About 25% of 14 thousand km2 of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica, unclasped about a week ago, creating huge icebergs that are beginning to disperse by the South Ocean.

A team of scientists from several countries, including Gareth Pearson, researcher at the Centre of Marine Sciences at the University of Algarve, was in an expedition on the ship "Hesperides” to Antarctica. The ship sailed to where the platform ice fell in order to study the impact of the recent fragmentation of the Wilkins platform on ecosystems. The latest results of scientific research show that the western part of the Antarctica continent is warming up very quickly, which led to the shedding of ice from the shelf platform.
The coincidence between the expedition, under the ATOS project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the ice block break is seen as an opportunity to investigate the effects that such episodes can have in terms of marine ecosystems, said Jordi Dachs, the lead scientist of the expedition to Antarctica.
Gareth Pearson, the CCMAR researcher, has taken part of this expedition to explore the communities of phytoplankton, through a project funded by FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology).

The scientist notes that many of the pieces of ice in this area present a colour due to the presence of dense phytoplankton community, indicating that primary production by photosynthesis is very high in this area, especially after the ice collapse. This productivity seems to have increased rapidly through the food chain to reach the top predators such as leopard seals and whales, species that were quite abundant. According to the captain, the navigation in this area must be very careful because the sea bottom topography, previously covered by an ice shelf, is poorly known. These waters have a depth of about 150 to 300 meters and may contain icebergs measuring more than 200 meters. The expedition includes scientists from Spain (CSIC), Portugal (CCMAR), UK, (University of Lancaster), Canada (University of Quebec and Montereal) and USA (University of Harvard).
This expedition, at the end of the International Polar Year (celebrated between 2007 and 2009), has witnessed the greatest loss of polar ice documented so far, so scientists expect to publish the results of their investigation as soon as possible, so as to share with the whole society their concerns and the urgent need to act quickly.

Additional material: Press release