RRS Sir David Attenborough returns to Harwich from Antarctica

The RRS Sir David Attenborough is due to sail to Antarctica for a third season again in October

The RRS Sir David Attenborough has returned home to the UK after a second season docked at Antarctica

The crew completed its polar science trials during what was a seven-month mission.

The vessel, which the public once voted should be named Boaty McBoatface, arrived at Harwich in Essex on Tuesday.

The 129m (423ft) ship is due to leave again on 8 June for refitting work in Rosyth, Scotland, before being used for further trials on the Scottish coast.

The boat departed Harwich in November last year, before a three-week voyage to the Falkland Islands, and then onward to the Rothera Research Station at Antarctica.

A team of 37 scientists were left at Bird Island, King Edward Point and Rothera to carry out further research.

A spokesperson at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), based in Cambridge, said the crew got the "first clean seawater chemistry samples using the trace metal CTD".

Marine biologists also used a high-resolution camera to "reveal how life is colonising new fjords that are appearing because of retreating glaciers".

The team at Bird Island carried out annual surveys of seabirds and seals, while scientists at Edward Point conducted similar surveys on whales, krill and penguins.

The ship is scheduled to return to Antarctica for a third season in late October.

Marine biologists took high-resolution images, such as this one, to see how underwater life changing as a result of "retreating glaciers"

Scientists got the "first clean seawater chemistry samples using the trace metal CTD"