An Antarctic researcher's field diary
Karen Assmann records her latest expedition to the world’s southern continent
The Amundsen Sea is remote, even for Antarctica. In 1774 it defeated James Cook, forcing him to turn back as he was faced with thick, multi-year sea ice. Scientific exploration only started in 1994, with a cruise that discovered the bordering parts of the Antarctic ice sheet showed the fastest thinning rates on the continent.
Today, research ships go to the area every few years to investigate the ocean’s role in the retreat of the ice sheet. Between December 2017 and February 2018, I joined the South Korean research icebreaker Araon to recover and re-deploy an array of hydrographic moorings owned by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and University of Bergen in Norway.