ABSTRACT
The geographical and seasonal distributions of the Antarctic
sea ice, its zonal characteristics and pack ice movement have
been described in Chapter 1. This chapter focuses on the
microbial communities that develop in association with the
sea ice, and their relationships with the pelagic communities.
Diatoms have been known from the sea ice for more than 150
years. They were first described from the Arctic by Ehren-
berg (1944, 1953) and from the Antarctic by Hooker (1847).
