81°34′ N: Where Science Meets the Top of the World

There is something rather special about the places science can bring you. You might start with a research question, a university course or an opportunity to collect data, and end up somewhere that most people will never experience first-hand. For me, it meant travelling beyond the familiar settlements of Svalbard and heading into the remote Arctic Ocean.

A little perspective: just how far north?

I thought it would be fun to put the journey into perspective using a few places that are part of my own story.

Here is how the locations compare:

43°30′ N — Split, Croatia Where I grew up · 4,260 km from my expedition position

59°55′ N — Oslo, Norway Where I lived and pursued my PhD · 2,440 km away

69°39′ N — Tromsø, Norway A stop on the way to Svalbard · 1,350 km away

78°13′ N — Longyearbyen, Svalbard Where my Arctic adventure began · 375 km away

81°34′ N — My expedition position The farthest north I reached!

90°00′ N — The North Pole Still 936 km farther north!

And the distances make it even more interesting. My expedition position was approximately 4,260 km from Split, 2,440 km from Oslo, 1,350 km from Tromsø and 375 km north of Longyearbyen. The North Pole was still about 936 km away.

Where the science takes you

Of course, reaching such a high latitude wasn't the actual objective of the expedition. We were there for scientific research, contributing to a wider effort to understand the Barents Sea ecosystem.

The survey involved scientists working to collect information about the marine environment and its inhabitants. Being part of that work gave me the opportunity to experience Arctic marine research outside the university environment and see first-hand how scientific knowledge is built.

But there was something else I took away from the experience: a much stronger appreciation of the geographical scale of the Arctic.

Looking at a map is one thing. Actually travelling hundreds of kilometres beyond Longyearbyen, surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, is quite another.

Some journeys are difficult to plan

When I look back at my time in Svalbard, I realise how many different experiences came together. I went there to study, made new friends, experienced the Arctic environment and joined a research expedition that took me to a latitude I will probably never reach again.

It wasn't a trip I had planned as a personal adventure to the far north. It happened because of science, curiosity and an opportunity that came along at exactly the right time.

And perhaps that's one of the best things about research: sometimes it takes you much further than you ever expected.