From the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research:
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) remain an efficient technology to uncover the secrets of Antarctic seafloor fauna.As a precursor to the International Polar Year 2007/2008, the current Polarstern expedition conducted by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine research releases short seafloor video clips taken by ROV only a few hours after the robot has been recovered.
ROVs have become the standard non-invasive imaging tool for biologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute.
For the current expedition, devoted to the study of continental shelf seafloor communities, which were once under the recently collapsed Larsen B ice-shelf, the ROV model Cherokee was selected. …
The first ROV footage, in relatively deep water, revealed an unusual environment characterized by pebble fields and rocks that have been scoured by ice over thousands of years.
Delicate pink hydrocorals and various echinoderms were particularly conspicuous.
Recently ice-scoured areas of the seafloor were completely devoid of life. …
“During the subsequent weeks researchers will try to answer the following question: What kind of biodiversity change do we expect after the collapse of the Larsen A/B ice-shelf, will an originally impoverished fauna flourish, or will species go extinct? ” said Julian Gutt.
