A wild ride at the end of the world
How people, material and machines master one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world.
The Drake Passage
Mastering the elemental force of water is a challenging task. However, between Cape Horn in Chile and the Antarctic Peninsula, it becomes a challenge of superlatives. The reason for this is the strongest ocean current in the world: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is a circular, cold ocean current that flows around the Antarctic. As it flows, the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula form a narrow bottleneck, which dangerously accelerates the current. "The volume of water flowing through is estimated at 170 million cubic metres per second, which would be about 100 times greater than the water in all the world's rivers combined," explains Clément Vic, a researcher in physical and space oceanography.
There is always uncertainty on board
The buccaneer Sir Francis Drank is said to have discovered this passage. While circumnavigating the world, two of his escort ships were driven off course in a storm, and he is said to have become aware of the passage. However, he himself did not face the dangers of sailing through the passage. The Dutchmen Jakob Le Maire and Willem Schouten were probably the first to successfully master the sea route in 1616. Although the two men conquered Cape Horn more than 400 years ago, the challenges for current-day sea navigation are still extreme.
Strong winds, fast currents, icebergs and sudden changes in weather are the reason why around 10,000 people have lost their lives in these stretches of water to date. Although weather forecasts and technical equipment are remarkably better today than at the time of Le Maire and Schouten, ships still get into distress in this hostile environment. Over time, more than 800 ships have sunk in the Cape Horn area. As Drake Passage is far away from any larger ports, help is often too far away in emergency situations.
The infamous Drake Shake
Where the very cold air masses from the Antarctic collide with the warmer air from the north, things always get very lively: The massive temperature differences produce strong low pressure areas, from which storm and hurricane fields develop. For this reason, violent storms rage in this abandoned corner of the seven seas around 300 days of the year. For instance, the height of the waves can range from a gentle 2 to 3 metres to breathtaking 12 to 13 metres. Wind force 10, which corresponds to the "heavy storm" category on the Beaufort scale, occurs regularly here. That's why some expedition experts like to say: "There is no cost to enter Antarctica, the price is the Drake Passage".
As a rule, it takes two days to sail through the Drake Passage if you choose the shortest land-to-land route from Ushuaia in Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula. This not only requires a great deal of skill in the navigation of a ship, but also experience. The speed, direction of travel or stability of the ship is all too easily affected by adverse conditions.
Safe travel thanks to modern technology
The turbulence of the Drake Passage and its strong pull: The gateway to Antarctica not only enticed countless historical sailors, but also attracts tourists. Although it is a harsh environment, it also offers impressive and unique views of fascinating wildlife: Humpback whales, albatrosses, petrels, emperor penguins and seals are part of the maritime biodiversity. Anyone who would like to discover this diverse fauna can now rely on the outstanding achievements of experienced experts in order to reach their destination safely.
Thanks to digital weather monitoring systems, forecasts can be made days in advance to determine how the transit through the Drake Passage will be. This allows the crew to adapt the route to the given weather conditions in advance. Sophisticated ship stabilisers ensure that the rolling of the ship is greatly reduced – the movement around the longitudinal axis is usually the cause of seasickness. GPS is also a significant safety factor, so as not to lose orientation even in the wildest spray. But it is not least the nautical knowledge, will and resilience of people that enable journeys to areas that will be particularly challenging.
The hidden power of the oceans
The sun and moon, the wind and the Earth's rotation push incredible water masses around the world at all times. This is why our oceans never come to a standstill: Every drop of water travels around the globe over and over again on a gigantic conveyor belt system. Understanding the dynamics behind this is important, as large ocean currents have a significant impact on the climate. For example, melting ice at the polar caps increases and accelerates the flow of fresh water with less salty, lighter surface water. A collapse of the Atlantic Ocean circulation would greatly alter the ocean surface temperatures, which would affect both the atmosphere and the distribution of sea ice and precipitation. For example, temperatures across Europe may cool down.
At the same time, the world's oceans act as gigantic heat storage systems: They absorb almost 90 percent of the excess heat from our climate system. This makes the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean important regulators and stabilisers of our climate. For us humans, this means that we not only need to face up to the challenges posed by the element of water – we also need to strive to protect and preserve this valuable resource.
