The Antartic Ocean, which plays a central role in the climate control of our planet, was the common theme of this expedition full of research and discoveries. Starting and finishing in Cape Town, via Hobart (Australia) and Punta Arenas (Chile), ACE stopped on the Antarctic continent and on every one of the subantarctic islands, including the Kerguelen Islands, Balleny archipelago or South Georgia. 22 scientific programs were conducted by around sixty scientists coming from 18 countries on this floating lab and during several stopovers. The glaciologists extracted enormous ice drills, submersibles went down to observe the local fauna, the climatologists sent up balloons to measure the atmosphere,

the acousticians recorded the whales' singing, the oceanographers carefully studied plankton and analyzed the impact of the pollution on the environment, a wave specialist watched out for storm warnings, the biologists took advantage of exceptional circumstances to study the local fauna and flora in dream conditions. The book is illustrated with photographs from the stopovers, antarctic landscapes, working researchers, samples and swabs, but also with pictures that tell life on board, the everyday reality of the crew, the events they lived through and the magnificient places they crossed in this Cold Eldorado. This book will be directed at a large public, though initiated. It will be in the same spirit as Tara Oceans.