The ice fluctuations are attracting scientists trying to understand the possible consequences of global warming
Andrew Rabkin New York Times
The North Pole, last week. About 200 visitors every year. Camp Borneo, Arctic Ocean. Photo: New York Times
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Most things in the Arctic are as they have been for ages. It is still a frozen kingdom, where floating blocks of ice form a white dome on top of an ocean that is about three kilometers deep. Unlike the South Pole, where 29 countries have established research bases on snowy but stable ground, in the North Pole everything is temporary.
On a globe or map, the North Pole is just a dot. Up close, it's a mobile world of sea and ice - which ensures that any visit to it will be short. The North Pole is in the center of the Arctic Ocean, about 800 kilometers from the nearest land. However, those who set up camp at the point defined as the "North Pole" may find themselves six or eight kilometers away the next day, due to the movement of the glaciers.
Even so, the North Pole is crowded this season. The ice fluctuations are attracting scientists trying to understand the possible consequences of global warming. However, scientists are a minority in Borneo. About 200 visitors come to the site every year. Tourists and adventurers invest $15,000-$9,000 to take pictures against the ice or to go on a surfing trip. Many are attracted to the place because of its charm, which has lured hundreds of explorers in the last 300 years. Some visitors look for risks and cross the moving ice on skis, drop to it or dive under it.
Between the middle of March and the beginning of May, the intensity of the cold weakens, and the ice does not melt in a way that creates a watery surface, and more and more researchers and travelers come to the Pole. The most comfortable climate for visiting the Pole prevails in April, when temperatures range from 20 to 30 degrees below zero.
The influx to the north is made possible more easily thanks to satellite phones and global positioning devices (GPS), which allow travelers and scientists to find out their location - even at the point where half the compass is turned to no avail, the sun rises in March and sets in September, and the ice landscape changes from moment to moment.
Since 1992, almost everyone who goes to the North Pole stops to park at the floating station at the "Borneo" camp. The camp is run by entrepreneurs from Russia and France, and is about a hundred kilometers from the Pole. It houses rows of heated tents, two Russian helicopters and a runway large enough to take off and land planes. There are four microwave ovens in the dining room, and an espresso machine next to them.
Last week - the Russian Orthodox Easter - the people of Borneo celebrated with a toast. Some of them walked along a trench that was opened around half of the camp. A seal that poked its head out of the water several times and caused fear from the polar bears, who pick up its scent from miles away. However, most of the attention was captured by Natalia Lieberman, who won second place in the "Miss Russia" competition in 2002 and came to the scene to model on the ice. A visit to the Pole was the first prize in the competition, but the winner did not want to travel and passed the prize to her runner-up.
But the Borneo camp and research station are exposed to a constant threat posed by the constant movement of the ice around the pole. Ridges erupt and rise, and trenches miles long are determined where only a few hours before there were still areas. In the last decade, the operators of the camp had to move their tents several times, after rumblings similar to an earthquake predicted that a trench was about to open in the place.
Last week, senior Russian officials arrived at a point several tens of kilometers east of the Pole, to launch a new floating station where scientists will be housed in the coming year. The Soviet Union maintained several manned floating stations in the polar region from 1937 to 1991, which provided information on the characteristics of the ocean in the Arctic region. Polar scientists estimate that renewing the program will help improve climate forecasts.
Courtesy of Walla
One response
Still a frozen kingdom, but whoever needs to return to the Father, blessed be His name, just return to Him...