Life and Environment in Antarctica

Emperor penguins are some of the few native inhabitants of Antarctica. These emperors are living in the Ross Sea area, on the Pacific side of Antarctica. This picture was taken in November of 1997 when the sea ice was still intact. The emperors prefer to hang out at the ice edge, where they can escape predators, but also have access to food provided by the ocean.

Weddell seals are also present throughout the year. In the winter time they live under the sea ice, occasionally catching breath through breathing holes or cracks in the ice. In November they give birth to puppies, just before summer starts. Check out a movie of Weddell seals shot on Dec. 14, 2006 on behalf of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life.

A satellite image of the southern Ross Sea area best illustrates the winter conditions these animals have to conquer. Emperors stay in the Antarctic throughout the year. This image was taken in the Antarctic Spring in November of 2004 and shows the snow-covered Transantarctic Mountains to the left, including the Dry Valleys (Image from NASA). The dark area to the right is open water and thin sea ice. In this area, storms blow the sea ice apart. A fringe of thick fast ice is present along the coast of the Transantarctic Mountains and in the McMurdo Sound area to the south. A large iceberg is visible to the north of Ross Island that had broken off the Ross Ice Shelf a year earlier.

In the Winter and Spring icebergs lay frozen into the sea ice. This iceberg is about 50 metres high, but some may be even higher and of much greater length. Believe it or not, but icebergs are rich in food for marine organisms! Icebergs originate from calving glaciers, an active process in the Summer time. Glacier scrape a lot of dirt from the rocks underneath them. The dirt also gets into the icebergs, which are no more than broken off pieces of glaciers. The dirt in the icebergs forms an important source of food for small marine organisms which then attract large animals that feed on them. So the icebergs play an important role in the Antarctic food web.

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