the South PoleWhen taking the camera to a depth of hundreds of meters below the ice shelf, experts were amazed to discover many creatures living in this dark place.
The wormhole leads down to the river under the ice in Antarctica. Image: Craig Stevens/NIWA
Scientists at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) used hot water hoses to penetrate the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, and discovered a subglacial river about 10.5 kilometers long. , over 274 m wide, 244 m deep, Cnet on 7/6 reported.
“Imagine this place like Sydney Harbour, but under 600 meters of ice and snow. It’s completely dark down there because it’s too deep for sunlight to reach and it’s also extremely cold,” said Craig Stevens, an oceanographer at NIWA. , said.
This is not an ideal place for creatures to live. However, when the camera was dropped, the researchers were surprised to find the river filled with creatures of the Soft Armor (Amphipoda). These shrimp-like crustaceans swam around in the light of the camera lights.
“The fact that they’re swimming around our camera shows that there’s definitely an important ecological process going on there. We’ll investigate further by analyzing water samples to check for things like nutrients.” , Stevens said.
The world of Soft Armor creatures hidden under the ice shelf. Video: Craig Stevens/NIWA
The world below Antarctica still holds many mysteries because accessing such columns of water or rivers under the ice is especially difficult. Scientists must battle the weather, drilling or melting thick ice to bring down drones or cameras. That is why the Endurance, the famous ship of explorer Ernest Shackleton, disappeared for more than a century in Antarctica.
“To a certain extent, everything was so new that we could simply drop the camera with ropes and capture scenes we’d never seen before,” says Stevens.
One question for the creatures discovered under the Ross Ice Shelf is what provides them with nutrients. “That’s probably what intrigued us the most,” he said.
This is the right time to study the uncharted territory of Antarctica and ask such questions. Parts of Antarctica are warming faster than anywhere else. This could facilitate the arrival of alien species, damaging fragile ecosystems that have long been isolated from the rest of the world.
Stevens says the first step to understanding the importance of these subglacial rivers to Antarctica is to find out how they are similar and different from normal rivers. The team plans to analyze the water sample and test for nutrients. This could help them understand how living things thrive in places far from light and open oceans.
Thu Thao (Follow Cnet)
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