Sorry it’s been so long since we last updated the site.
We have had a flat out start to 2009, working every hour we could find. With the only exception being 4 days off around Christmas, in which I became Tarka’s ‘feeder’, trying to replenish the 2.5 stone in weight he lost whilst cycling across Africa!
Well, our exciting news is that in 2 weeks time we are off to the Arctic Ocean for approximately 12 weeks! We are extremely fortunate to have been invited into the team of the Catlin Arctic Survey. The Catlin Arctic Survey is an international collaboration between polar explorers and some of the world’s foremost scientific bodies. It seeks to resolve one of the most important environmental questions of our time: How long will the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice cover remain a permanent feature of our planet? The expedition is being led by highly experienced polar explorer Pen Hadow. Accompanying him will be Ann Daniels, one of the world’s foremost female polar explorers and Martin Hartley, leading expedition photographer. Team (PAM) will be traveling on foot, hauling sledges from 80°N 140°W, across 1200km of disintegrating and shifting sea ice, for around 100 days, in temperatures as low as -50°C.
Tarka and I are 2 of the 3 members that constitute the Ice Base Team. The range of a Twin Otter (fully loaded) is about 1,125km. The distance from Resolute to the Team PAM (who will be travelling along 140° Longitude) is 1,100km. There is therefore the need for a re-fuelling point, at some point along the plane’s return journey, hence the need for two Ice Bases (see below). Our job is to inform pilots of weather conditions, on the ground, and to mark out and maintain a suitable runway. We will need to keep an eye on the state of the ice runway, which needs to be 305m in length and at least 60cm thick in order for the Twin Otters to land. Fog also starts to become an issue in the later stages of the expedition, as the slightly warmer temperatures meet the cold open water exposed by the ice break-up. Flying in such conditions is particularly dangerous, making re-supply runs that much more difficult to complete and our role as Ice Base staff that much more critical. In addition we must take care of the fuel cache used for re-supply and provide a little psychological support for them knowing there are others out on the ice.
For those who know little about the Arctic Ocean, in short Tark’s and I are going to live in a tent induring ridiculously cold temperatures for a little under 3 months (2 days ago we were given current weather reports of -80°C excluding wind chill)! Our tent will be on a thinning layer of ice that is constantly on the move, we may wake each morning kilometers away from where we went to sleep! Our main role is to aid the landing of the plane onto the ice to re-fuel, however for this to happen we have to make sure the fuel drums have not floated away on a fresh stretch of open water or sunk to the bottom of the ocean! On a daily basis we will be drilling holes and taking ice samples whilst watching our backs for the large white furry friends that will be our neighbours for the duration of the expedition.
To learn more about the Catlin Arctic Survey please click on the video link.
