Susan R. Eaton
March 1, 2010

Antarctica: Dispatch Number Eleven

We’re behind schedule to Ushuaia, and are scrambling to change our
flights home. Our options have narrowed, as the international airport in
Santiago, Chile, is closed due to damage from the 8.8-magnitude
earthquake.

During our five-day crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean, we attended
several lectures given by Emory Kristof, a National Geographic
Photographer-in-Residence. Kristof, along with Robert Ballard of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, were responsible for discovering
and filming the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Kristof, one of the world’s leading experts in finding and filming
shipwrecks and hot water vents, showed us IMAX movies of the Titanic and
deep sea vents. Kristof is interested in multiple technologies for
exploration of the deep ocean: submersibles, camera sleds, Remotely
Operated Vehicles, and Autonomously Operated Vehicles.
Kristof’s interest in Antarctica is three-fold: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s
ship, the Endurance, sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915, in an estimated
10,000 feet of water. Due to the existence of pack ice and the harsh
Antarctic climate, Kristof believes that the first step in finding the
Endurance is to locate the Antarctic, a ship which sank in the Weddell
Sea in 1903, in 3,000 feet of water. Discovery of the Antarctic, he
says, will provide the “proof of concept” required to mount an expensive
expedition for the Endurance.

The Antarctic sank close to Paulet Island – the Elysium Expedition tried
to visit Paulet Island, but was turned back by heavy pack ice. The
Explorers (especially Kristof) were disappointed that they didn’t have
the opportunity to check out the final resting place of the Antarctic.
Kristof’s vision of exploration and discovery in Antarctica also
includes documentation of the world’s most southerly hot water vent.
Situated in an oceanic spreading centre, the vent is geographically
close to the Antarctic wreck. The hot water vent’s existence was
documented, in 2006, by David Mearns, a researcher and wreck hunter.

As a scientist, one of my expedition roles is to assist in calculating
the carbon footprint of the Elysium Visual Epic Expedition. Given that
one of the Expedition’s goals is to measure the impacts of climate
change in Antarctica, we need to understand our carbon footprint during
our 20-day journey to the bottom of the world. The footprint includes
air and taxi travel for the 57 Explorers, and the fuel burned by the
Professor Molchanov. In the coming weeks, Elysium’s environmental
sponsor, Calgary-based Golder Associates Ltd., is going to calculate the
Expedition’s carbon footprint – once calculated, Elysium intends to
procure corporate sponsors to donate carbon credits, rendering the
Expedition carbon neutral.