There are many reasons NOT to live on an isolated island in the north west of Iceland but then, the reasons we LOVE living here are far greater…for instance, this moment, returning home with groceries and bumping into a group of more than twenty humpback whales who didn’t seem to care a jot that we had temporarily gatecrashed their cetacean convoy…
Where is Felicity right now...?
Circumnavigating Iceland
Two very different voyages around Iceland as a guest speaker for Go Hagan and Company - one with unnaturally flat seas, even as we crossed the Arctic Circle to the North, and one with more challenging conditions!
I’ve travelled a lot in Iceland but there are still many places I don’t know well or not at all. It was wonderful to have a chance to visit some of the coastal towns and get to know them a little better.
Bird Ringing
Very excited to be working with scientists from the University of Iceland and Náttúrustofa Suðurlands (South Iceland Nature Research Office) to establish three bird ringing projects on Vigur Island in northwest Iceland. It marks my personal introduction to the skill of bird ringing - applying small non-intrusive metal or plastic rings to the legs of seabirds so that information about their behaviour, interactions and movements can be monitored. So far we have focused on Eider ducks and puffins, with Black Guillemots to be added in July.
Applying the rings is just the start, however. The real value is in observing and recording observations of the ringed birds in the seasons to come. While the eider project relies on recapture of the ringed birds, the puffin and black guillemot projects intend to use the power of citizen science. For example, asking anyone who visits the island and photographs a puffin with a yellow band on its leg to share the image with us so that the observation can be recorded.
We really look forward to finding out what the projects will reveal about the lives of these most iconic seabirds.
On a quick trip to Svalbard...as a tourist!
….well, ok, not completely as a tourist - I did manage to spend a day getting out to Van Mijenfjorden where I have collected snow, ice and water samples with the B.I.G. Expedition in 2022 and 2023 to collect yet more samples for a third year in a row.
Conditions on Svalbard were especially slushy this year so huge thanks to Yann for getting me out to the fjord just in time!
Returned from Nunavut
On 7th April 2024 the B.I.G. Expedition team travelled to Nunavut and set out to traverse the Prince Gustav Adolf Sea by ski to collect snow, ice and water samples as well as an array of other data about this fast-changing environment.The Prince Gustav Adolf Sea is one of two areas within the Arctic Ocean where the oldest sea ice accumulates. Moved around by currents in the ocean and atmosphere, the oldest and thickest rafts of ice from across the Arctic eventually drift to this area in the north of the Canadian high Arctic islands.
In the event, bad weather and the consequent severe logistical delays forced a change of plan. The team were instead dropped by plane on Ellef Rignes Island on the eastern edge of the Prince Gustav Adolf Sea from where they battled yet more bad weather to access Arctic Ocean sea ice. They managed to complete the planned sample collection of snow and ice but within a more limited area than initially intended and almost entirely during just one 17-hour long session!
Ostensibly, the bad weather may seem to be simply bad luck - but on reflection, the team’s experience in Nunavut is one more demonstration of how climate has huge influence and impact on our ability to collect information about, and understand, the Arctic environment, particularly high latitude Arctic Ocean sea ice. Greater climate instability and extreme weather will only make efforts to plug these data gaps more challenging in the future and demonstrate the urgent need for efforts such as ours.
This is to be the last ski journey of what has become a four-year project to collect vital information about Arctic snow and ice. The B.I.G. team have now completed four ski expeditions (two in Iceland, one in Svalbard and one in Canada) and collected more than 200 samples as well as dozens of additional datapoints which will now be used in a range of research studies. The expeditions may be completed but the project will continue for quite some time as analysis of these samples is done, and results compiled.
On a very special shortlist...
Forming sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut
Many thanks to those unknown who nominated me for this year’s Shacklton Medal for the protection of the Polar Regions. I’m very grateful for the efforts of me and my teams to be recognised in this way and especially to have been included within a short list that is so personally inspiring - what a group to be listed alongside!
The announcement couldn’t have come at a better moment as I reach the end of a bruising and difficult expedition journey. This fight is tough and encouragement like this that I might be moving in the right direction and doing some good means so much.
