The Cryobenthos
The underside of the Antarctic shelf-ice covers more than 1.5 Mio km2 thus approximately equal to the surface of Western Europe, yet due to its inaccessibility hardly anything is known about this unique ecosystem endemic to the Southern Ocean.
For the first time, we explore systematically this so-called Cryobenthos with the help of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) that document the organisms that colonise the shelfice underside at waterdepths of 200m and more and temperatures of -2°C using video footage and environmental DNA (eDNA).
Additional information is gathered by Weddell seals equipped with camera loggers that visit the cryobenthos.
