Fossil of ‘Real Loch Ness Monster’ Found in Antarctica
Scientists recently discovered the petrified remains of a 70-million-year-old elasmosaurus in Antarctica, which once weighed as much as 15 tons, making it one of the largest of its kind. Fossil hunters call the find a real Lock Ness monster, as many believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur, like an elasmosaurus. It is now one of the most complete ancient reptile fossils ever discovered.
German researchers have uncovered marine life along the Antarctic seabed for the first time in decades after a massive iceberg calved off the continental ice sheet last month.
The iceberg, named A-74, loosened about two weeks ago and began to drift through Lake Weddell.
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As the only research vessel in the area, the research icebreaker Polarstern took the opportunity to explore and penetrated the gap between the A-74 and the Brunt Ice Shelf.
Life on Antactic Seafloor, where the giant iceberg A74 from the Brunt ice shelf (the eastern Weddellsee) calved two weeks before scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute and international colleagues arrived in the area with RV Polarstern. Photos taken with OFOBS (Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System). A sea genome with a diameter of 10 cm uses a small stone as a substrate. Various shrimp and small fish can be part of this diet among crustaceans.
(ALFRED-WEGENER INSTITUTE)
The team consists of scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and other international partners.
“One-time photos” captured by the crew revealed that an “incredible level of biodiversity and that seabed sediment samples” are expected to provide more detailed insights into the ecosystem. ‘
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In addition, geochemical analysis of the water samples collected will allow conclusions to be drawn regarding its nutrient content and ocean currents.
Video footage and an extensive collection of photographs taken with the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (OFOBS) exposed life deep below the surface and surrounded numerous organisms surrounded by a bad landscape.
The OFOBOS ocean floor observation and bathmetry system aboard the Polarstern research vessel
(ALFRED-WEGENER INSTITUTE)
The majority of these creatures were filters, although experts also found sea cucumbers, starfish, mollusks, at least five fish species and two squid species.
Hundreds of marine species live in Antarctic waters, but as LiveScience reported Friday, the presence of stationary filter feeders eating phytoplankton – which rely on sunshine for photosynthesis – meters below the ice was surprising.
AWI noted in the release that the research was necessary to better understand calving events and that it is rarely near an area that is ice-free and comes in contact with sunlight – especially for icebergs as large as A-74.
The team also stationed research buoys in the area to collect data on the temperature, salinity and ocean current of the water.
This is a step they believe will help scientists make more accurate climate models for the region, as Antarctica continues to lose ice mass at an alarming rate.
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“These data form the basis for our simulations of how the ice sheet will respond to climate change. As a result, we can say with a higher degree of certainty how fast sea levels will rise in the future – and the political community and society in the generally with good data to make decisions about the necessary measures for adapting to climate change, “said the physical oceanographer and Dr.