In our introductory episode we meet our hosts John Iadarola and Chavala Madlena as they prepare for a month-long expedition in the High Arctic to learn about life in a place that has become a flashpoint in the conversation about climate change. We begin our journey North in the town of Tromso, Norway with a crash course in Polar History. Then John pays a visit to Tore Albrigtsen, a professional musher who’s competed in the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, and spends some time with his fun-loving sled dogs. We find out what it takes to travel in some of the world’s most challenging environments, then join Tore on the trail where John mushes his own team of sled dogs.
Chavala visits with members of the Arctic's Sami indigenous population to learn about their history, way of life as reindeer herders, and the current challenges in reviving and preserving the Sami Culture.
John explores the island’s fossils and coal deposits from its prehistoric past as a tropical forest, and examines the history of mining on Svalbard.
Mark, editor of the local newspaper Ice People, shows Chavala around Longyearyben and uncovers how changes in the climate are impacting the worlds northernmost town.
John explores the Polar Permaculture lab in Svalbard where Ben, an entrepreneur and chef, is trying to make local cuisine more sustainable. Next, John and Chavala head to the world’s farthest north five-star restaurant, Huset, where head chef Filip Gemzell turns the areas limited resources like reindeer, seal and whale into epicurean masterpieces.
John sets sail on the Norwegian Polar Institute's A-TWAIN Expedition along with several teams of scientists headed north to study a pattern of warming in the Arctic Ocean. In the first of 4 episodes documenting the 14-day voyage, we make ourselves at home on the RV Lance, meet the crew, and find out what it’s like to live and work in the frigid Arctic waters north of Svalbard.
Chavala spends the night in Pyramiden, a once vibrant Soviet-Era ghost town that was abandoned after a tragic plane crash killed 141 of its few hundred residents. With the help of our Russian guide Victoria and our polar bear guard Renee, we explore this piece of polar history and the haunting tale it tells about the town’s former inhabitants.
The North Atlantic water that flows into the Arctic is warming, melting the sea ice and changing the delicate Arctic ecosystem. In part 2 of our journey with NPI's A-Twain Mission, John follows oceanographer Arild Sundfjord, the leader of the A-TWAIN expedition, and sea ice physicist Angelika Renner as they track the changes in Arctic water temperatures over time by recovering and deploying a series of deep water moorings he’s been monitoring over the course of several years.
Chavala heads to Ny-Ålesund, an international research village monitoring changes in the Arctic and one of the most remote locations in the world. Environmental chemist Oyvind Mikkelson shows us that climate change isn’t the only man-made disruption affecting the Arctic - chemicals and inorganic substances from industrialized countries are finding their way to the top of the globe as well.
In part 3 of our journey with NPI's A-Twain Mission, John follows oceanographers Amelie Meyer, Morven Muilwijk and biologist Sigrid Øygarden as they tirelessly collect thousands of water samples to improve climate modeling and track biological changes in the Arctic ecosystem.
What is it like to live where it doesn’t get dark or light for months of the year? And what exactly causes the beautiful phenomenon of the Northern Lights that draws thousands of visitors to the arctic every year? Chavala explores the science and practicalities of the the Midnight Sun and Northern Lights and chases the Aurora with expert Torsten Aslaksen.
We follow oceanographer Amelie Meyer and a team of French and Norwegian researchers aboard the RV Lance as they send out an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle to collect data from hundreds of miles away.
Wanting to avoid human traffickers, difficult border crossings, and dangerous seas of the southern European migrant route - refugees have been crossing in the thousands through Russia’s Arctic region into Norway. We will look at the Arctic’s history of championing the rights of refugees, speak with Merete and Randi who are refugee resettlement workers in the border town of Kirkenes, and meet Rana and her family from Syria who have made this polar region their home.
Svalbard was established by adventurers - people who weren’t phased by the idea of encountering polar bears or frigid temperatures - and many people today come north to carry on that tradition. John and Chavala venture into the Arctic wilderness with two local guides, Magnus and Harry, to put their survival skills to the test on their own mini polar expedition.
In part 2 of the mini polar expedition, Chavala and John go hiking on a glacier and a polar bear scare leaves the group on high alert.
The episode examines the devastating effects of commercial industries on the arctic environment. John interviews Greenpeace Norway members and tours their ship.
