Antarctica - Belgica Voyage
Channel: Australian Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI)
Date: 2024-03-07

This video follows the fascinating voyage of the Belgian ship from South America to Antarctica in 1898, based on the detailed descriptions of the crew including maps, handwritten notes and journals. The Belgica crew was trapped in the sea ice for a year, with the loss of two lives and the sanity of several men on board.  
“Reading the Belgica documents, it struck me that the crew got trapped for a year in two-meter thick sea ice in the frozen Bellingshausen Sea. In that same area during the 2022 and 2023 summers, there was almost no sea ice at all”, said Dr Doddridge. 

This visualisation is a collaboration between the Australian Antarctic Project Partnership (AAPP) and the Australian Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). ACCESS-NRI and TERN are enabled by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)

CREDITS: 
Animation: Owen Kaluza - ACCESS-NRI
Presenter: Dr Edward Doddridge, AAPP
Video Editing: Nicolas Rakotopare, TERN
Archival photos: Royal Library of Belgium KBR
Map: Georges Lecointe