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Global Group Of Scientists Begins 3-Month Circumnavigation Of Antarctica

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In this Jan. 22, 2015 Manuel Fuentes, a Chilean Navy member, paddles through glacial melting in Antarctica. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)
In this Jan. 22, 2015 Manuel Fuentes, a Chilean Navy member, paddles through glacial melting in Antarctica. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

In December, 55 scientists from around the world set off from Cape Town, South Africa, for a three-month voyage around Antarctica. The Swiss Polar Institute is the lead sponsor of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (@ACE_Expedition), which will return to port in March.

In their Southern Hemisphere summer at sea, the group of scientists will study the impact of climate change on the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Here & Now's Robin Young checks in on the expedition with its chief scientist, David Walton, via satellite phone off the coast of a rocky island in the southern Indian Ocean called Kerguelen, also known as Desolation Island.

Photos From The Voyage

The view from the ship of La Grande Terre on the Kerguelen Islands. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
The view from the ship of La Grande Terre on Kerguelen Island. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
Notre-Dame-Du-Vent Church at the Port-aux-Français station in the Kerguelen Islands. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
Notre-Dame-Du-Vent Church at the Port-aux-Français station on Kerguelen Island. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
Mountains on the Kerguelen Islands. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
Mountains on Kerguelen Island. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
The first helicopter ride for Kerguelen. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)
The first helicopter ride for Kerguelen. (Courtesy Parafilms/EPFL)

This article was originally published on January 09, 2017.

This segment aired on January 9, 2017.

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