Arctic Arc - Fracturing Ice Straight Ahead!
Loneliness on the ice
© International Polar Foundation
Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer are approaching their destination: they only have 120 kilometres left to go before they reach Greenland's coast. But, day after day, conditions are getting inexorably tougher for the expedition: the sea ice has broken up, isolating our explorers from the coast and forcing them to change their route once again by taking a big detour around the dangerous zone.
Since they have left the pole, the expedition's progression conditions have only gotten worse. They have been spared neither by the weather (storms, whiteout days), neither by the ice (labyrinthes of obstacles impossible to cross, a growing number of open water channels, etc.). And, on top of it all, satellite images have shown that the sea ice separating the expedition from Greenland has broken up. The two men have therefore decided to once again alter their route, as shown on this map.
Why is their progression so difficult? Are they being dogged by bad luck ?
In fact, Alain and Dixie are the first witnesses of an abnormal phenomenon: indeed, such a quick melting of the sea ice had never been observed by satellites before. The ice on which they are progressing is currently breaking up very quickly, converting their progress into a real nightmare: "Our day has been worse than ever" explains Alain. "To get an idea, over our 11 hour progression, we didn't come across a single ice sheet that was any more than 100 m long! We fell upon an open water zone with leads twirling into all directions. I don't understand anything anymore. I have never seen such break up in the Arctic before! It's probably due to what happened in the Lincoln Sea last week.
As a matter of fact, what has happened here is quite recent, that's clear. And then of course there is also the bad weather and the heavily clouded sky which, by the way, makes it hard for us to take any satellite pictures."
Surprisingly, Alain and Dixie are taking with good humour the succession of difficulties they are encountering: indeed, even though they assert nearly each day that " today was the worst day of the expedition ", they laugh at the bad luck they seem to be dogged by. Morals are high even though they each have small injuries now (Alain's knee and Dixie's anckle).
Meanwhile, the team following their trek is already beginning to worry about the return journey: indeed, even if Alain and Dixie do reach Greenland, can a Twin Otter successfully land on such a difficult landing field ? Alain is adamant: "It is out of the question for any plane to land here..."
