life on the sea floor

Rapid climate change is threatening marine communities, but scientists have found that marine life is flourishing in Antarctic fjords despite warming in the region.

Marine biologists have, for the first time, found a whale skeleton on the ocean floor near Antarctica, giving new insights into life in the sea depths. The discovery was made almost a mile below the surface in an undersea crater and includes the find of at least nine new species of deep-sea organisms thriving on the bones.

The location of an underwater volcanic vent, marked by a low-lying plume of shimmering water, has been revealed by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.

Even in the dark abyss of the deep ocean animal communities can undergo rapid, widespread and radical changes. Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre are at the forefront of monitoring these changes and understanding the mechanisms responsible. Their latest research is published in a special issue of the journal Deep Sea Research II.