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Light and life beneath Antarctic sea ice

“Beneath Antarctic sea ice, wondrous life forms dwell under a ceiling of ice and algal meadows. Light defines these unique and key ecosystems and they delight us with optical phenomena of remarkable beauty”

An IMAS-led team of researchers has shared unique footage of the marine life that thrives beneath Antarctic sea ice in a new short film, "Life Beneath the Ice".

The video shows highlights of two consecutive Antarctic field seasons by a team of scientists led by Dr Andrew Martin and Dr Vanessa Lucieer from IMAS and Ken Ryan (Victoria University of Wellington), and including Dr Klaus Meiners (AAD), Dr Zbynek Malenovsky (UTAS) and IMAS PhD students Emiliano Cimoli and Fraser Kennedy.



The researchers used state of the art under-ice surveillance systems to track the abundance and physiological status of sea-ice microbial communities, which are a key part of the Antarctic food chain.

The team’s second field trip to Cape Evans on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in December 2019 saw them spend three weeks conducting one of the most ambitious light manipulation experiments ever carried out.

Under ice viewBy randomly allocating 5m2 perspex panels of different transparencies and color compositions on the surface of sea ice (Pictured, above and below right. Credit:  Emiliano Cimoli & Leigh Tait), they created a wide range of different light availability conditions for the algae thriving beneath the ice.

The driver behind Dr Martins’ idea was to provide a window into future conditions of Antarctic sea ice by simulating changes in ice and snow thickness. Modifying light dynamics drastically changed the structure, physiological status and abundance of the algal communities beneath each different coloured panel.

This project aligns with the ‘Six priorities for Antarctic science’ outlined by the internationally science community whereby researchers will need to develop autonomous vehicles and observatories in miniaturized forms to transmit data for months or years remotely.

Research siteDr Lucieer said the team consolidated the development of hyperspectral imaging (HI) systems to map a range of biological and physical properties of the under-ice environment pioneered by the team in their previous expedition(See image, below left, HI camera array. Credit Emiliano Cimoli)

“With HI, we can create an image that comprises a highly resolved light spectrum and which goes beyond the range visible to the human eye,” Dr Lucieer said.

“This allows the method to assess the abundance of algae and eventually could help us to understand if they are healthy or not.

“In this second field season, we refined the system to overcome challenges experienced in previous years, and took advantage of the different light conditions created by the perspex panels to understand how the technology responds under diverse conditions.

HI camera set-up“The vast amount of information gathered during this research will not only help understanding of the role of light as a major ecosystem driver but also provide key insights to further enhance the methodology the team has been developing in recent years.

“The video captured by the team will show the public a new landscape that exists beneath the remoteness of Antarctic fast ice.

“The role of light, and how this enables life beneath the ice, gifts us with a show of mesmerizing beauty.

“It’s a landscape beyond our imagination, typically hidden by immense sheets of ice but nonetheless of critical importance to Antarctic and Southern Ocean life,” Dr Lucieer said.

Dr Lucieer said the project was jointly funded by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Initiative (NZARI) and the Australian Research Council funded Antarctic Gateway Partnership (AGP), and was accomplished with the support of Arko Lucieer (UTAS), Lars Christian Lund-Hansen (Aarhus University, Denmark), and Ian Hawes (University of Waikato).

Authorised by the Executive Director, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
28 October, 2022