Boaty McBoatface is heading to Antarctica to help scientists answer urgent questions

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The British research submarine that the internet named “Boaty McBoatface” is headed to Antarctica as part of the largest U.S. scientific collaboration with the U.K. in Antarctica in 70 years. 

The project, which will involve more than 100 scientists when it gets started later this year, is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the biggest wild card in sea level rise predictions: the fate of the remote Thwaites Glacier, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that it helps hold back from the sea. 

The autonomous Boaty McBoatface submarine, is designed to gather data underneath the ice and will be a key asset for the research program. (Initially, the Natural Environment Research Council, which put on the 2016 naming campaign, wanted the voting public to name a large, polar research ship, but after the people voted for the name Boaty McBoatface, the organization gave the honor of that name to the sub and went with the more dignified RRS Sir David Attenborough for the ship.) Read more…

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