The second years have been turning their attention to the Antarctic in recent weeks. However, I have just come across this awareness-raising expedition which is currently taking place in the Arctic. Two men are attempting to be the first to reach the North Pole in summer across the Arctic Ocean ice (which will be getting thinner and thinner as the summer advances). Their journey from Ellesmere Island in northern Canada to the North Pole and then back to the northern tip of Greenland will take four months. However, their expedition means more to them than doing something that nobody has ever achieved before. In the process, they hope to bring attention to the changes the Arctic region is undergoing as a result of global warming and the threat that disappearing Arctic sea ice presents to the future of the polar bear. Click on the Greenpeace banner at the top to read more about the expedition.You can plot their progress each day on a map like this one....
Click on the map and you can check where they are when you read this post. Under the map is a Google Earth logo. If you click it and open the file you are offered, you can chart their position on Google Earth's globe.
You can also watch video, look at photos and listen to podcasts from the expedition on
the Project Thin Ice homepage. It's probably the next best thing to actually being there!
