Extreme extremophiles: phytoplankton under Antarctic ice (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, November 17, 2022, 15:42 (738 days ago) @ David Turell

A difficult study:

https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-blooms-of-microscopic-life-seem-to-be-thriving-benea...

"The Southern Ocean's vast shelves of floating ice appear to hide sprawling blooms of phytoplankton, a discovery that could significantly change our understanding of Antarctica's marine ecosystem and how it might be impacted by climate change.

"Key to phytoplankton growth is photosynthesis, and key to photosynthesis is sunlight – and so up to this point experts didn't think there was much opportunity for the plankton to thrive in the dark conditions under Antarctic ice shelves.

"However, there have been recent discoveries of phytoplankton blooms under Arctic ice, created as the glaciers become more fragmented, more seasonal, thinner, and more susceptible to melting water. That prompted researchers to take a fresh look at Antarctica.

"Field work was carried out using floating measuring instruments, with the collected data combined with satellite data of sea ice coverage and outputs from climate models to estimate the amount of phytoplankton that might extend beneath the ice, hidden from view.

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"As phytoplankton communities contain significant quantities of tiny algae, they typically represent the very bottom of the food chain in the ocean – variations in their availability and coverage can have a significant effect on the rest of the aquatic life in the area."

Comment: the finding is not a surprise, considering all the harsh places life is found.