Scientists Accidentally Discovered Strange Creatures Under Half a Mile of Ice

Researchers drilled through an Antarctic ice shelf to sample sediment. But they found animals that weren’t supposed to be there.

BY MATT SIMON

 Scientists Accidentally Discovered Strange Creatures Under Half a Mile of IceThe camera descended beneath the ice, and found something researchers didn’t expect: life. DR HUW GRIFFITHS/BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEYIn This StoryDESTINATION GUIDEAntarctica

This story was originally published in Wired and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration.

BIVOUACKED IN THE MIDDLE OF the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf—a five-hour flight from the nearest Antarctic station—nothing comes easy. Even though it was the southern summer, geologist James Smith of the British Antarctic Survey endured nearly three months of freezing temperatures, sleeping in a tent, and eating dehydrated food. The science itself was a hassle: To study the history of the floating shelf, he needed seafloor sediment, which was locked under a half mile of ice.

To get to it, Smith and his colleagues had to melt 20 tons of snow to create 20,000 liters of hot water, which they then pumped through a pipe lowered down a borehole. It took them 20 hours to melt through the ice inch by inch, finally piercing through the shelf.

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Next, they lowered an instrument to collect the sediment, along with a GoPro camera. But the collector came back empty. They tried once more. Still empty. Again, nothing comes easy here: Each round trip of the instrument took an hour……..More Here

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