Site of the Week
Diving Under Antarctic Ice http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/nsf/
This week’s site is a fascinating collection of pictures and in-depth information from expeditions into the dark and cold of Antarctic waters. With a good balance between text and graphics, the site takes you down through the ice and into another world, where specially adapted microbes flourish, fish rely on anti-freeze, and many types of species grow to abnormally large sizes.
The gallery is filled with stunning photographs, divided into sections: from the physical features of vast icebergs and sunbeams shining through cracks in the ice sheet, through to the organisms found down in the depths, from giant jellyfish to weddell seals. Some of the pictures will take your breath away, as you try to fathom the scale of the photo and notice the tiny diver and his torch beam next to a gargantuan stalactite.
The field guides section has photos and descriptions of all the wildlife to be found under the ice, from Emperor penguins and killer whales to smaller more bizarre creatures of the deep. Pycnogonids, or sea spiders, for example, have virtually no body, all their internal organs being kept neatly packaged inside their long legs.
On top of all this you’ll find reams of information about the scientists and photographers who went down into the dangerous cold waters to bring the pictures back. Taking pictures under Antarctic ice is an extreme activity, and you can read amazing accounts of photography in subzero, underwater, pitch-black remote conditions, taking the technology involved to its limits. The equipment needed to dive in these extreme conditions is, not surprisingly, no less specialised. You can find out about the whole process of diving, including the not-insignificant task of getting through six feet of ice in order to get to the water in the first place. All in all, an absolutely incredible website - wrap up warm, though.
Richard Northover
Info-content *** Readability *** Appearance *** User friendliness *** Kids ** Plug-ins none