betimes next twelvemonth , an outside team of IE will investigate the area in - and - around the monolithic iceberg thatsplit away from Antarctica ’s Larsen C deoxyephedrine shelf in July 2017 . As an add up fillip , the researcher will also attempt to locate the wreck of the Endurance , which sunk in 1915 as part of the badly - doom Shackleton expeditiousness .
chair by the University of Cambridge ’s Scott Polar Research Institute ( SPRI ) , and funded by the Flotilla Foundation — a Netherlands - based openhearted trustfulness — the Antarctic Weddell Sea Expedition is schedule to take place from January to February 2019,as report bythe BBC . Using the icebreaking diametrical supply and research watercraft SA Agulhas II , the 45 - day deputation will truly be an outside effort , involve researchers from the UK , the US , New Zealand , and South Africa .
The master goal of the commission will be to explore Iceberg A-68 , which calved from Antarctica ’s Larsen C Ice Shelf on July 12 , 2017 . The astoundingly huge berg feature a surface area of 2,240 straight mile ( 5,800 straight kilometers ) , which is about the size of it of Delaware or about four times the size of London .
It just so happens , however , that the wreck of the Endurance — a historic three - mast ship that get going down on November 21 , 1915 — is located nearby , some 115 to 175 mile ( 185 to 280 km ) from the location of Iceberg A-68 . Pending friendly weather condition and ocean term , the researchers will expend the opportunity to search for the ill - fated ship , which rest at a depth of near two nautical mile .
After rove in the Weddell Sea ice for months , the Endurance was eventually crushed by encroach frosting . The ship had to be desert , with the crew of 28 escaping aboard three lifeboat . The survivors spent the next five calendar month on Antarctica ’s methamphetamine hydrochloride floe , eventually attain Elephant Island . outing leader Ernest Shackleton , along with five others , prepare off for South Georgia Island — locate 920 naut mi out — while the remain gang waited . It would n’t be until August 1916 that everyone was deliver .
Next class , the Weddell Sea Expedition will travel to the last know attitude of the ship and direct a search using Remotely Operated Vehicles ( ROVs ) provided by US troupe Ocean Infinity . “ They are fitted with downward - looking multi - beam echosounders , which can map out on a grid the build of the seafloor , ” Julian Dowdeswell , who will precede the team , told the BBC . “ You look at that for any sign of the ship and then focus in with cameras if you chance something interesting . ”
The investigator will also have the journal of Captain Frank Worsley at their administration , who keep meticulous records of the Endurance ’s position . The ship ’s last coordinates were listed at 68 ° 39’30.0″ South and 52 ° 26’30.0″ West . Despite this knowledge , however , three prior attempts to see the ship have failed . Should the ship be located , it will be listed as a historical repository and protected by international law .
“ If the pleasure trip find the crash we will survey , exposure , and take it and document its term , ” DowdeswelltoldThe Telegraph . “ If there are thick - water devil dog species colonize the wreck , the marine biologists may attempt to prevail scientific sampling using the [ ROVs ] , if that can be deploy above the site from the ship , ” add together “ we will not remove any point from the wreck . ”
At the Larsen C Ice Shelf , the ROVs will search the pit under the new exposed ledge , map the seafloor , and inquire the overhang methamphetamine canopy . Researchers on board the ship will distill samples of glass from the shelf , which they can show like tree diagram rings to see the ebbs and flows of the frosting over meter .
But it wo n’t be easy . Earlier this year , a mission to the Larsen C Ice Shelfhad to becanceledowing to treacherous conditions . It ’s been over a 100 since the Endurance sunk , but Antarctica is still a very dangerous position .
[ BBC , Telegraph ]
HistoryIcebergsScience
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