The Weather

Fire + Ice: Exploring for Volcanoes Beneath the Arctic
The Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition
July 31 - October 3, 2001

When you have traveled to the Arctic, everyone wants to know exactly one thing: how cold was it? One imagines a truly forbidding place, the site of long nights and gray, bone-chilling skies. In fact, the Arctic not only changes the way scientists understand the Earth. It is also a place of unimaginable beauty.

Still, it is an unfamiliar beauty. For much of the mission, it stayed overcast. Not a trace of sun for many days! It remained below freezing much of the day, leading to slick surfaces on the decks and ice on chains and handrails. A typical day saw intermittent snow flurries, but no significant accumulation. At mid-day temperatures could easily climb just above freezing, with light winds at less than 10 mph. By September the ice had thickened considerably, leaving few leads available for easy travel. Forward progress slowed as heavier ice-breaking became necessary during the transits. And yet the ship, under its own ice-breaking power, was to reach the North Pole.