About two weeks ago, a team of explorers was dropped off in the Arctic, ready to embark on a 100 day journey across 1000 kilometers of disintegrating and shifting sea ice. They're traveling on foot, hauling sledges in temperatures ranging from 0ºC down to -50°C, and conducting scientific experiments as they go.


Why would anyone do this? The team of experienced polar explorers and photographers - Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels, and Martin Hartley - are leading the Catlin Arctic Survey, which 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? (For their sake, we hope it's at least 100 days!)

If you don't have quite the same tolerance for cold weather, you can still follow along with the team in Google Earth with this KML or on the Catlin Arctic Survey website. They have a bundle of communications tools with them, and they'll be sending back regular video updates directly from the ice as well as photos and the scientific data that they collect.


Posted by Steve Miller, Product Manager