The World’s Carolyn Beeler is on a ship bound for Antarctica on an expedition looking into the fate of one of the frozen continent's biggest glaciers. What they learn could tell us a lot about how quickly sea levels around the world will rise.
It's sobering work, but it does have its moments of just plain joy, like the ship's first encounters with icebergs as it was about to cross the Antarctic Circle.
Waves crash against and smooth the base of the iceberg.
Carolyn Beeler/The World
Observers reckoned the iceberg to be maybe twice as tall as their ship. The flat top of the tallest point was likely part of the surface of the ice shelf from which the iceberg calved off.
Carolyn Beeler/The World
The iceberg recedes to the stern of the Nathaniel B. Palmer. The ship is on its way to study why and how fast Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier may melt.
Carolyn Beeler/The World
Related: Dispatch 1: Gearing up and shipping out and Dispatch 2: Crossing the Drake Passage