An international team on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too), working in the Bellingshausen Sea, rapidly pivoted their research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice,
An international team on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too), working in the Bellingshausen Sea, rapidly pivoted their research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice, revealing flourishing ecosystems at depths as great as 1300 meters.
On January 13, 2025, an iceberg the size of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet. The team reached the newly exposed seafloor on January 25 and became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.
The expedition was the first detailed, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary study of the geology, physical oceanography, and biology beneath such a large area once covered by a floating ice shelf. The ice that calved was approximately 510 square kilometers (209 square miles), revealing an equivalent area of seafloor.
Using Schmidt Ocean Institute’s remotely operated vehicle, ROV SuBastian, the team observed the deep seafloor for eight days and found flourishing ecosystems at depths as great as 1300 meters. Their observations include large corals and sponges supporting an array of animal life, including icefish, giant sea spiders, and octopus. The discovery offers
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