A team of Australian scientists will depart for southern waters this week, hoping to find out more about a series of ocean hot spots near Antarctica.
The CSIRO team is investigating why heat is seeping into polar waters.
Scientists will gather data from deep inside the planet’s strongest current, which circles the frozen continent.
Inside the current, there are five whirling eddies – or circulations – that are puzzling scientists because they are unusually warm.
The voyage seeks to verify data gathered by a new satellite, developed by NASA and France’s space agency to observe the ocean.