Phyto-CCI icon

The Southern Ocean around the Antarctic ice sheet is home to two main types of phytoplankton: diatoms (46%) and haptophytes (32%). Diatoms are single-celled, disc-shaped algae a couple of millimetres in diameter, while haptophytes and cryptophytes are classed as nanoplankton and are about 100 times smaller than diatoms, typically up to 50 micrometres in diameter.