Under Antarctic Ice: The Photographs of Norbert Wu
The surface of Antarctica is 13-million square kilometers of ice, with an occasional mountaintop poking through. Ice fields thousands of meters thick, extending out into the ocean as permanent ices shelves, blanket the southernmost continent. Divers have been exploring the ecosystem under the Antarctic ice for about 40 years, and the contrast between the surface world and the world under the ice can be jarring. The water stays at a constant 28.6 degrees Fahrenheit all year, and there is an abundance of life--at times comparable in biomass and diversity to what can be found in a tropical coral reef. Wu, a photographer specializing in marine environments, presents his photographs of this alien world in a fascinating look at an ecosystem virtually no one has ever seen. Wu's images showcase penguins and seals (both above and below the ice), whales, and his fellow divers, but it is the ubiquitous presence of the ice in all its myriad forms that makes the photos magical. Mastro's text artfully summarizes Antarctic ecology for the lay reader.Nancy BentCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved