Antarctic Sea Ice: Biological Processes, Interactions and Variability

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Antarctic Research Series.

The 4 million to 20 million square kilometers of sea ice that surrounds the Antarctic continent represents one of the largest and most dynamic ecosystems on Earth. This sea ice matrix provides a habitat for a wide variety of organisms, some of which live their entire lives within the ice while others are only occasional visitors. Large grazers, such as copepods and krill which come to the sea ice to feed, represent important links between sea ice biota and the pelagic environment. Unfortunately, because of the inherent difficulty of sampling such an environment, many aspects of this unique habitat are still poorly understood. The purpose of this volume is to present new information about this ecosystem so that its role within the Antarctic food-web (and as a sink for carbon dioxide) and its susceptibility to environmental changes can be better understood.