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Article: Voyages into the Antarctic winter: pioneering cruises into the pack ice of the Southern Ocean reveal secrets of its fertile ecosystem.
- Article from:
- Oceanus
- Article date:
- September 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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At the extreme end of the Earth, Antarctica is a vast, rocky continent, mostly ice-covered and barren. Surrounding Antarctica, the Southern Ocean is equally vast, cold, and ice-covered. But unlike the land, it teems with life, ranging from microscopic plankton to top predators: whales, seals, penguins, fish, and sea birds.
The region's fecundity is fueled by 24-hour-a-day sunlight in summer, combined with ocean currents that bring essential nutrients. These provide the ingredients for rich blooms of microscopic marine plants and animals at the base of the food chain--phytoplankton and zooplankton--that are similar to those in many productive regions of the ...