An Australian research vessel departed Hobart, Tasmania on October 29 to locate and study super-cooled cloud formations in Antarctica as part of a summer-long project with US scientists.

The Australian Antarctic Division said atmospheric scientists would use ships, aircraft and satellites to study clouds that remain as liquid water well below-freezing temperatures. They’re typically spotted above the Southern Ocean but little is understood about their composition and the affect they have on weather and climate in the region, according to AAD’s Dr Simon Alexander.

Australia’s icebreaker vessel Aurora Australis, seen moving through ice sheets through the Southern Ocean in this footage, would be gathering data from October 2017 to March 2018 alongside CSIRO’s research vessel Investigator and the US National Science Foundation’s Gulfstream V aircraft. Credit: Australian Antarctic Division via Storyful