Getting to the bottom of Antarctica’s mysteries

RT -

It takes a certain kind of stamina to plunge into an icy ocean, but it is all in a day's work for the determined divers of Antarctica.

­A backwards plunge into frigid Antarctic waters certainly is not for the timid, but it’s a regular kind of experience for scientists working here – and all in the name of science.

“The main purpose of our trip to Antarctica is to establish a foundation for monitoring different species living on the bottom of the ocean,” Boris Sirenko, a marine scientist from the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg, told RT. “We are studying the distribution of animals that live there, and we are studying their nature.”

Each day during the short summer season, a Russian research crew makes multiple trips out to sea where they get a first-hand look at what is below the surface.

“In this case, one species in the same biological community stretches from a depth of five to almost 50 meters,” a member of the crew explains. “There are certain variations but mostly the picture is the same. It’s impossible to say anything now. It’s too early to draw any conclusions. We’ve got too little information – just one sectional view.”

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