Return to Mawson's Antarctica (January 2014)

enadmin, 10th December 2013
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Over four weeks in December and January, BBC World Service’s Discovery will be embedded with a team of Antarctic researchers on board an ice-breaker retracing the route of the first Australasian Expedition to Antarctica. Available to community stations through CRN in January 2014.

Between 1911 and 1914, Douglas Mawson explored a fiercely harsh part of Antarctica while the more celebrated Scott and Amundsen raced to the South Pole elsewhere on the frozen continent. Mawson’s expedition was dedicated to scientific study in the early Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration but his journey was fraught with horror and danger.

The 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition aims to repeat many of Mawson’s investigations around Commonwealth Bay and Cape Denison in East Antarctica where the original team set up their base. This remote area hasn’t been studied systematically for 100 years, so the expedition will reveal any changes that have taken place as a result of climate change.

The BBC’s Andrew Luck-Baker and Science journalist Alok Jha join the 26-strong scientific team led by Professor Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales. They study penguins, record the underwater songs of seals and deploy a robot submarine to sample the rich sea life under the ice.

A drone aircraft helps navigate the ship through a gigantic iceberg and visit Mawson’s original hut. Along with continuous recording of sea temperatures, sea ice thicknesses, wind speeds and pollution, the expedition aims to illuminate environmental change in this part of Antarctica, and the frozen continent as a whole.

For one month, Alok and Andrew will report on Antarctic science, history and the dramas of life on the ice in four special programmes on the BBC World Service, recorded as the journey progresses to bring the Antarctic to life for a global audience.

Return to Mawson's Antarctica (4 x26'30 mins) will play on the Community Radio Network satellite service the first four Fridays of January 2013 at 17:30 EDT, replacing The World with Tim Stackpool. Automatic program capture will be available from the DDN ordering site. Contact CRN for further details on 02 9310 2999 or email.

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