Use the link below for a brief video introducing all the wonderful short listed candidates. It feels good to know that there are so many out there turning the tide…
https://fb.watch/rJbh--ltpm/
Getting Interactive
This month I’ll be heading to Nunavut for the fourth and final ski journey of the B.I.G. (Before It’s Gone) Arctic Research Expedition. This time the aim is to get out onto proper Arctic Ocean pack ice to collect samples of snow, ice and water for black carbon, microplastic and heavy metal studies as well as data logging of Arctic Clouds, albedo, and snow depth. Team member Laura will be conducting work around psychology in extreme environments and we’ll also be reporting wildlife sightings.
Anthony at zerosixzero has once again created a fantastic interactive map for us which will display our progress as well as allow us to share voice blogs and images in real time. You can find the map on our website here: https://www.bignorthpole.com/track-expedition
Stepping out the pages of a Wilbur Smith book....!
Thanks for releasing my episode of this podcast series on International Women’s Day - and what an introduction…..no pressure then?!
“For the first episode of a new series of That Wilbur Smith Show, and in honour of International Women’s Day, Tom and Christopher talk to a real life hero who might have stepped out of the pages of a Wilbur Smith book, Felicity Aston, polar explorer and the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone!”
https://shows.acast.com/that-wilbur-smith-show
Antarctica
Very fortunate to have made two fantastic trips to Antarctica this season - one with my family and one with my oldest friend. So special to be able to share this most wonderful part of the world with my nearest and dearest. Thanks to Gohagan and Company for making us so welcome - and to everyone we shared these journeys with, it was a lot of fun!
Online
The Royal Geographical Society has commissioned a new podcast series all about expedition planning and fieldwork. I was delighted to take part in the episode focusing on expedition planning alongside Steve Jones and Nigel Winser, both of whom have generously provided plenty of valued advice to me over the years - I’m very grateful to both of them.
You can listen to this and all future episodes of the series here
More episodes will be released over the coming weeks and today I will be taking part in the recording of a future episode looking at ‘camp life’ on expeditions. Looking forward to it!
NYC
It’s nearly a decade since I was inducted as a Fellow to WINGS World Quest. I’m still just as proud to be welcomed among such an inspiring group of scientists and explorers and working with an organisation that champions diversity in all its guises in such a positive and impactful way.
Ulyana, Ayuka, Sadie and Felicity at the WINGS gala
This year was the first time since attending my first WINGS gala back in 2014 that I was able to arrange to be in NYC for the annual event. It was extra special that in 2023 the organisation was celebrating its 20th anniversary and 100th Flag Carrier - and more special still that one of those flag carriers receiving their flag at the gala was Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj who has been working with the B.I.G. Expedition as scientific advisor for the past few years!
I met up with Ulyana at The Explorers Club HQ, close to the Gala venue, beforehand and was delighted to recognise some of the names and faces displayed on the walls!
Celebrating 150th anniversary of the Challenger Expedition
I was delighted to be invited to help launch a new exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard last night. 'World Beneath the Waves' celebrates the Challenger Expedition of 1872–76 which is regarded as the birth of modern oceanography - but the exhibition also looks at modern ocean exploration as its legacy 150 years on - including displaying the first 'Boaty McBoat Face', the most famous ROV in the world!
The exhibition has been developed by the National Oceanography Centre British Antarctic Survey UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and HMS Protector but particular congratulations to Diana Davis and team for such a great job.
Inside Passage, Alaska
Wonderful to return to Alaska to make a journey by ship from Vancouver to Hubbards Glacier and back. Enjoyed plenty of wildlife sightings and as well as whales, sealions, eagles, bears and sea otters (a favourite), the stand-out encounter for me was sailing through a large area of sunfish. I’d seen these giants at a distance in Scotland before but not this many or so close - it was wonderful!
