You wouldn’t think that watching a massive ice breaker slice through the ice in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica would be all that interesting. But the video below condenses two months of time spent aboard just such a vessel into a five-minute clip that is simply mesmerizing to watch.
Shot aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer, the video captures the stark beauty of the Southern Ocean and the seemingly never-ending sheets of ice that cover its surface. Sometimes that ice is almost paper-thin and other times it is so thick that the ship can barely press onward, and yet it always seems to find a way. The ever-changing conditions of both the surface and sky are simply wonderful to watch, even if making a voyage like this one isn’t exactly on the agenda for most travelers.