Hearts in the ice
First All-Female Overwintering Project In Svalbard Norway To Survey Climate Change Escalation
Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Fålun Strøm will participate in the Hearts in the Ice project in the Norwegian Arctic to monitor the rapid effects of climate change on the remote Northern environment, including Polar bears and other wildlife.
The project, starting in August 2019 and lasting until May 2020, will see Sorby (based in British Columbia, Canada) and Strøm, two native Norwegians, live and work in a remote trapper’s hut in the frozen north for 9 nine consecutive months. They will be the first women ever to over-winter at the hut without running water, electricity, and the presence of any men.
Their project has two main goals:
1. To be active citizen scientists by collecting data for researchers studying climate change in the Arctic.- partners include the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NASA, University of Maine Climate Change Institute, Norwegian Polar Institute, and UNIS. They will be studying phytoplankton, density of salt water, micro plastics, and cloud cover, collecting plastic and, snow samples, observing wildlife, and testing innovative technology (solar, wind, electric snowmobiles and infra-red drones.
2. To engage students globally through bi- monthly google Hangouts and live video feeds from their location at Bamsebu- (78’n) to classrooms around the world using Iridium’s Mission Link.
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