In June - July 2005, an international team of 45 scientists from the United States, Canada, China and Russia participated in the Hidden Ocean Arctic 2005 expedition, a collaborative effort to explore the frigid depths of the Canada Basin, located in one of the deepest parts of the Arctic Ocean.
Operating from U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, scientists examined the hidden world of life in these extreme conditions with the aid of divers, photographic platforms, and a remotely operated vehicle specially designed to operate under ice and at great depth. More traditional techniques like ice coring, plankton nets, and bottom trawls helped to support these efforts.
This video shows what it is like to be an ice diver studying the density of creatures living on the underside of ice floes.
Download SD version (mp4, 1.3 MB).
Video courtesy of The Hidden Ocean Arctic 2005, NOAA Ocean Exploration.