Ocean Institute's remotely operated vehicle , ROV SuBastian, the team observed the deep seafloor for eight days and found flourishing ecosystems at depths of 1,300 metres. Large corals and sponges were discovered supporting an array of animal life, including what the team suspect to be several new species - though it will take years to determine this. Related First ever footage of the Antarctic seabed reveals a thriving ecosystem threatened by ice melt Black snow, emissions and bird flu: How Antarctic cruises hurt more than they help How does life survive beneath a floating ice sheet? Little is known about what dwells beneath Antarctica's floating ice shelves. This expedition is the first to use an ROV to explore this remote environment. It offers new insights into how ecosystems can function in such submerged depths. Deep-sea ecosystems typically rely on nutrients from the surface slowly raining down to the seafloor, the Schmidt Ocean Institute explains. An octopus rests on the seafloor 1150 meters deep, in the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica, at an area where the shelf break and slope are cut by several underwater gullies. ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute However, these Antarctic ecosystems have been covered by 150-metre-thick ice for centuries, completely cut off from surface nutrients. Ocean currents also move nutrients, and the team says that currents are a possible mechanism for sustaining life beneath the ice sheet. The precise process is still a mystery, however. Related OceanXplorer: On board the billionaire's research vessel broadcasting from the deep sea 'Unique biodiversity': Scientists discover four new species of Octopus off the coast of Costa Rica What else does the Antarctic ice shelf expedition teach us? 'Serendipitous moments are part of the excitement of research at sea - they offer the chance to be the first to witness the untouched beauty of our world,' says Schmidt Ocean Institute executive director, Dr Jyotika Virmani. Although the stuff of marine researchers' dreams, the circumstances around the iceberg's breakaway are concerning. ADVERTISEMENT Iceberg calving is a normal occurrence for ice shelves. But climate change is accelerating the process, causing the ice sheet to shrink over the last few decades. 'The ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a major contributor to sea level rise worldwide,' says expedition co-chief scientist Sasha Montelli of the UK's University College London (UCL). the iceberg calved from George VI Ice Shelf in the Bellingshausen Sea on 19 January 2025. NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) The international team - comprising scientists from Chile, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, and the US - also used the opportunity to gather data on the ice sheet's past behaviour. And they deployed autonomous underwater vehicles called gliders to study the impacts of glacial meltwater on the region. Preliminary data suggest 'high biological productivity' and a strong meltwater flow from the George IV ice shelf . ADVERTISEMENT 'Our work is critical for providing longer-term context of these recent changes, improving our ability to make projections of future change - projections that can inform actionable policies,' says Montelli. 'We will undoubtedly make new discoveries as we continue to analyse this vital data,' she adds - so watch this space.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Massive iceberg breakaway exposes undiscovered creatures beneath Antarctic waters
Giant sea spiders, octopuses, ice fish, corals, and sponges—some likely to be hundreds of years old—were discovered in a newly exposed stretch of the ocean after a colossal iceberg, roughly 19 miles long, broke away from the Antarctic ice sheet on January 13. The event revealed a seabed that had been hidden from sunlight for decades, offering researchers aboard the vessel Falkor (too) a rare opportunity to explore uncharted deep-sea ecosystems. Led by Patricia Esquete, a researcher at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, the expedition team had modest expectations. 'It's the kind of event that when it happens, you leave whatever you're doing,' Esquete said. Given the thick ice cover, scientists doubted that much life could thrive in such an extreme environment. However, the seabed under the A-84 iceberg was teeming with biodiversity. The researchers estimate they may identify dozens of new species from the expedition. 'We were really surprised and amazed by the diverse and rich ecosystems we found down there,' Esquete said. The discovery, which was announced on Thursday, is crucial for understanding how deep-sea life may change on a warming planet, researchers said. Explorers discovered dozens of creatures, including crustaceans, snails, worms, and fish, under and around a massive Antarctic ice shelf. Over the course of nearly a month, researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to capture photos, record video, and collect specimens from some of Antarctica's deepest waters. The team also surveyed parts of the remote Bellingshausen Sea, beyond the ice sheet. Among the species that may be new to science are crustaceans, sea snails, worms, and fish. Confirming the discovery of new species will require months of detailed lab analysis, the researchers said. 'Most of the work starts now,' Esquete said. Since the beginning of an expedition off the coast of Chile last year, scientists from the Schmidt Ocean have identified more than 70 new species, including squat lobsters and marine snails, which were previously unknown to humankind. Scientists have been working to unravel the mystery of how life thrives beneath thick Antarctic ice. In most oceans, photosynthetic organisms supply nutrients by drifting down to sustain seafloor creatures. However, beneath the dark Antarctic ice, no such process occurs. Instead, researchers believe ocean currents, glacial meltwater, or another unknown factor may be providing the nourishment needed to sustain deep-sea life. 'This is all very much an area of active scientific research now because of this discovery,' Jyotika Virmani, head of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit that facilitated the research, said. The George VI Ice Shelf, from which the iceberg broke, has experienced significant melting in recent years, including a record-high surface melt in 2019–2020. Unlike most ice shelves that extend over the open ocean, George VI is wedged between the Antarctic Peninsula and Alexander Island, making it more stable despite extensive melting. Scientists believe past melt events have been driven by wind patterns bringing warm air to the surface and excessive cloud cover trapping heat.
