Lianna Nixon created Letters to the Arctic while accompanying a yearlong international expedition studying the Arctic climate system. Her short film and corresponding photographs reveal the poetry and reality of the daily lives of research scientists as they share their daily routines, sense of awe, and deep emotional connection to the Arctic.
Letters to the Arctic
This film chronicles a group of international research scientists’ intensely personal relationships with one of the coldest and remotest places on Earth. In their own words, they describe the Arctic’s profound impact on their perspectives.
Images from the Arctic
Nixon took these photographs during her participation in the MOSAiC Expedition (also known as the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate)—the world’s most complex central Arctic research expedition to date.
Seen from the air, the Polarstern floats alongside the MOSAiC ice floe. To the icebreaker’s starboard side (left, when facing the boat’s stern) lie the expedition’s logistics area, sea-ice remote sensing station, meteorological research site, and ocean research site.
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A team of scientists push the Atmospheric Surface Flux Station (ASFS) over a melt pond as they navigate the icescape in search of a site from which to conduct continuous measurements. In the Arctic, melt ponds form on sea ice in the relatively warmer spring and summer months.
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Oceanographer Morven Muilwijk deploys a MicroStructure Sonde (MSS) profiler below the ice, patiently casting the instrument hundreds of meters deep in order to better understand the stratification of the Arctic Ocean. This highly sensitive probe measures the ocean’s layers, and the varying levels of turbulence in the water.
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Seen from below, freshwater snow atop the sea ice melts and forms a distinct, less-dense layer of freshwater at the ocean’s surface. Algae and other microorganisms not adapted to freshwater remain in the saline layer below. The MOSAiC team studied this growing “freshwater lens,” which impacts the climate system.
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Microecologists Emelia Chamberlain and Dr. Alli Fong assess and prep an ice core. These cylinders are drilled from the ice sheet’s surface to its submerged bottom, and reveal how the climate evolved as the ice developed. MOSAiC researchers use them to study the life forms present in the ice.
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Sometimes the best instrument for the job is the most low-tech. Here, videographer Susanna Salonen brings a handful of melt pond water to her lips to determine if the meltwater is fresh or salty.
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The Arctic’s rapidly expanding melt ponds, beyond being a harbinger of a warming climate, also provided moments of refreshment for the scientists on the MOSAiC expedition. Here, Igor Sheikin takes a bracing plunge after a long day’s work on the ice.
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Doctoral student Luisa Von Albedyll plays with an inflatable shark during Ice Night—an opportunity for scientists and crew to venture out onto the ice, explore a bit, and have fun.
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As the MOSAiC Team prepares for their journey home, Dr. Alexander Schulz carefully deflates a weather balloon affectionately known as Miss Piggy. The instrument collects data on temperature, humidity, wind, and more from the surface boundary layer of the atmosphere, a few thousand feet above the ice.
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In preparation for an upcoming launch, a team of scientists leads the helium-filled Beluga, the expedition’s largest tethered balloon instrument, to its research site. To ensure the Beluga returns safely to its research position, volunteers hold onto it while navigating the sea ice.
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Every autumn, parts of the Arctic Ocean freeze over with first-year ice, a paper-thin sheet that thickens over the winter. Here, scientists are craned onto first-year ice to measure its depth and deploy a buoy that, as it moves through the Arctic Ocean, will help monitor sea-ice drift and air pressure.
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These tracks are evidence of the Arctic’s other residents besides the research team—polar bears. Arctic sea ice is essential to their survival, carrying them to new areas, offering access to seals and other prey, and providing a safe place for females to dig maternity dens where they can birth their cubs.
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Dr. Katrin Schmidt, whose work on the expedition involves sampling different kinds of zooplankton, walks barefoot on the ice in an attempt to leave behind a unique impression on its surface.
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Dr. Allison Fong clings to a sled full of gear as a helicopter arrives to pick her up from an off-floe scouting mission. The expedition was an experiment in interdependence and self-reliance, as the team was too remote to count on other means of support out in the field.
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Oceanographers Morven Muilwijk and Kirstin Schulz drag their gear-filled sleds over makeshift scrap-wood bridges. The sea ice melts during the long polar days, posing challenges to the scientists as they navigate the shifting topography to conduct their research.
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Enjoying a pale summer night on the ice, Dr. Igor Sheikin pilots a makeshift paddle board constructed from the Polarstern’s emergency pontoon and scrap wood through a melt pond.
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About the Photographer
An award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and educator, Nixon crafts stories at the intersection of the natural world, technology, and personal identity. She has worked with many climate- related projects and groups, including SPEAK: Young Women’s Voices for Climate and the MOSAiC expedition, among others.
Lianna Nixon
Boulder, Colorado
