Antarctica Ice TWO MONTH Time-lapse Video

Two-month Time-lapse Video of Antarctic Ice Goes Viral

A chronicle of a research cruise aboard NSF's Nathaniel B. Palmer becomes a media sensation

The research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, in 2011. Credit and Larger Version

May 16, 2013

Cassandra Brooks is a Stanford University doctoral student with the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources.

She spent two months in 2013 aboard the National Science Foundation-operated icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer as part of a research cruise investigating the role of dissolved organic carbon in the Ross Sea ecosystem.

She--and a video she produced on the voyage--became worldwide media sensations, appearing in stories published by sources as diverse as the San Jose Mercury News, CNN and YouTube. The video is a time-lapse sequence, compressing about 60 days into less than five minutes, taken from the ship's bridge as the ship "carves" forward through the ice.

Brooks is studying international ocean policy and is focusing particularly on Antarctic marine ecosystem protection.

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