After decades of riding icebreakers in Antarctica's icy waters hoping to better understand the fragile ecosystem on and around this frigid continent scientists have begun delegating data collection to satellite-guided robotic subs. The hope is that these sea gliders, which can dive hundreds of meters and stay in the water for months at a time, will help to unlock the secrets of phytoplankton blooms that nourish the organisms in Antarctica's Ross Sea for a few months each year before mysteriously disappearing.
There are neither green plants in Antarctica nor macro-algae in the surrounding waters, says Vernon Asper, a marine science professor at the University of Southern Mississippi's (U.S.M.) Department of Marine Science at the NASA Stennis Space Center. "Essentially, everything that eats, lives and breathes in Antarctica is fed from phytoplankton in the ocean."
To read the full, original article click on this link: Bloom with a View: Robot Subs Help Researchers Study Mysterious Antarctic Sea Life [Slide Show]: Scientific American
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