New Zealand scientists ‘jumping up and down’ at find during investigation of climate-induced melt of ice shelf
Antarctica New Zealand supported researchers from universities in Wellington, Auckland and Otago, the National Institute of Water and Atmospherics and Geological and Nuclear Sciences to investigate what role the estuary could play in climate-induced ice-shelf melt.
“For a while, we thought something was wrong with the camera, but when the focus improved, we noticed a swarm of arthropods around 5mm in size,” said Niwa’s Craig Stevens.Photograph: NIWA / Craig Stevens “We were jumping up and down because having all those animals swimming around our equipment means that there’s clearly an important ecosystem there.”
Researchers have been aware of a network of hidden freshwater lakes and rivers below the Antarctic ice sheets for some time but they have yet to be directly surveyed, Horgan said.Instruments had been left in the river to observe its behaviour, he said, while lab researchers would investigate what makes the water unique.