First scientific expedition to newly exposed Antarctic ecosystem
A international team of scientists heads to Antarctica to investigate a mysterious marine ecosystem that's been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years. Marine biologist Ann Vanreusel (Ghent University) is one of them. The iceberg known as A68, which is four times of London, calved off from the Larsen Ice Shelf in July 2017. The scientists will travel by ship to collect samples from the newly exposed seabed, which covers an area of around 5,818 km2. It is an urgent mission. The ecosystem that's likely been hidden beneath the ice for thousands of years may change as sunlight starts to alter the surface layers of the sea. The international team, from nine research institutes is led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
