Saudi university's whale of a task studying Antarctic life

Seabed samples from the coldest place on earth are now being studied in one of the world’s hottest.

In Saudi Arabia, scientists are examining layers of mud from the Antarctic seabed to determine how whale populations have thrived and declined in the past 500 years.

While the near-extinction of whales due to hunting in the 19th century is known, scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) hope to prove that the healthy whale populations before then helped protect the atmosphere from carbon.

The samples arrived in Saudi Arabia in late September after being extracted by marine scientist Dr Carlos Preckler who led the fieldwork along the Antarctic Peninsula a year ago.

It is thought that whales stimulate the ocean’s ecosystem in their lifetime through their diet of krill and their love of diving into the deep sea before swimming up to the surface, which helps bring up nutrients.

Floating whale faeces also produce phytoplankton on the surface. When sunlight penetrates the water, the plankton photosynthesise and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

The research expedition in Antartica. Photo: Kaust

When whales die, traces of their decomposed bodies containing carbon remain on the seabed as layers of mud are formed. The plankton they help produce – which the krill eat – also eventually sinks. That carbon is then stored, a phenomenon known as carbon sequestration, which prevents it from being released in the atmosphere.

“The first step will be to begin DNA extractions from the sediment samples,” Dr Preckler told The National. “The main objective is to detect and quantify whale DNA within the sediments, date the sediment layers, and estimate past primary production in the ocean. These analyses will help us assess the contribution of whales to the carbon cycle,” he said.

Dr Preckler and PhD candidate Diego Rivera had joined the Challenge-2 project aboard the