A "hidden world" found beneath an Antarctica glacier

Researchers from the universities of Wellington, Auckland and Otago, the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (Niwa) and Geological and Nuclear Sciences in New Zealand have discovered a "hidden world" of shrimp-like aquatic life in Antarctica. It is located 500 meters below the ice shelf in a huge cathedral-like cave.

According to the Express, scientists have been studying the impact of global warming on the proposed estuary. They drilled through the shelf ice into the river below and, pointing a camera down, saw tiny amphipods swarming. These are organisms that come from the same family as lobsters and crabs.

"For a while we thought there was something wrong with the camera, but when the focus improved, we noticed a swarm of arthropods about 5 mm in size. We've done experiments in other parts of the shelf glacier and thought we had everything figured out, but this time we had big surprises. We were jumping up and down in joy because all these animals swimming around our equipment means that there is clearly an important ecosystem there," Craig Stevens of NIWA said.

The estuary was first seen by the project's lead scientist, Huw Horgan from Wellington's Te Herenga Waka Victoria University. He noticed the depression in the ice while studying satellite images of the glacier.

Only verified information on our Telegram channel Obozrevatel. Don't fall for fakes!