Abstract:
The water under the Ross Ice Shelf was investigated over two seasons through a hole drilled in the ice. In the first season, an ice hole near White Island was used to access the water under the ice shelf. A temperature-depth recorder was used to investigate the microstructure of the water under the Ross Ice Shelf with a view to understanding the mixing processes. A special dredge was designed to
... operate through the small diameter access hole. A good collection of benthic organisms and sediment were taken from the sea floor beneath the ice shelf. The evidence that a copepods fauna exists under the ice was investigated. In the second season, a bathythermograph was used to gain a temperature profile of the water column under the Ross Ice Shelf. Two profiles were measured and each drop took approximately 90 minutes from the start to finish. The profiles show warmer water near the seafloor and cooler water directly under the ice shelf. In addition, samples of seafloor dwelling organisms were collected from the same hole but also through holes blasted in the sea ice near Scott Base. A special dredge was again used and a single sample was collected from under the ice shelf - no living matter was found in the sample - and 5 dredge samples were collected from sites in the vicinity of Scott Base. 
