Japanese Icebreaker Departs for Antarctica

   Yokosuka, Kanagawa Pref., Nov. 20 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese icebreaker Shirase on Wednesday departed the port of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, for the country's Showa Station research facility in Antarctica.
   The main party of the 66th Antarctica research expedition team will board the ship at Fremantle, Australia, early next month, aiming to reach the station early next year.
   The 66th team is being led by Naomi Harada, professor at the University of Tokyo who became the first woman to head a Japanese Antarctica research expedition team.
   From the ship, the team will twice observe the melting of ice shelves' lower side in seas off the Totten Glacier.
   "It's important to reveal the reality of the seas where ice shelves are melting due to global warming," Harada said.

(2024/11/20-18:52)