Pixabay

Antarctica ice is the stuff of my dreams—especially now, as the summer heat is setting records where I live.

I didn’t need the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to jump-start my dreams of Antarctica ice. According to that agency in a recent report, global average temperatures in June 2013 were the fifth highest on record, and last month marked the 340th consecutive one—a span of more than 28 years—that global temperatures surged above the 20th-century average. I didn’t need NOAA to tell me that, because here in Wisconsin, things are hot. Wisconsin ranked second of all 50 states in heat records set in 2012, and 2013 is shaping up to be a contender. Last week alone, heat indexes in the southern part of the state reached the 100-degree mark or higher.

That could be why National Geographic blogger Cassandra Brooks’s time-lapse video of her days traveling through the Ross Sea on the National Science Foundation-chartered icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, captivated me. In the video below, you’ll see two months of sequences she filmed condensed into less than five minutes.

“There was ice splitting along hidden seams,” writes National Geographic blogger Cassandra Brooks of her time on an Antarctica icebreaker. ©From the video “Two Months Breaking Ice (In Under Five Minutes),” Cassandra Brooks

If, like me, you need a respite from this summer’s heat, cool off by watching this short film; and let it kindle your own dreams of the White Continent.

While a trip to Antarctica isn’t in my foreseeable future, I am off to northern climes later this week. I’m traveling to Alaska, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it all turns out in two weeks!

In the meantime, here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,

Candy