by Povl AbrahamsenIn October 2011 a NASA airplane flying over Pine Island Glacier observed a large crack going all the way across the ice. This was the first sign that the glacier was about to calve a large iceberg into the Amundsen Sea. Glaciers are large rivers of ice – the ice flows very slowly… Read more »
Read Full »Seagliders are go!
Overnight we sailed east of Burke Island, with ice caps in sight on both sides of the ship at some points, collecting new ocean depth data and more CTD data. We have left the sea ice behind now, and whilst we’ve seen fewer seals and penguins, a couple of killer whales were spotted last night!… Read more »
Read Full »Over ice traverse complete – ocean investigations begin!
The ISTAR ice investigation team has returned to UK after a gruelling but successful 1500km journey across West Antarctica. The ocean investigation team is now onboard the RRS James Clark Ross heading for the Amundsen Sea for the next leg of the 2013-14 field season.
Read Full »Below the Antarctic Circle!
We are now out of normal communications satellite range, and are reliant on our Iridium phones for any essential messages (and this blog!). The Antarctic Circle is defined as 66 degrees 33′ S, and we crossed this latitude late evening (around 10pm) on the 31st January – so we are now officially in Antarctic waters!… Read more »
Read Full »Why are we going to Pine Island Glacier?
News from the Cruise – Louise Biddle from the University of East Anglia explains why the ocean team is going to Pine Island Glacier.
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