At a Glance

An Antarctic ice shelf's retreat will give scientists their best look ever at the wildlife uncovered by the event.The team will need to move quickly to study the ecosystem before it's impacted too much by light.The ecosystem they plan to study was hidden under the ice shelf for some 120,000 years.

After a piece of the Larsen C ice shelf broke off last summer, British Antarctic Survey scientists knew they had a limited window to prepare for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime study.

The team is so eager to study the area in Antarctica because as the iceberg drifted away, it exposed an ecosystem that was uncovered , according to the British Antarctic Survey website. Now, the scientists want to take advantage of this rare opportunity to study a newly exposed seafloor before change occurs.

"It's exciting to think about what we might find," said British Antarctic Surveysenior biodiversity biologist Katrin Linse. "Using a range of different techniques, our multi-disciplinary approach by an international teamwill examine the marine ecosystem spanning the water column from the surface of the ocean all the way to the seabed and the sediment."

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Linse, who will lead the mission aboard the research shipRRS James Clark Ross, also said funding and accelerated planning allowed this trip to become reality in a relativelyshort period, adding, "Everyone is pulling out the stops to make this happen." And as long as sea ice stays clear of the path they plan to take, the three-week mission will get started Feb. 21.

Scientists are excited about the mission because they believe they'll get a more complete picture of the ecosystem than from drilling.

"Cameras have recorded seafloor animals up to (93 miles) away from the open sea on Amery ice shelf but only photos of (a) tiny area were taken through drill hole," Linse told Earther. "No specimens (were) collected that could be fully identified and studied."

The study will be key for scientists to better understand how such species will adjust, as many have survived for thousands of years in total darkness. And with further ice shelf destabilization , more species couldsuddenly beexposed to unfavorable living conditions around the continent's edge, which could expose thousands of sea creatures to an untimely death.