NASA New Discovery: ICESCAPE Expedition Uncovers ‘Rainforest’ In Arctic Ocean [Video]
A NASA-sponsored expedition to the chilling waters of the Arctic Ocean has yielded a new discovery that scientists have compared to finding “a rainforest in the Sahara desert.”
The ISCESCAPE Expedition (Impacts of Climate on EcoSystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment) found that the water below the ice was full of microscopic marine plants which are essential to life in the region.
Paula Bontempi, NASA’s ocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager in Washington, said:
“Part of NASA’s mission is pioneering scientific discovery, and this is like finding the Amazon Rainforest in the middle of the Mojave Desert. We embarked on ICESCAPE to validate our satellite ocean-observing data in an area of the Earth that is very difficult to get to… We wound up making a discovery that hopefully will help researchers and resource managers better understand the Arctic.”
Scientists previously believed that the microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, only grew in the Arctic Ocean after the sea ice retreated for the Summer. Scientists now believe that the changing climate has thinned the Arctic ice, allowing sunlight to reach the dark waters below.
The findings from NASA’s new discovery were published today in the Journal Science.
Kevin Arrigo of Stanford University, the leader of the ICESCAPE mission, said:
“If someone had asked me before the expedition whether we would see under-ice blooms, I would have told them it was impossible. This discovery was a complete surprise…. At this point we don’t know whether these rich phytoplankton blooms have been happening in the Arctic for a long time and we just haven’t observed them before. These blooms could become more widespread in the future, however, if the Arctic sea ice cover continues to thin.”
Arigo said that the discovery may threaten large migratory sea animals. Arigo said:
“It could make it harder and harder for migratory species to time their life cycles to be in the Arctic when the bloom is at its peak. If their food supply is coming earlier, they might be missing the boat.”
Here’s a video about NASA’s new discovery.
Tags : Arctic Ocean, climate change, icescape, icescape expedition, nasa discovery, nasa new discovery, phytoplankton, rainforest
Posted: June 7, 2012
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Jun 7, 2012
Booring
Jun 7, 2012
Go away. Some of us actually like to learn.
Jun 7, 2012
how about a better future forecast of good or bad in this article.
Jun 7, 2012
you must have thought this was the miley cyrus wedding
Jun 7, 2012
ohhh NASA and climate change mentioned in one article…. brace yourselves for the attack of the stupid people!
Jun 7, 2012
Hey, look! There's sam21462 now!
Jun 7, 2012
This kind of stuff will kill us all. The ice keeps a lot of crap trapped. The ice melting will release mans death, if it hasn't already.
Jun 7, 2012
Perhaps you're only now able to see the blooms b/c the ice sheet has thinned? It's clear they don't know if they've just now discovered this or if it's a new phenomenon. Why don't scientists (or maybe "journalists" ) look at the whole picture anymore? It's all a slanted view that points to man being a problem. One of these days we'll all be standing around a bonfire freezing our butts off in August and laughing at Global Warming alarmists.
I did find it hilarious that Arctic Expeditions found evidence of vast forests in what we thought were permanent ice fields. Soon after, they quit calling it Global Warming and started calling it Climate Change. That way if the temperature dial goes in either direction we can still blame humans. I'll never understand why some people hate people so much.
Jun 7, 2012
I think thier on ice.
Jun 7, 2012
"Might,"" may," can,"" could,"" if?" Wow. What do we really know?
Jun 7, 2012
ALA AKBAR
Jun 7, 2012
ALA AKBAR
Jun 7, 2012
ALA AKBAR
Jun 7, 2012
…is that supposed to be a reference to john carpenter's "The thing" Or the movie "Alien vs predator"?
Jun 7, 2012
Maybe if they stop breaking up the ice the natural ocean currant will follow it natural coarse. And the ice will help keep the Arctic frozen. Can't help but notice the change started around the same time they began to breakup the ice to make studies.
Jun 7, 2012
warming leads to cooling. the ice age you suggest would actually bet spurred by global warming.
Jun 7, 2012
Its no surprise that the US government hires these SIFI writers to come up with these "how mankinds end will come stories". Guess its all for us stupid people?.. Maybe the stories are for dumbasses (scientist) that cant keep their noses out of places they dont belong. To quote another smart guy, "stupid is stupid does".
Jun 7, 2012
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Jun 7, 2012
And we wonder why things are so screwed up these day's…Yo, NASA! The moon and stars up way UP over there! Now down under, here. Duh-durr!
Jun 7, 2012
And we wonder why things are so screwed up these day's…Yo, NASA! The moon and stars are way UP over there! Not down under here. Duh-durr!
Jun 7, 2012
so what you're saying is that Summer leads to Winter. Yup…sounds like the natural course of things. Works as designed and intended by the One who made the seasons and controls the future.
Jun 8, 2012
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Jun 8, 2012
I totally agree. There is more speculation than science in this article. It seems like the firs explanation for anything new is "It must be caused by us destroying the world" or some such stupidity.
Jun 8, 2012
REALLY? SWEET!!!!!! FREAKING IDIOT!
Jun 8, 2012
News flash, plankton grows in the water…I've seen it, so it must be true. They act like you can't compleatly freeze plant plankton and then thaw it out a couple hundred or thousand years later and it reanimates.
Jun 8, 2012
News flash, plankton grows in the water…I've seen it, so it must be true. They act like you can't compleatly freeze plant plankton and then thaw it out a couple hundred or thousand years later and it reanimates.
Jun 8, 2012
Allways temp.s have had a tendance to seasonally rise and fall and moisture to drought or flood. This is natural and mankind dramatizing it is natural. it's the way to play the blame game and get your 15 minuites of fame. in my lifetime I have heard the doomsayers proclame ice age and global warming. in my opinion we should be focusing on cleaning up and careing for this planet before it becomes too late to fix it. as a race humans have done so much poluting on such a Large scale escalating so much over the last 200 years that if we don't, life will be unable to survive another 100.
Jun 8, 2012
I find it amazing that some people can not see or believe that humans have such power over the earth. 200 years ago there were vast expanses of trees, less than a billion people and barely any use of fossil fuels. Now there is less than half the amount of trees, over 7 billion people, and fossil fuels are being consumed at an enormous rate. Get your head out of your butt and understand that humans are the main threat to this planet. We pollute our air, our land, and our water. Rivers are unsafe to drink, the air is getting worse everyday, and our land suffers. And so do the many millions of species that share this planet with us. Pollution and over consumption have decimated hundreds, if not thousands, of aquatic species.
Jun 8, 2012
With the exception of mr jazzy, the rest of you sound like a bunch of closeted republican scum bags.
Jun 8, 2012
You're a moron and don't know how to read. Grats on being one of those dudes that alters facts in his head so he can understand them.
Jun 8, 2012
Thank GW for what NASA is reduced to.
Jun 8, 2012
Where did I, or for that matter anyone say, that pollution wasn't a threat? Or that cutting down the trees wasn't a problem, or any of your statements MrJazzy? The point that almost everyone was making is that the statements were vague, and frankly could have multiple reasons for what was occurring — we were pointing out that science really needs empirical data, not some bullshit analysis made up by someone to fit their own preconceptions.
Jun 8, 2012
Where did I, or for that matter anyone say, that pollution wasn't a threat? Or that cutting down the trees wasn't a problem, or any of your statements MrJazzy? The point that almost everyone was making is that the statements were vague, and frankly could have multiple reasons for what was occurring — we were pointing out that science really needs empirical data, not some bullshit analysis made up by someone to fit their own preconceptions.
Jun 8, 2012
Chill out Brian.. You're being a tool
Jun 9, 2012
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