Arctic adventure: bundle up for a chilling trek across the North Pole - team crossing the Arctic Ocean in one season: includes related articles

Science World, March 10, 1995 by Channa Freiman

This month, four men and two women will set off on a breath-taking journey - the first trek across the Arctic Ocean in a single season. Unlike the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans, the Arctic - which encircles the North Pole - is covered by shifting plates of ice that can suddenly smash together or break apart to expose the frigid sea below. Temperatures can drop to -51[degrees]C (-60[degrees] F). Biting winds sting your face.

Why travel to such a forbidding place? It's not just for "the spirit of the adventure and the unknown," says Will Steger, leader of the team. The Arctic is a vibrant, but often ignored, ecosystem, he says. He hopes this expedition will call attention to the role the Arctic plays in our lives, as well as the unseen impacts we've had on the Arctic environment.

For a behind-the-scenes look at this Arctic adventure, read on.

WHY EXPLORE THE

ARCTIC

The Arctic is much more closely tied to our lives than we might initially think," says Will Steger. Even if you live in Florida, you may sometimes feel the teeth-chattering chill of the Arctic firsthand. Here's why: In the Arctic, big blobs of dense, cold air pile up and form high-pressure systems, says Frank Kniskern, a meteorologist at the National Ice Center in Suitland, Maryland. The cold air sinks and moves south toward the equator - to an area of warmer air and lower pressure. That movement of Arctic air creates freezing temperatures at more southerly latitudes - sometimes as far south as Florida, says Kniskern.

In addition, when warm air rises and moves toward the poles it can collide with the cold Arctic air, he says. The two air masses form a front, a boundary where snow or rainstorms can form. To help meteorologists predict such weather events, the Arctic team will deploy an ice buoy, a device that measures the Arctic's surface air temperature and pressure minute-by-minute. The data will travel via satellite to weather stations around the world.

THE BIG CHILL

Why set out for the Arctic in winter? Well, why not? The Arctic is always cold. That's because it receives relatively little of the Sun's heat energy. For one thing, the Sun's rays never strike Earth's polar regions directly (see "What makes winter?" below). The rays spread out the farther north (or south) you go on the globe. So the heat reaching Earth at the poles is less concentrated than it is near the equator.

In addition, the white, snow-covered sea reflects a great deal of heat energy back to space, a phenomenon known as albedo.

Think: What might happen to Arctic ice if Earth's temperature rose, as predicted by theories of global warming? How might the Arctic's albedo change?

WHAT TO WEAR

You might think figuring out what to wear is a life-or-death situation. For the Arctic team it really is. "Their clothes have to protect them 24 hours a day," says Bret Slane at Lands' End, the company that designed the clothing for the trip. The extreme cold the travelers will experience can easily lead to hypothermia, a deadly condition in which normal body temperature (about 37[degrees]C or 98.6[degrees]F) drops to 35[degrees]C (95[degrees]F) or below.

In addition, the explorers must protect themselves from frostbite - a painful condition in which water within the body's skin cells freezes.

The cells can rupture when ice crystals form.

Out on the ice, the explorers' only source of warmth is the heat energy generated by their own bodies. That's why Lands' End designed insulated clothing to trap their body heat. The clothes also draw moisture (sweat) away from their bodies (see "Layered look," left).

The clothing is lightweight, but takes up a lot of space, so each team member is taking just two full sets. "We do try to change our underwear once a month or so," says team member Julie Hanson. No joke!

AN ARCTIC MENU

Because of the cold, the Arctic travelers need a lot of energy to generate body heat - and to do the 9 to 10 hours of exercise they'll do every day: running or skiing alongside dogsleds, or pulling canoe-sleds themselves. Where do they get all that energy? Like you, they get it from the food they eat. (Remember, the energy stored in food is measured in units of energy called calories.)

The average person consumes about 2,000 calories of food each day. But the Arctic travelers must take in up to 6,000 calories daily, says nutritionist Chris Jensen of Shaklee, the company that designed foods for the trip.

"Eating in the Arctic is no picnic," Jensen says. The team has to plan, pack, and carry a huge supply of food, including:

* 122 kg (270 lbs) of pasta * 011 kg (25 lbs) of beans * 190 loaves of bread * 68 kg (150 lbs) of oatmeal * 59 kg (130 lbs) of dried fruit

These foods contain lots of high-energy carbohydrates. Though fatty foods like butter and meat have more calories per gram, carbohydrates release their energy more quickly. They provide fuel for hardworking muscles.

The team will also consume some meat, powdered milk, and cheese. Plus, they'll munch on some 2,880 carbohydrate-rich Carbo-Crunch[R] snack bars.