Antarctica is one of the remaining frontiers for exploration on the planet. The Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica's vast wedge of floating ice that shields the Southern Ocean's southernmost extension, is the subject of the investigation.
The frozen Zanskar River gleams in the chilly Himalaya Mountains during the winter. Many ice painters have transformed this already stunning environment into something much more breathtaking.
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During an exploratory survey, researchers drilled through 900 meters of ice in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, located on the southeastern Weddell Sea. Very few species have ever been observed under these environments at a distance of 260 km from the open ocean, in total darkness and with temperatures of -2.2 ° C.
More than what they were expecting The purpose of the mission is to gather sediment samples. Yet, this work ended up being the first to discover the presence of stationary creatures clinging to a rock on the seafloor - close to sponges and possibly other previously unknown species. This discovery is one of those fortunate accidents that pushes ideas in a different direction and shows us that Antarctic marine life is incredibly special and amazingly adapted to a frozen world, says Dr. Huw Griffiths, biogeographer and lead author of the British Antarctic Survey.
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Antarctica is often perceived as nothing more than a lifeless barren of cold. A frozen dessert. However, not many are aware of the booming and flourishing population of Weddel seals that dominated the waters of the frozen south. There, they create a soundscape that a lot of creatures, especially humans, are unaware of.
(Photo : Vassil Tzvetano on Wikimedia Commons)
These pinnipeds typically emit high-pitched pings that sound like laser guns in a science-fiction movie. But that is not their entire repertoire. Research reveals that a significant portion of their calls is at ultrasonic frequencies, high pitches well beyond the 20-kilohertz limit of most human hearing.