Broadcasting
I had the pleasure of taking part in two very enjoyable interviews recently. The first was with Adam Vaughn, environment editor at The Times. We had an in-depth discussion about climate change and the Arctic for an episode of his podcast series, Planet Hope on Times radio in association with Rolex and the Perpetual Planet Initiative. You can listen to the episode and the series online here.
The second was an interview for Direct Talk, a series of interviews with a wide-ranging selection of interesting people with something to say, which is broadcast on NHK World in Japan. The interview is available online here.
Making art with Emilia Von Telese
Icelandic/Italian artist, Emilia Von Telese has been conducting a 'mini-residency' on Vigur Island
Making etchings in waste milk-cartons, using ink containing the soil of Vigur and sediment from Icelandic glaciers as well as artisan paper from Italy and techniques from the renaissance, she created a makeshift printing press from items found around the island.
The resulting prints are mesmerising and completely unique.
I was given the special honour of making marks on one of the etchings using sharp points of expedition tools. I have to admit to feeling completely out of my depth and just a bit intimidated - but the results were spectacular! I tried to make marks that represented something of travel, of making the path as you go and leaving behind the imprint of pole and ski or spike and edge - I was also thinking of the maps of old and the other ways of understanding landscape beyond simple ink and paper.
What I hadn’t been expecting was a print that - for me - recalls the universe and cosmic wayfinding of the future, finding our path through time as well as space…
Once we get the prints framed you'll be able to see these very special artworks on a visit to Vigur.
Thank you Emilia for such a unique and truly special experience x
On Vigur with Groundtruth
June is the month of the eiderdown harvest on Vigur, the island I call home in the north west of Iceland. Collecting eiderdown is extremely labour intensive so any and all are welcome to join us and help out with the work and we are very grateful for the company as well as the help.
This year we were joined by Sophia Scott of Groundtruth Global along with her family. Sophia is making a film about the Arctic and came to film something of the traditional eiderdown harvest on Vigur. It is hard work but rather addictive. There’s something about spending your days getting to know the ducks, surrounded by puffins and the peaceful chaos of nature up here on the Arctic Circle.
The filming was successful, as was the harvest, collecting well over 300kg of down from common eider nesting across the island. Now all we have to do is clean it…but that is another story…
Meeting the James Caird
I was very excited to be offered a special opportunity to visit the James Caird in its dedicated exhibition space at Dulwich College. The James Caird is the humble wooden lifeboat that carried Shackleton and 5 of his men from Elephant Island to South Georgia in one of the most epic feats of survival in the history of exploration.
Among a story stuffed full of incredible feats, memorable episodes and near miracles - the survival of the James Caird as an artifact is among them. Pulled ashore by Shackleton and his men as they escaped across South Georgia, three of the party used it as a makeshift shelter while they waited for salvation. Once the men were rescued, Norwegian whalers returned to rescue the vessel because they thought otherwise no one would believe the story, or at least would not appreciate the scale of the nautical feat.
The boat was eventually returned to England as used as a prop as Shackleton toured the country giving lectures until it was gifted to one of the expedition sponsors. The boat was put on show temporarily on the roof of Selfridges, the department store in central London, before the owner finally presented the boat to his alma mater, where he had been a school friend of Shackleton - this is how the James Caird came to be at Dulwich College.
It spent some time at the National Maritime Museum, where it was fully restored and I was taken by all the patches and repairs visible on the hull - the story of the expedition written in its timbers...
Back in Svalbard...briefly
In April 2022 the B.I.G. team collected snow, ice and water samples from two fjords in Svalbard during a ski expedition from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen. I returned with Laura and Julie from the B.I.G. team a year later to try and collect the samples samples from the same two fjords this year. This would not only give us more data points in these fjords but also allow us to see if there was any difference in the samples from year to year. We didn’t have enough time to make the data collection by ski so this time we were to travel by snowmobile.
Unfortunately there was no ice in one of the two fjords we were intending to visit, so our attentioned turned to Van Mijenfjorden only. It was a fabulous journey out to the fjord and we were very grateful for the generous help of Ida and Ryan, especially for keeping an eye out for polar bears while we sampled, as we would later see plenty of tracks out on the ice! Thank fully, there was no sign of those who had made the footprints…
It was very satisfying to deposit the samples we collected in storage at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, where they will wait to be analysed in the coming year.
