The Last Degree

On March 30, 2010 a team of eight people departed for Spitsbergen (Norway). There, they boarded a chartered Antonov 74 twin-engine jet, which took them to a Russian polar base on the arcic ice cap. Their goal: to ski the last degree of lattitude to the North Pole, a distance of roughly 112 kilomters.

Normally, this distance can be covered in about a week. However, extremely low temperatures, wind, ice-drift and open water created one challenge after another. On top of all this, the team has the task of performing scientific measurements of ice thickness and show cover. This episode offers a short impression of their adventures.

If you would like to see the North Pole with your own eyes, check out poletrack.com/lastdegree for more information.

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IceScapes RAW - Proper scientists

There are, believe it or not, people who voluntarily camp out on the Greenland ice cap for weeks at a time in the name of science. Our international team of students introduces you to two of these scientists from Edinborough University. This episode has everything that makes life on the ice cap worthwile: whiskey, cigars, and copious amounts of dehydrated ground beef.

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IceScapes RAW - Frozen fuel lines

A long awaited moment: our team of 6 students finally get to see the Greenland ice cap with their own eyes. A helicopter transports them and all their gear onto the ice, where they will stay for two weeks to assist scientists in their research. A number of press people are also coming along on this flight to document their arrival. They will return to Ilulissat with the helicopter, but it turns out there’s a small problem...

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IceScapes RAW - Greenland - first impressions

In the previous two episodes you've seen some beautiful scenery from Greenland. Those images were recorded during the Climate Change College project in 2006, during which 6 students from the UK and the Netherlands visited the Greenland ice cap to be trained as climate change ambassadors.

This is the first of a series of IceScapes RAW episodes, where we will feature some behind the scenes footage from that project. As the title suggests, the style is a bit less polished, but there are a lot of fun and interesting moments that we wanted to share with you, regardless of the visual quality and technical perfection of the imagery. So enjoy this first clip of the students sharing their first impressions of Greenland.

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Ilulissat icebergs

The Ilulissat glacier in Greenland produces around 20 billion tonnes worth of icebergs each year, making it the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere. In this video we take a short trip trhough the Ilulissat Icefjord and on to nearby Red Bay. 

Music in this episode: Revolve (R Mix) by His Boy Elroy. Available on iTunes here.

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