A group of New Zealand scientists is studying the effects of climate change on glaciers Antarctica Made a breakthrough discovery by chance. While searching for the mouth of a glacier on the Ross Ice Shelf, scientists have discovered a hidden and noisy world of crustaceans.

Under a layer of ice 500 meters thick, scientists have found an ecosystem that contains a lot of crustaceans, the size of which is about 5 mm.. The researchers themselves at first could not believe their eyes.

– We thought for a moment there was something wrong with the camera. But when we sharpened the photo, we saw a swarm of arthropods about 5 mm in size – One of the expedition members, Craig Stevens of New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), told The Guardian.

Scientists did not expect such a scene under a thick layer of iceScientists did not expect such a view under a thick layer of ice – Craig Stevens / NIWA / Craig Stevens

Scientists themselves were surprised by this discovery. They did not think that they would make such a discovery by digging deep into the ice sheet. – We’ve already done research on other parts icy And we thought we knew a lot already, but this time there were some big surprises – said Craig Stevens, citing the Guardian.

– We jump for joy because seeing these animals swimming around our devices shows that we have truly discovered an important ecosystem – Craig Stevens added.

The researchers identified the small creatures as Amphipoda, a row of shellfish in groups of armor. These crustaceans are similar to shrimp and live even at the deepest depths.

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– Being able to observe and sample this river is the feeling of being the first to discover a hidden world – said Ho Horgan of Victoria University of Wellington, who led the campaign.

Scientists left their equipment under a layer of ice to observe the behavior of the newly discovered marine creatures. They also delivered water samples to the lab to get a closer look at its composition.

Source: theguardian.com

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