The UK's new £200m polar research vessel demonstrates its capabilities by crashing through sea-ice.
The Sir David Attenborough went through formal ice trials during a 10-day period in January. The British Antarctic Survey engaged Finnish engineering consultants Aker Arctic to oversee the work.
RRS Sir David Attenborough is what's called a Polar Ice Class 5 ship, meaning it should be able to move through medium, first-year ice - about a metre in thickness - at a speed of three knots .BAS scientist Dr Andrew Fleming said the ship managed well these and more difficult conditions. At times in recent weeks the Attenborough has been cutting through 2m-thick floes.
"It was an anomalous year across a lot of the Antarctic and in places we did not expect a combination of second-year ice plus 1.5m of snow. That's extremely challenging for any ship. Part of Dr Fleming's role was to find the "right ice" in which to test the ship. He used satellite data for this search, but ultimately had to climb down on to the sea-ice to drill through it to check its suitability.Prof Dame Jane Francis, the director of BAS, said she was delighted with the ship's performance in the ice.
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