We’ve been combing through questions that you’ve emailed to [email protected] or posted on articles on nytimes.com and on social media. For the first round, Raymond Zhong answered questions both on video and through this written dispatch.
A few more:
Who are the scientists and what are their affiliations?
— C.
The scientists are mostly from South Korea, Britain and the United States, with a few from Australia, Canada and Taiwan, too. They are affiliated with universities, both private and public, or government research agencies, such as the British Antarctic Survey.
Is there a common language among everyone on the ship or are interpreters aboard, too?
— Lisa Feustle
English is the lingua franca on the ship, as it is in many parts of the scientific community. There are people aboard who speak other languages as well — Korean, Chinese, French — but group communication is usually in English.
Will the results of the researchers findings be a long time coming or will there be updates as to what they find as you proceed?
The data from such expeditions always becomes publicly available, though usually with a few years’ delay. The delay allows the researchers who collected the data to have first dibs on using it in their research papers.
Many of the researchers’ projects on this trip involve leaving instruments in critical places (on the ice or in the ocean) for long periods of time to collect data. But I’ll definitely share updates on other kinds of things that the researchers are seeing and learning during this expedition.
Will you be anywhere near the route of Shackleton?
— Nancy Balcer, Santa Fe, N.M.
We’re not in the same part of Antarctica where the famed voyage of Ernest Shackleton, the explorer from the early 20th century, took place. That expedition was in the Weddell Sea, which is on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
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Is there land under all that ice or is it a continent made entirely of ice that will disappear when it all melts?
— Agnes Gottlieb, Morristown, N.J.
There is land under Antarctica, but it’s not the same shape as the ice we see today. Much of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which the Thwaites Glacier is part of, sits on bedrock below sea level. So if you took away all the ice there, it would look like a group of islands. By contrast, most of the East Antarctic ice sheet sits on rock that’s above sea level.
I know that some of Antarctica is resting on earth but a lot is also floating. How mapped is that?
— Claudia Vandermade, Arlington, Va.
Scientists have been mapping the bedrock beneath Antarctica for many decades, and they know the broad outlines of its topography. But they know they’re missing a lot of detail. The mapping is typically done with airborne ice-penetrating radar, which means planes have to fly over Antarctica many, many times in order to capture the topography in high resolution.
Ever since I read “The Quickening,” about Elizabeth Rush’s participation on an expedition to Antarctica, I have wondered about the impact exploration has on the region. It is my hope you may scrutinize this aspect of the endeavor.
— Kat, Mich.
Thanks for raising this. It’s something that everybody who works in Antarctica has to wrestle with — their own footprint on this wild and protected place. I’ll be sure to ask the researchers on this trip how they think about the issue.
More general answers to questions about the journey are here.
Journey to Antarctica
The New York Times is joining an expedition by sea to Antarctica’s fastest-thinning glaciers. Follow along here. And watch our videos here. You can sign up to receive the Climate Forward newsletter, which will feature the latest updates on the voyage.
Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times.
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