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Navigating rough seas, boring into ice cores, and a stunning aurora are some of the subjects of stunning photographs highlighting science and discovery.
Each year, the academic journal Nature selects its favourite photos for its Scientist At Work competition.

This year, a PhD student from the University of Melbourne was one of the six winners announced on Wednesday morning, but the overall prize went to a photo of a scientist braving choppy Norwegian waters on the search for whales.

Top prize for Norway

A man in a yellow jacket on a small boat next to a ship navigates calm waters with sea birds flying overhead.

Biologist Audun Rikardsen on the search for whales near fishing trawlers in the fjords of northern Norway. Credit: Emma Vogel

This photograph by Emma Vogel was the best of the over 200 entries and shows biologist Audun Rikardsen.

Vogel, his PhD student, captured the scientist conducting fieldwork with a backdrop of Norwegian fjords and sea birds.
Rikardsen is holding an airgun with satellite tags that track the movement and behaviour of whales.

Another entry from Norway shows two figures on an ice sheet surrounded by impenetrable black.

A pair stands on an illuminated ice sheet surrounded by darkness.

Geobiologist James Bradley and microbiologist Catherine Larose are conducting fieldwork in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Credit: Dagmara Wojtanowicz

Dagmara Wojtanowicz captured the boring of an ice core by geobiologist James Bradley and microbiologist Catherine Larose in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

Australian university student featured

Two figures stand on a telescope with a colourful sky in the background.

The South Pole Telescope at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole station, taken during Aman Chokshi’s stay at the research station. Credit: Aman Chokshi

The photograph of the massive South Pole Telescope in Antarctica was taken when Aman Chokshi was a PhD student at the University of Melbourne.

Chokshi was staying at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole research station when he captured the colourful aurora lighting up the sky.
The competition also featured two-time consecutive finalist Ryan Wagner.
His image of a cheerful woman, Kate Belleville, shows her holding a small group of froglets in her hands in California’s Lassen National Forest.

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