Scientists call discovery of phytoplankton under ice-pack the equivalent of finding a rainforest in the desert.

A team of NASA scientists say they have made a startling discovery in the Arctic Ocean.

The scientists were exploring the Chukchi Sea, which separates Alaska from Siberia when they found phytoplankton flourishing under the ice.

Being compared by the scientists to finding “a rainforest in the middle of the desert”, the 100km long “megabloom” was previously thought to be impossible because an ice-pack can be several metres thick.

Al Jazeera’s Gerald Tan reports.