Farthest North The End of Ice

Upcoming. The sun goes down for the last time for four months on October 24th at Latitude 79 N. We will travel with subsistence hunters by dogsled on the ice as they look for walrus. Will ice still be thick enough to travel on when the sun returns in February? Will they have enough food for both dogs and families?

As the hunters stop their sleds and stand facing the disappearing sun, we will ask what they will do when the ice is gone, when the polar bear, walrus, and ringed seal become extinct, and their 5000 year-old hunting traditions come to an end. They’ll climb back on their sleds and head for town. There will be the sound of dogs trotting, of ice breaking, of bearded seals singing as the screen goes black.

(Photographer: David McLain/Aurora Photos)
Giant icebergs drift in open water, this water, which is frozen most of the year, has been slower to freeze and earlier to thaw as a result of global warming.