antarctica is the only continental land mass on earth which has a completely uninterrupted series of currents circulating around it,ultimately influencing the environment ant the ability of organisms to migrate in out of the ocean in addition to this,there amassive sheet of frozen ice that expands and contracts annually as you can see in this animation At its peak in the winter this sea ice occupies an area of 15 million square kilometers, twice the size of australia this seasonal sea ice supports a unique and fascinating ecosystem and it, certainly not a flat expanse of nothingness sea ice provides a complex three-dimensional habitat which is substrate for a diverse array of microoganisms which can grow underneath the ice or even within it,zooplankton and also predators ice breeding crabeater seals,for example,are the most abundant of all seal species in the world remember this clip of diverse sea floor communities from our introductory topicthere are also links between ice and benthic communities like these when big icebergs break off glaciers they can scour the sea floor, at least in shallow areas and can have a big effect on these ecosystems.