Text: the trawling team The trawling teams on the ACE cruise are interested in collecting marine invertebrates from the seafloor, at depths of 200 to 500 metres, for a variety of different projects and objectives. We use a specially designed Agassiz trawl to sample the animals from the sea […]

By Eric Hoesli, EPFL professor Par Eric Hoesli, professeur à l’EPFL When he appears in the cafeteria – or the ‘buffet’, as the Russians call it – Lyuda, the woman in charge here, who’s not used to seeing him rub elbows with people from the expedition, greets him warmly, calling […]

Texte and photos: Sarah Perrin, EPFL The ACE expedition has arrived in Chile. This marks the end of its second leg, during which the researchers made a stop on Antarctica, explored little-known ecosystems using a remote-controlled submersible and visited relatively uncharted territory. The third leg of the expedition, featuring stops […]

The Akademik Treshnikov arrived in Punta Arenas on Wednesday February 22, after an amazing leg between Australia and Chile. The Russian ship completed the second of the three legs of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE). The ship will head back to sea on Saturday February 25th  for the last part […]

ACE terrestrial biodiversity program Written by Ian Hogg, University of Waikato Photos: Ian Hogg & Noé Sardet The largest year-round animals to inhabit the Antarctic continent are springtails (primitive insect-like arthropods) and mites – all less than 1.5 mm. The also share the continent with other smaller invertebrate animals including […]

By Eric Hoesli, EPFL professor Par Eric Hoesli, professeur à l’EPFL What’s his passion? Mushrooms. Not what you’d expect from a sailor. Valeri Mikhailovitch  Chelukhov knows of a secret spot, a little island in the wetlands south of Arkhangelsk that takes a two-hour train ride and four-hour walk to reach […]

By Christian de Marliave, ACE expedition head of logistics/directeur logistique de l’expédition ACE. Great-circle navigation refers to the shortest distance between two points on the globe. Since we’re sailing on a sphere, this is rarely a straight line. The shortest distance between Scott Island and Peter I Island runs near […]