This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
After lunch today we reached one of the most isolated, northernmost settlements in the world: Dixon, latitude 73 degrees 30 minutes North, 80 degrees 30 minutes East, the town at the mouth of the mighty Yenesai river.  Once a town of 5000, the recent depopulation of the Russian north has left only 500 people to brave the harsh winter and decaying infrastructure.  To my knowledge we are the first yacht to visit Dixon since 2002.
What struck all of the ‘Explorer’ team was the incredible welcome we received from everyone we met. Hardship is a daily reality here, and the openness and friendship shown to us was breathtaking.  I was taken by the hand in the street by an indigenous Nenets man, and asked to come to his modest apartment to meet his mother. Other people gave us small gifts just to show their friendship. Everybody smiled.
Why is there a town in the Russian Arctic called Dixon?  Because Adolf Erik Nordenskjold, the Swede whose footsteps we are retracing, visited the sheltered harbour here in 1875 and named it Port Dixon,after the Gothenburg merchant Oscar Dixon who bankrolled many of his expeditions to the Arctic,  convinced that one daythis place would become a great city.
Dixon is an important milestone for this expedition.  Not only have we sailed through the extraordinary Kara Sea, ice covered in summer only 10 years ago, but we have reached the last ‘civilised’ place before heading even further north to the most challenging point so far, Cape Chelyuskin.  In spite of the enormous melting of the ice, there is a small tongue of sea ice projecting down from the pack to almost reach the coast there.  Navigating through this will test the skills of the whole team: you can’t just stop when you get tired!


The Kara Sea
There are some places that cling to the imagination despite never having been there.  For me as a young man it was names like Lena delta, Kara Sea, Siberia, Greenland.  And now I’m here it is ever more interesting than it was as some sort of dream.
The Kara Sea is a good example.  Nothing like I expected, this huge body of water is like no other sea on Earth.  Thew first thing you notice is that it is a different colour from the Barents Sea (which is the usual greenish gray in cloudy weather): it’s brown, like tea.  In fact it is almost tea, the extract of the enormous Siberian taiga, or coniferous boreal forest, the largest on the planet, brough to the ocean by the huge rivers the Ob, and the Yenesei, which drain the eastern half of Russia to the north.  The deltas of these rivers have filled in a large part of the Kara Sea basin and enormous volumes of sediment are still delivered to the ocean each year, particularly during spring.
The second thing you notice is that it isn’t salty, it almost fresh!  Thoise same rivers put so much water into the Kara Sea that there is a thick layer of fresh water lying over the top of the salty water.  This layer varies from 6 to 15 metres thick on our voyage: you can see it on the echo sounder quite clearly. The fresh water brings with it a hazard to sailors, a vast number of logs from the forests of Siberia which float down the rivers, out to sea, and end up on the coasts of arctic islands like Svalbard.
The third thing you notice is that it’s warm.  in contrast to the Barents Sea, the Kara has been up to 9 degrees, typically about 7.5.  This warmth comes from the river water, and the fact that this sea is really, really shallow.  Apart from the trough along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya (which is up to 500m deep), the Kara is typically 20 to 30 metres deep, which for a sea is incredibly shallow.  The water temperature is above the ait temperature often leading to foggy conditions.
All of these things create an environment for life that is completely different from the Barents Sea, for example. There seem to be far fewer fish, and no whales – it’s just too shallow, and there isn’t as much food. We have seen walrus’ basking far from land here, as the depth is a comfortable dive to feed on benthic organisms over huge areas.
Another factor that makes the Kara unique is that in winter it has historically been completely covered with ice.  This seems to have changed recently as for about the last decade the Kara has only partly frozen, resulting in a radically different oceanography and ecology. What used to be multi year ice is at best one year old, and it’s much thinner.  The onset of melt is occurring earlier each year, the freeze up later.  As the Arctic continues to melt the Kara Sea will continue to be at the forefront of change, and what happens here will have implications for not just the Arctic, but for the entire world.

