Antarctica; The Frozen Continent. Here scientists, technicians, support staff and mountaineers work together to further human knowledge, investigating every aspect of this vast, icy world. Iceworld podcast gets up close and personal with top scientists about their latest projects.
In this episode, the James Clark Ross facilitates a summer field season at Signy Research Station at 60° South, squeezes through the Lemaire Channel at 65° S, crosses the Antarctic Circle at 66 °33 S and finally reaches Rothera Research Station at 67° South. We catch our first glimpses of icebergs, passing seals dozing on sheet ice pass rafts of penguins darting out of the water. There are strong feels of attachment towards the ship that has been home for the last two months but alas, our new home awaits!
The voyage of the James Clark Ross continues as the ship approaches its first stop after four week at sea, South Georgia at 54° South. On the way we hear tales of humpback whales, wandering albatross and excited talks of sighting a blue whale.
The RRS, the James Clark Ross set sail from Harwich on 4th November 2020 with a group composed of the British Antarctic Survey staff and ship's crew. It was certainly a rare opportunity for those due to take up positions in Antarctic research stations when their first two month of the job begin with being confined to a ship for eight weeks. You can find out more about Antarctic research and logistics by visiting the British Antarctic Survey's Website or by listening to future episodes of this podcast