Washed Ashore. As someone who spends a lot of time on or near the sea, I am obliged to pass along the following update -before sharing the plan for ArcticEarth 2024 & 2025 (below).
One year ago in March, scientists monitoring average global ocean temperatures began to see something very odd. A jump in warmth, writes Elizabeth Kolbert. Not a small jump. Every month since last March has been a record-breaker. Feverish. See the top line on this chart from the Climate Reanalyzer at the University of Maine. What’s happening?
“We don’t really know what’s going on,” Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told me. “And we haven’t really known what’s going on since about March of last year.” He called the situation “disquieting.”
“It’s not like we’re breaking records by a little bit now and then,” Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, said. “It’s like the whole climate just fast-forwarded by fifty or a hundred years. That’s how strange this looks.”
“Why is the Sea so Hot?” by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, March 15, 2024
Preparing for 2024
Tipping Point. At least three of our eight expeditions in 2024 will be with scientists who see that the Arctic waters comprise one of our planet’s major biological tipping points. A fourth scientist has asked us to position a passive acoustic recorder to capture whale songs off Greenland.
Route Planning
May 1 – Depart Camden for Greenland (Expedition # AE014)
May & June -Expeditions in Disko Bay, west coast (# AE005, # 016, # 017)
July – Expedition in SW and SE Greenland (# AE019)
Aug & Sept – Expeditions in Scoresby Sound, east coast (#AE020, # 021, # 022)
Sept 22 – Depart Scoresby for Camden (# AE024)
Discoveries & Arrivals
Iñuit Qiñiġaaŋi. The Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College opened its inaugural exhibitions in a new home, the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies.
A temporary exhibit features contemporary Inuit photography.
The Hurricane Island Field Research Station celebrated its ribbon cutting. Almost there!
The high performance building uses wood fiber insulation. Compass Light / Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation completed its film about TimberHP, the wood fiber insulation manufacturer start-up.
2024 and 2025 Availability
2024. Fully booked.
2025. Our goal is the far north of Greenland’s west coast (QAANAAQ) and then venture over towards the Canadian Arctic and the islands at the east end of the NORTHWEST PASSAGE. If you are interested, do not wait any longer before inquiring. We have repeat groups who have signed on for 2025 expeditions all along this route. If you have inquired, your charter is secure once you book.
