Into the Arctic Ice: The Largest Polar Expedition of All Time

by Esther Horvath (Photographer), Sebastian Grote, Katharina Weiss-Tuider

Follow the expedition of the Polarstern, an Arctic icebreaker that is making exploration history and taking climate research to the next level, through this photographic journey.

Since September 2019, a team of 600 researchers from 19 countries have united in a common mission known as MOSAiC — the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate — whose mission is to chart conditions in the Arctic for one continuous year. This illustrated account of that incredible voyage features amazing images from acclaimed photographer Esther Horvath, who documents every step of the expedition. Learn how researchers prepare for the journey with survival training. Watch as they plow through the ice and set up a network of research stations that drift along on a floe across the North Pole. See them take ice samples, measure wind and temperature, and study every element of the atmosphere, terrain, and ocean to obtain data that will help shape the course of climate science for generations to come. Horvath’s camera captures life on board the vessel, visits by curious polar bears, the wonders of the Arctic sky, the endless waves of wind-blown snow and ice, and the beauty and ferocity of some of the most brutal conditions on earth. Accompanying these pictures are texts and commentary by researchers taking part in the expedition. This stunning book offers a front-row seat to the most important climate research project in recent history and helps readers grasp why studying the Arctic is essential to our survival on this planet.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic photographs and information about the largest and most complex multi-year scientific expedition of all time. I read this aboard a Viking Cruises cruise in Scandinavia. Viking has a terrific onboard library.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Into the Arctic Ice portrays climate science so sophisticated and urgent that an American’s heart sinks with every page, knowing that our elected leader is selling our planet’s future to fossil fuel merchants. As these scientists know, the situation is already dire; what they’re now working to discern is how much worse it will get, where, and how quickly.

That adds poignance to Horvath’s photos, which will indeed remind science fiction fans of The Thing or Alien. In addition to capturing the crew at work on the ice, she also finds them at rest beyond the straining cranes and bristling instruments of the Polarstern: knitting, doing yoga (on the ice, in daylight), smoking pipes, donning Halloween costumes (an improvised C-3P0 in gold Mylar), tuning instruments for Christmas carols. Even in their quarters, Horvath often isolates her subjects in spotlights, echoing their appearance on the ice.

When the shift members head home, celebrating the holidays in a Russian retrieval vessel, write Grote and Weiss-Tuider, “many of them feel a mixture of longing and melancholy.” It’s easy to understand why.

I reviewed Into the Arctic Ice for The Tangential.

[Károly Szilágyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esther nutzt Licht und Schatten wie niemand. Ihre Bilder sind mysteriös und trotzdem geben was zum Nachdenken. Die Texte aber, verfasst von zwei etablierte science communicators sind eher oberflächlich: stillvoll, aber arm an Informationen. Aber das ist ein Bilderbuch, wo die Fotos Vorrang haben.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Für detaillierte Informationen dieser Reise empfiehlt sich eher das Buch von Markus Rex. Dieses Buch beeindruckt eher durch fabelhafte Fotografien.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely amazing expedition with positively stunning photography.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremst interessant und absolut unglaubliche Bilder die man in diesem Buch zu sehen bekommt