The Royal Canadian Navy returned to Halifax Friday from a deployment to Antarctica with tales of recognizing unique wildlife and samples that might result in a larger understanding of local weather change.
HMCS Margaret Brooke’s four-month voyage took the Arctic and offshore patrol ship to South America and past, logging near 25,000 nautical miles, or 46,300 kilometres.
“It’s been simply such an incredible expertise to go to an space of the world the place lower than one per cent of the world’s inhabitants has visited,” stated Cmdr. Teri Share, the skipper of Margaret Brooke.
The Arctic and offshore patrol vessel was the navy’s first ship to be north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle all throughout the similar yr.
“Not solely have been we capable of do all this superb work with science within the south, inside Antartica, however the relationships that we constructed with Latin American nations on the way in which south and north was simply phenomenal,” Share stated. “It’s in an space the place the RCN hasn’t been capable of actually function within the final couple of many years. So, it’s been superb to have the ability to assist construct these relationships once more.”
The ship, crewed by 83 individuals, carried each sailors and scientists.
“We traveled to the South Shetland Islands after which alongside the Antarctic Peninsula gathering plenty of sea flooring knowledge and water column knowledge to grasp the impact of local weather change on retreating glaciers,” stated Alex Normandeau, a analysis scientist from Pure Sources Canada who made the journey with Margaret Brooke.
He was certainly one of 15 federal authorities and college scientists aboard.
One in all their duties was to study extra about how glaciers are retreating.
“Among the issues we have been (are) the place glaciers have been positioned, for instance, 50 or 100 years in the past and how briskly that retreat occurred, and to try this we accumulate some sediment cores to return in time,” Normandeau stated.
Scientists plan to start out analyzing these samples on the Bedford Institute of Oceanography subsequent week.
“After we open these cores and take a look at the completely different layers that we see in there, that’s after we’ll have a greater story to inform about local weather change,” stated the marine geologist.
“We hope to study in regards to the fee of glacier retreat associated to local weather change over time and the way that has advanced by way of time. So, has it been growing over the past 10 years or the final 20 years?”
The crew noticed “large quantities of wildlife” in the course of the voyage together with three or 4 several types of penguins in Antarctica, stated the ship’s captain.
“One really hopped in certainly one of our small boats and ended up spending a bit of time in there,” Share stated. “They’re all over the place down there; they’re stunning.”
In addition they noticed a number of several types of whales, seals and sea birds.
Percy the Penguin signing up for the Naval Expertise Program aboard HMCS Margaret Brooke.
Video courtesy of Chris Landry
Posted by Royal Canadian Navy Today and Yesterday on Thursday, March 13, 2025
The Antarctic appears like Canada’s Western Arctic, with mountains and glaciers, Share stated. “So, we felt like house virtually at some factors.”
The journey aboard Margaret Brooke “was the primary large-scale expedition for science like this,” Normandeau stated.
“This was actually displaying how we will work with the navy,” he stated. “It additionally exhibits that we will try this kind of labor in different environments, just like the Arctic, sooner or later from these vessels.”
Margaret Brooke steamed by way of half-metre thick ice in Antarctica. “Now this crew can say now we have some fairly important expertise doing ice breaking,” Share stated.
Her ship additionally navigated amongst icebergs. “That’s one other test within the field for us.”
It didn’t take lengthy for the sailors in uniform to get used to having scientists aboard in civvies, Share stated. “Inside a few days, I believe we have been a well-oiled machine.”
The deployment took Margaret Brooke first to the Caribbean, then South America, the place federal authorities scientists got here aboard in Punta Arenas, Chile, for the voyage south of the Antarctic Circle to the northern tip of Antarctica.
Through the scientific portion of the journey, “we had each single small boat on the ship out … gathering samples,” Share stated. “We had uncrewed floor vessels. We had scientists ashore. We simply did all the things and something to help them, and that’s all issues that we can assist do within the north as properly.”
To achieve Antarctica, they needed to cross the notoriously tough Drake Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands.
The journey south “was very calm seas,” Share stated.
The return journey wasn’t so nice, with the Margaret Brooke battling six-metre waves because it headed again north.
“We ended up getting a little bit of an expertise on the way in which again house,” Share stated.
“However … these ships are meant for the North Atlantic, they’re meant for the Arctic, they’re meant for our climate up right here. So, it’s nothing that we couldn’t deal with … Not too many individuals received sick.”
The ship carried out “amazingly,” she stated.
“We actually didn’t have any main technical difficulties that impacted our mission in any respect,” Share stated. “So, this undoubtedly has confirmed that we’re extremely versatile with this platform to function in a really heat local weather in and across the equator for a bit of bit, and all the way in which down into polar areas and again up.”
HMCS MARGARET BROOKE hoisting their battle ensign whereas coming into Halifax after a historic deployment to Antarctica. The ship reached the farthest south a RCN ship has ever deployed, proving their versatility and worth to the RCN and Canada. Bravo Zulu!
Posted by Royal Canadian Navy Today and Yesterday on Friday, Might 9, 2025
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