Dispatches from the Field, a new digital program designed to bring The Explorers Club community closer—wherever you are.
Each session kicks off with a 10-minute talk from a Featured Speaker, streamed live to the public on explorers.org and our YouTube channel.
This will be followed by Campfire sessions—intimate, Members-Only breakout groups where you can connect, share ideas, and build relationships.
This edition features Britney Schmidt EC50 2024, to present Robots Under the Ice, and One Day, In Space?
Jupiter’s moon Europa, with its hidden ocean beneath a thick ice shell, is one of the most promising places to search for life beyond Earth. To prepare for future exploration there, Britney has spent the last decade developing Icefin, an underwater robot that helps study Earth’s ice-ocean systems while refining techniques to one day explore Europa’s alien seas. Britney will call in from the field in northern Greenland.
Members only – click here to register.
Britney Schmidt
| Understanding ice-ocean interactions is crucial for predicting the impacts of climate change and exploring planetary habitability. Britney Schmidt, PhD, and her team designed, built, and deployed Icefin, a remotely operated vehicle that provides unprecedented insights into Antarctic ice shelf melting and ocean circulation. Schmidt’s work solves key problems in ice dynamics and interaction with the ocean and offers novel comprehensive views of sub-ice environments. Critically, this research shows how interactions between the ice, ocean, and seafloor control how glaciers respond to the warming ocean. Schmidt also applies Earth-based ice studies to solar system icy worlds to further our understanding of extraterrestrial environments. Schmidt’s contributions have earned widespread recognition, including inclusion in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023. | |
