Looking out from the British Antarctic Survey research vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton as she pauses on her voyage south through the Weddell Sea to the Ronne Ice Shelf (076°06′S, 047°24′W). The crew takes the opportunity to practice key lifeboat drills and abandonment procedures in this desolate marine environment. Meanwhile, a team of scientists disembarks onto the floating sea ice to compare the accuracy of surface radar estimates of ice thickness against manually drilled ice cores. Their aim was to develop a model that could be used to predict ice floe thickness in the future using overhead satellite measurements. Photograph by Fraser Gould MBChB, January 15, 2018.
