Over the period of two months, Expedition Antarctica took to the waters across the Southern Ocean and beyond to learn more about the frozen desert surrounding the South Pole. On board New Zealand’s research vessel RV Tangaroa, an international team used state-of-the-art technology to scan the seabed. The Aegis imaging system allowed scientists to capture fascinated images like nothing seen before.
While the mission is still ongoing, “The Secrets of Antarctica” documentary was released on YouTube in July revealing the amazing finds to date.
The series revealed how the team breached the ice to take a closer look at the marine life that inhabits these bitter waters.
The narrator revealed: “Having braved ice storms, broken equipment and rough seas for almost two months, the team braces itself for the most high-pressured assignment of them all.
“They will delve 3,500 metres into the abyssal plain, a depth almost as high as the Swiss Alps.
“It will endure 300 times more pressure than we experience every day.
“Suddenly the abyssal plain reveals itself, it looks barren, like the surface of Mars, but a closer look reveals life that no one has ever witnessed in Antarctica at all.”
The water was teeming with lifeforms the scientists had never seen before,
They wanted a closer look at some of the marine life and so sent down a fishing net.
The narrator added: “The team take the opportunity to trawl the bottom, having set up more than 5,000 metres of cable into the sea.
JUST IN: Yellowstone tsunami: How earthquake avalanche launched 30ft waves over park
“We don’t know how many are down there, we don’t know how common this is.
“But I have never seen anything like this before.”
During the same series, a 15 million-year-old discovery was also uncovered after digging 440 metres below the ice.
The documentary explained: “They recover a 12-foot length of core, wrap it in a protective cover before workers carefully carry it back to the lab to be examined.
“When they crack it open, it’s in perfect condition.
“This mud and rock is more valuable than gold because each core is a time machine.
“We’re currently down to the depth of body 440 metres, that’s about a quarter-mile down corresponding to a time at least 15 million years ago when Antarctica was still warm.
“As the cores are recovered, each section is sliced lengthwise, X-rayed and scanned in labs at the drill site and back at McMurdo.”