Posted on 02/14/2018 2:20:20 PM PST by Red Badger
A huge, trillion-ton iceberg about the size of Delaware broke free from Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf in July 2017. As it moved away from its chilly birth mom and into the Weddell Sea, a vast expanse of water saw the light for the first time in up to 120,000 years.
And this month, a team of scientists will venture to the long-ice-buried expanse to investigate the mysterious ecosystem that was hidden beneath the Antarctic ice shelf for so long.
The newly exposed seabed stretches across an area of about 2,246 square miles (5,818 square kilometers), according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which is leading the expedition. The scientists consider their journey "urgent," as they hope to document the system before sunlight begins to change at least the surface layers.
"The calving of A-68 [from the Larsen C Ice Shelf] provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to a dramatic environmental change. It's important we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water and new species begin to colonize," Katrin Linse, of the British Antarctic Survey, said in a statement.
What lies beneath?
Scientists know little about the possibly alien-like life that has taken up residence beneath Antarctica's ice shelf. What they do know comes from similar calving events in the past: Chunks of ice broke off the Larsen A and B shelves (located north of Larsen C on the Antarctic Peninsula) in 1995 and 2002, respectively. Two German expeditions to those "newly" exposed areas revealed sparse life. However, it took five to 12 years for the expeditions to make it to those areas, and by that time creatures from other areas had made their way to both spots, Live Science previously reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
https://www.livescience.com/59706-antarctica-iceberg-size-estimated.html
Really interesting. Hope they put up their findings.
120,000 years ago? Wow! That was before 118,000 B.C.E.! /rimshot
Thanks Red Badger.
Long live Cthulhu!
If volcanic activity caused the calving it might yield some interesting results.
I've seen this movie........It doesn't end well..................
Cool, blast from the Diver-Dan past!
Was that the Kurt Russell flick?
No, the prequel from 2011..................
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(2011_film)
It covers what happened to the Norwegian scientists that were chasing the dog with the helicopter, just prior to the events of the Kurt Russell movie.................
Was it any good?
I liked the Kurt Russell flick.
Yes, I thought so.
The fake Norwegian accents are kind funny at times...............
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
