
Track of the vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer in the Weddell Sea, with the remnants of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf and Antarctic Peninsula in the background. Image via Alpha Galileo/ McGill University/ Galen Halverson.
Galen Halverson of McGill University took this wonderful photo. He has a new study out on the origin of Antarctica’s glaciers, in which he links 2 competing theories on how Antarctica’s ice sheets formed so rapidly, about 34 million years ago.
The ship that made this track in the sea ice around the Antarctic continent is the U.S. Antarctic Programs’ Nathaniel B. Palmer. It’s a scientific research vessel, a platform for global change studies in biology, oceanography, geology, and geophysics. It can accommodate 37 scientists, has a crew of 22, and is capable of 75-day missions.