Learning about the Arctic and the organisms that live there is extremely difficult because this ocean is largely inaccessible. For much of the year, thick ice prevents any ships from entering and the weather is too rough to carry out experiments. Because of this, we only see snapshots of the processes that happen in the Arctic, mostly in the summer months. Conditions in the Arctic Ocean are hostile, with long, freezing winters and short, cool summers. Average air temperatures in winter can fall to -34°C and rise up to 10°C in the summer, although the ocean temperature remains steady at around -1.5 to -3°C. Much of the water is locked up as ice. Depending on how far north you are, there can be up to almost half a year of complete darkness during the winter, or 24-h of daylight during the summer.
A lot of microbes live in or attached underneath sea ice. The ice that forms on the Arctic Ocean is not as solid as you might think. Numerous tiny water channels permeate the ice. These channels carry very salty water and are called brines. Lots of microbes, including algae

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