Environment

A year long expedition spotlights night life in the Arctic winter

In a ship deliberately embedded in an ice floe, scientists are studying the base of the food web

MOSAiC scientists

MOSAiC scientists look at an ice block on their temporary ice floe home on October 23, 2019.

Esther Horvath

By Shannon Hall

Allison Fong dangles over the edge of a “river” running through a massive chunk of sea ice floating between the North Pole and Russia’s Komsomolets Island. The river cracked open in the ice just a few days ago, exposing the Arctic Ocean below. Already starting to freeze over, the river’s surface is a dark scar in the white landscape.