On March 5th, 2015, we were granted the means to achieve our ambitious scientific expedition. We're delighted to announce that the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers selected us as the team for this year's Land Rover Bursary.
Every member of our team has studied erupting volcanoes around the world, from Erebus to Japan, but we've never had an opportunity like this before. In fact, no one has; our systematic study of volcanic emissions and ejecta along the length of the entire continent will be the first of its kind. We expect to publish ground-breaking science regarding continental-scale trends in volcanic behavior resulting from subduction. We'll be cruising along above the subducting Antarctic and Nazca plates, observing the gasses and clues they send our way to answer open scientific questions about what's going on deep beneath our feet, and the past, present, and future effect of those processes on our planet.
We've all worked on erupting volcanoes in Chile and Ecuador in the past, and found our work limited by inadequate vehicles. Imagine what it's like driving washed-out, ash-covered dirt roads up a mountain in an overloaded rental coupe. Not this time! Land Rover is providing us with ideal wheels. In a Defender we'll be able to travel in confidence. Our vehicle will also serve as an airbase for our flying robots, and a laboratory complete with state of the art spectrometers and cameras trained on volcanic plumes.
Trail by Fire is thrilled that our dreams are coming true, and we can't wait to share our work with you.