"Some days we traveled backwards to travel forwards."

May 6, 2013 7:44 AM

Two months breaking ice (in under five minutes) is a very cool narrated time-lapse of the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer moving through the Antarctic Ross Sea, following and tracking a phytoplankton bloom.

It ends with some entertaining shots of penguins doing penguin stuff on the edge of one of the breaks in the ice.

posted by quin (13 comments total)

Awesome, thank you! Love the penguin stuff at the end.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 7:55 AM on May 6, 2013

Cool! The penguins made it for me too.
posted by nevercalm at 7:58 AM on May 6, 2013

"Why Antarctic Krill Oil?"

"Freshly harvested from pristine and toxin-free Antarctic waters, Antarctic krill oil easily surpasses fish oil because of its rich omega-3 and antioxidant content. It's purer, more bioavailable, and comes from the most plentiful biomass on earth!"

Plentiful for now, that is. I'm a little hard-pressed to see how this particular scientific research will do anything but encourage more economic exploitation of the region. Fishermen will make great use of the results.
posted by three blind mice at 8:03 AM on May 6, 2013

My dad had a friend who worked as a hand on an icebreaker for a few years. The whole time his bunk was directly under this giant pipe that the ship used to raise the bow by pumping water back and forth. After raising the bow over the ice the ship would then pump the water back to the front of the ship lowering the bow and cracking the ice. The bunk was warm because the water was warm, but the noise of the rushing water and cracking ice was incredible. When he finally returned home, his wife had to wake him in the morning by slapping him in the face. No yelling or rocking him could rouse him!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:16 AM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

Great find— that's a glimpse into a lot of richness I suspected but never knew about. Thanks!
posted by a halcyon day at 8:18 AM on May 6, 2013

Every single scientific discovery can and probably will be commercially exploited, three blind mice. But when scientists share their work like this, somehow it makes the rest of us appreciate the beauty and preciousness of the place and that is our cue to provide an alternative view, should we choose to accept it.
posted by salishsea at 8:23 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Super awesome. The Antarctic is very beautiful in a way nothing else is. The white snow turned yellow and pink by the sun reminded me of a Thiebaud painting.

Also, I was really really surprised when I saw the first people on the deck of the ship. I expected it to be big, but putting it in scale was a whole 'nother story.
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:26 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

What a beautiful video. I long to visit the Antarctic someday.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:59 AM on May 6, 2013

I thought this ship name sounded familiar - my brother was on it for a couple months this summer (of course, by summer, I mean local winter).
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:08 AM on May 6, 2013

Holy crap, that is absolutely incredible to see. I have read so much about Arctic and Antarctic exploration, from Vitus Bering's Siberian exploration missions for the Russian Empire to the Ex. Ex. to Fridtjof Nansen's expeditions to Soviet nuclear icebreakers et cetera, including seeing a fair number of documentary films with footage of icebreakers, and I have never seen or read anything that conveys the actual mechanics of navigating through sea ice this well and this concisely.

I mean I'm sure material like that is out there, it just isn't usually very well communicated in the sources I've had access to exactly how the actual stuff they're dealing with is different from normal ocean travel despite lots of harping on the hardship of it all. It's like, in a flash I have tons of context for all of these things I've read over decades. So thank you very much for posting.
posted by XMLicious at 9:28 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I loved this. Thanks!
posted by pjern at 9:45 AM on May 6, 2013

Noted the position of the sun and first thought was "Wow, they get a lot done in one afternoon"
posted by hal9k at 9:53 AM on May 6, 2013

Thanks for posting this - it was beautiful. All I could think of as I watched it though was, "I picked the wrong career."
posted by YAMWAK at 10:25 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]