Drangajokull, Iceland
Drangajokull is the northernmost glacier in Iceland. It sits on a remote, almost uninhabited peninsula that protrudes into the Greenland Sea from the top of the Westfjords. It is the only glacier in Iceland that is entirely under 1000m above sea level which we might expect to mean that it is very unstable - but in fact it is showing less mass loss than most other glaciers across the country. This is probably because it receives a lot of precipitation - as we were to discover for ourselves.
The B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team travelled to northwest Iceland early in April to make a ski traverse of Drangajokull while gathering snow samples and other data for several science studies. I had accessed the glacier the year before but too much snow had made it difficult while bad weather had cut my visit short. so we were delighted to arrive and find the route to the glacier accessible this year…..but our relief was short lived. Not only was the valley that would lead us to Drangajokull accessible, it was almost empty of any snow at all. The contrast between one year and the next would be shocking if it wasn’t already such a familiar story from accross the Arctic region and beyond. For decades less predictable environmental patterns have been forecast and now we are seeing that reality.
We were faced with 20km or more of grass, heath, rivers and stones between us and unbroken snow cover. The images of us portaging sledges and skis from one snow patch to another serve as a graphic illustration of the future we should all be expecting.
With a little help we reached the glacier and in the following days made a complete return traverse of the glacier on skis, collecting snow samples for back carbon, microplastic and heavy metal content analysis in five different locations. We collected additional snow samples in 13 different locations - and by turning our tents into makeshift labs, we were able to melt and filter these samples. These filters will be sent to our scientific collaborator and advisor, Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj at the University of Colorado.
Throughout the journey, cloud cover was recorded along with snow depth, snow density and albedo - valuable data points for a range of long-term studies - and in the evening we carried out the psychology tasks for a research project at the University of Durham.
Most importantly we, the team, worked really well together, overcoming bad weather and logistical challenges alike with positivity and humour making it a thoroughly awesome expedition that we all enjoyed and felt proud of on return. Huge thanks to the team, as well as our fabulous sponsors, partners and supporters for rallying to our new plan and for the continued confidence in the project and its aims.
You can still hear our reports from the field on the amazing tracking map created for us by @zerosixzero available on the B.I.G. Expedition website.
Disappointed but not surprised
It’s been a very busy week un-making one set of plans and re-building another.
We received news on 18th March that the plane that was to fly my B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team to the Arctic Ocean has been denied its certification by the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority. At such late notice, the operators feel there is no time for an alternative solution to be put in place before the limited window of opportunity in April to travel safely on high latitude Arctic Ocean sea ice closes. This means that no one at all will be able to travel to the North Pole in 2023, including us.
It is a shock - both we and the plane operators were given every assurance since the new year that everything was in place for the 2023 season, so we feel particularly sorry to have passed this confidence on to our sponsors, supporters and partners in the B.I.G. project. As badly let down as we feel ourselves, it is worse to now have the job of letting down others.
We still intend to complete the B.I.G. project on the Arctic Ocean - perhaps via an alternative route - but there is sadly no time to obtain the necessary research permits for this year, so we will need to wait until April 2024. The B.I.G. North Pole Expedition was all about using our last opportunities to access the Arctic Ocean to collect vital sea ice data – and sadly, it seems that our fears were well-founded.
We remain extremely grateful for all the support many have generously extended to the B.I.G. project and continue to do so as we navigate such difficult challenges.
In the meantime, the B.I.G. expedition team will be heading out to Drangajokull, the northernmost glacier in Iceland, to further develop the research that the team started back in 2021. Combining data from Iceland and Svalbard with the data we intend to collect from the Arctic Ocean next year, the B.I.G. North Pole project will be able to deliver a pan-Arctic insight that is far more ambitious in its scope than we would ever have dared plan from the outset – this latest setback only serves to illustrate further how vital it is.