The new Arctic is a 21st century frontier; no longer the cold, white, and remote region of the past. The new Arctic reflects—and drives—change for life on earth.
A video report from Expedition 001 in South Greenland with the Climate Change Institute of the University of Maine.
A shore crew returns to ArcticEarth.
ArcticEarth Expeditions is a 5-year commitment by Compass Light Productions to position a vessel and a professional crew in the new Arctic, extending 30 years of filmmaking work in the area. The 56′ vessel and crew are also available for full vessel charter by other media-makers, field scientists, & small groups of explorers.
Our focus: to deepen engagement and access to Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea -plus the southern gateway that is the Gulf of Maine- within a planetary context.
Arctic + Earth.
A Compass Light film, featuring Natuk Olsen, a Greenlandic Food Ethnographer, and filmmaker/presenter David Conover.
Expeditions: NORTH & SOUTH
Our expeditions benefit from long-term relationships, placed-based exploration & storytelling, and multi-year data sets.
Operations are guided by the framework of the Arctic Council—including the principle of consultation and integration of Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants. We work within the yacht guidelines of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO), the Polar Code, SOLAS, UK Blue Code, and the US Coast Guard.
Expeditions are organized into NORTH and SOUTH program areas.
ArcticEarth
NORTH
Greenland & Canada
We have decided not to extend the program in the region we call ArcticEarth NORTH in 2025, beyond the 5-year period of the original plan with the Good Hope 56′. The NORTH-ready vessel has been listed for sale with OWEN CLARKE brokerage.
ArcticEarth
SOUTH
The Gulf of Maine & Canadian Maritime Gateway
We are not taking any bookings in 2025, but are taking inquiries for 2026 and 2027, in what we hope will be a new vessel suitable for these waters in 2026. We will update as events unfold.
s/v ArcticEarth
The flagship s/v ArcticEarth is a cutter-rigged 2016 Good Hope 56’, designed for Arctic waters by Ed Joy, of Ed Joy Designs at Lyman-Morse. The sturdy aluminum vessel is outfitted as a safe, versatile, wind-powered expedition platform. It is well-insulated and heated, with lots of light in its pilothouse, a large working cockpit with cut-away transom and dive platform, and a highly evolved keel and rudder design that reliably swings up to avoid shoals and access hidden refuges.
Who We Are
Captain Magnus Day has over 18 years of high-latitude experience
ArcticEarth combines world-class high-latitude expedition support WITH a science/culture filmmaking team that has been listed in the Global Top 100 production companies.
Sunrise Earth, Discovery HD Theater Channel. Behind-the-scenes with Compass Light Productions in Alaska
Compass Light crew using drone in Iceland
Capacities: Facilitating inter-cultural experiences in outports and capital cities, plus a range of ancillary media production and field research activities, such as: aerial surveys & cinematography, scuba & underwater cinematography, ROVs, vessel-to-vessel shooting, sea sampling, ice coring, carbon drawdown work, sea floor surveying and mapping, plankton tows & more…
The ArcticEarth Journal
Each issue features first-person writings from Director David Conover, plus news and resources from ArcticEarth expedition crews and the communities we visit.