Shackleton's Quest ship imaged and Polynesian migration linked to climate change

An international research team using a manned submersible captured the first detailed images of the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Quest, which sank in the Labrador Sea in 1922. The expedition, led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, revealed the vessel’s condition after more than a century on the ocean floor.

Separately, scientists published a study showing that a shift from La Niña‑like to El Niño‑like climate conditions in the South Pacific between 900 and 1250 CE likely drove Polynesian peoples to migrate eastward. Analysis of sediment cores and paleoclimate data suggests prolonged droughts on southwestern islands pressured populations to seek more humid islands farther east, explaining the rapid expansion of Polynesian settlement across the Pacific.

Both projects illustrate how modern scientific techniques are shedding new light on historic seafaring achievements and the environmental factors that shaped them.