🇦🇶 Circumnavigating Antarctica

Hello! Welcome back to the Brazil Climate newsletter. This week, we jumped on board with the crew at an unprecedented Antarctic circumnavigation expedition, led by Brazilian scientists, keen on finding out how climate changes are affecting the frozen continent.

At the time of publication, the Russian polar research ship Akademik Tryoshnikov is approaching Drake Passage at the end of an unprecedented nine-week circumnavigation of Antarctica, led by Brazilian scientists, to investigate the effects of climate change on the Antarctic ice sheet.

In modern times, Antarctica has only been circumnavigated once before (in 2016-2017), but this expedition is the first ever “coastal” circumnavigation of the frozen continent — meaning that it is the closest such a research trip has come to the continental glacier itself.

On November 22, a total of 57 scientists from seven countries set off on the International Antarctic Coastal Circumnavigation Expedition (ICCE) from the Port of Rio Grande, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Having now circled the entire continent, through some of the most challenging waters on the planet, the Akademik Tryoshnikov will soon turn north to return to Brazil, expecting to arrive back on terra firma by the end of this month.

Research throughout the journey has largely consisted of taking samples and measurements, with scientists from a wide array of fields attempting to chart how Antarctica has been affected by climate changes.

Investigations can broadly be put under three research umbrellas: atmospheric, geological and oceanographic.