Behind The Scenes: Delivering an Arctic Research Expedition
What does it take to deliver a sponsored environmental research expedition to one of the most extreme and isolated environments on earth? Here’s a behind the scenes peek at the operational goings-on at Geo Mission HQ in London.
The public face of the Arctic Survey is a three-month frenzy of news reports, website updates, tweets, videos and images from an array of frosty-faced characters who tend to be pulling heavy things and/or dropping scientific gizmos through the ice. But months before the first field research teams arrive on the ice preparation for the expedition is well underway.
Checking, and rechecking again. Twice.
It takes at least nine months of meticulous planning (as well as a fair amount of problem-solving) to carry out a successful and safe eight-week expedition. The key decisions require a highly collaborative approach from the three main departments with Geo Mission: Science, Operations and Communications. The overarching priority is to determine the area of scientific research. From this we can start determining the explorers’ route, the location and size of the Ice Base, the personnel that might be involved and the most suitable scientific institutions with which to partner.
Polar explorer and Geo Mission CEO Pen Hadow, Head of Operations Chip Cunliffe and Science Manager Dr. Tim Cullingford are looking for expedition routes that will deliver the most valuable data for the Survey’s scientific focus but also be logistically feasible. With more than 15 years of polar experience, Pen provides essential advice into what is physically and psychologically possible in such a harsh climate. Once a route has been determined, professional explorers are recruited and scientists are invited to apply for a place at the unique field research station at the top of the world.
At this stage a team of expedition and operations managers swing into action. A significant amount of kit and equipment needs to be sourced for both the Ice Base and Explorers. This then has to be tested/fitted, packed and freighted to the Canadian High Arctic. High calorie menus are drawn up and then tested. Permits need to be applied for and customs documents, risk assessments, scientific protocols and operations manuals need to be written. Once the field teams are on the ice the nearest ‘town’ – a frontier outpost (Resolute Bay), with a mere 230 residents, is at least a three-hour flight away. Forgetting/losing something is not an option.
Many of the operational requirements are unique to the Arctic. A polar bear fence is needed to protect the research camp; a dog is flown in with the scientists and Ice Base personnel to provide early
Explorer Ann Daniels trains for Catlin Arctic Survey 2010
warning of any unwanted visitors. The explorers have to be fitted for bespoke clothing – immersion suits so they can swim across areas of open water that they’ll inevitability encounter, sledging suits and customized polar footwear. Unique technological solutions are also developed and field-tested to meet the communications needs of the expedition
There is months of fitness training for the explorers, followed by a pre-departure mini-expedition to field-test all of the kit, clothing, food and the scientific and communications equipment. Prior to departure for the Arctic everyone involved in the Survey gathers for medical training and extensive briefings on all the aspects of the project.
Once the teams have assembled in Resolute Bay there’s five days of Arctic survival training to prepare them for the next eight weeks. The scientists learn how to stay warm in an unheated tent at -40ºC, how to reduce the risk of frostbite and hypothermia and how to live and work in such an inhospitable environment.
The explorers prepare their rations for each day of the expedition, make last-minute alterations to their kit and finely tune their scientific and expedition routines. Finally, the scientists and explorers pack up and fly out onto the ice.
The Arctic Survey begins.