However, I now realize that retreat of the ice sheet may also impact a unique ecosystem." "I have spent my scientific career studying how this ice sheet may contribute to future global sea level rise. "It is fascinating to see so much marine vertebrate and invertebrate life so far away from the open ocean and right where the West Antarctic Ice Sheet goes afloat," said Slawek Tulaczyk, a chief scientist with the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project and a professor of Earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz. The surprising discovery of fish in waters that are extremely cold (-2 degrees Celsius, 28 degrees Fahrenheit) and perpetually dark poses new questions about the ability of life to thrive in extreme environments. Data gathered from samples of sediment taken in the grounding zone will provide clues about the mechanics of ice sheets and their potential effects on sea-level rise.Ĭameras sent down the drilling hole also revealed an unsuspected population of fish and invertebrates living beneath the ice sheet, the farthest south that fish have ever been found. Using a specially designed hot-water drill to cleanly bore through a half mile of ice, a team including researchers from UC Santa Cruz has become the first ever to reach and sample the "grounding zone" of an Antarctic ice sheet, where ice, land, and sea all converge.
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