Introducing Antarctic life – microalgae

RNZ science communicator Dr Claire Concannon introduces the Life! podcast in this short video for her Voice of the Sea Ice series.

This third episode explores the microalgae communities on, in and below the sea ice. Claire interviews scientists researching how changes in sea ice and climate will impact these communities that make up an important part of the Antarctic food web.

Transcript

Dr Claire Concannon

From underneath, Antarctic sea ice can sometimes look like fluffy green clouds. It’s kind of pretty, but more importantly, these green clouds are a vital part of the complex food web that supports all Antarctic life.

Kia ora, I’m Claire Concannon, and in a new series, Voice of the Sea Ice, we learn about the life to be found on, under and in Antarctic ice.

The fluffy green clouds at the bottom of the sea ice are phytoplankton, or microalgae communities – the base of the food chain here. They take up sunlight and turn it into food. To investigate which microalgae are around and what nutrients they’re contributing, researchers have to sample the bottom of the sea ice and the big ice crystals, called platelet ice, found below it.

To do this, they drill into the ice and then use a complicated coring system to grab the ice and ocean water.

These researchers spent 3 weeks out on the sea ice, living and working here, to try answer questions about what will happen to the microalgae as the sea ice cycle changes.

Learn more about these Antarctic meadows by listening to the Voice of the Sea Ice podcast.

Acknowledgements

This video is courtesy of RNZ. It is from the Voice of the Sea Ice podcast series by Dr Claire Concannon. The series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.