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
Monday 10th August, midnight.  Position: 72 degrees 23′ N 66 degrees 23′ E

We’re cruising now through the Kara Seas, a really arctic region which freezes completely each winter.  Between Novaya Zemlya and the Yamal Peninsula, where we are now, the water temperature has dropped to 5.4 degrees and the air temperature is noticeably cooler.  The weather is calm, the sea flat, and the slight breeze from NNW (which doesn’t help sailing!).  No boats on the radar or radio, and few birds: a family or two of curious arctic skuas, and a lone bearded seal we passed earlier today. A seemingly empty place.
This is far from the unknown sea of 100 years ago where both Russian and European ships disappeared here, never to be found.  However, the security is illusory: ahead of us a stream of sea ice from the main body around the North Pole has moved south along the west side of Severnya Zemlya (the archipelago north of the Taimyr peninsula, the northernmost point of Eurasia), blocking the Northeast Passage for 100km or so.  A Russian ice breaker, Yamal, is keeping us informed on developments and we can sea the ice on satellite images each day, but all this technology will be to no avail unless the ice moves by itself.
It’s quite ironic that even in a year which may break new records for ice loss, the Northeast Passage may not yield.  We are sailing to Dickson and then further north as fast as we can to reach the ice edge, as a change in the wind can break up the pack and drift ice really fast, and the passage become clear.  It also highlights the fact that shipping in this region is hazardous despite the loss of ice: conditions change very fast, and ice, even a small amount, can move incredibly quickly into the path of a vessel.  An accident up here can be very costly indeed.
As we move ever closer to the most difficult part of the journey we reflect also on the extraordinary feat that some of the crew have already undertaken: tonight we celebrated the 5000 nautical miles that Ola, Hannibal, and Niklas have sailed since leaving Stockholm in mid June.  This is a very long expedition!

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
After 3 days travelling across the south eastern Barents Sea in completely calm and windless conditions we have finally arrived at land, the island of Veygatch.  Its about 200km long and is situated between the huge mass of Novaya Zemlya to the north, and Russia to the south.  The passage between the 2 islands is known as the Kara Gate, as this is the main entrance to the Kara Sea.
The weather has turned to light rain after fine but foggy conditions, and the water temperature has increased to 10 degrees, a reflection of the increasing contribution of warm water flowing into the sea from the huge Russian rivers.  The region we have been travelling across for the last day or so is completely covered in ice in winter but there is not a sign of it now. It’s hard to imagine what it looks like then!
We have been seeing more birds than when we were further out to sea, but not a marked increase.  A few more guillemots, a few ducks, the occasional glaucous gull, a lone arctic skua.  And of course the ever present fulmars.  No more whales or dolphins since day 1.
The crew has settled into a routine of rotating watches, and I find time from midnight to 4am to catch up with ‘office work’, while the boat is quiet and the wheelhouse empty except for Anders and me.  We have been discussing how to deal with the changing time zones and meal and watch times, and it appears that, in good Russian tradition, we’ll stick to Moscow Time on the boat.
Tomorrow will bring our first landing, and hopefully interaction with a small tradtional, and very remote, reindeer herding community.
More soon!

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
Friday 7th August, south eastern Barents Sea, lat 69 degrees 58′ long 47 degrees 09′  Air temperature: about 10, water temp 7.8, wind light from NW.
When you go on an expedition such as this, many people ask you why you want to put up with such discomfort and hardship, a complete removal from the certainty of every day life, and even perhaps danger.  For me the answer is simple: to see what is happening to the environment in this remote (to the western world) region, and to communicate this to the world.
We already know the big picture: the Arctic is melting fast. A new study shows that from 2005-2008, temperatures in the central arctic were 5 C above average. The summer sea ice  has decreased by almost half since the 70s. Significant permafrost melting has already taken place. And we now know that these changes are driven by greenhouse gas emissions.
So the reality is that, due to climate change, it is now possible to challenge the Northeast passage by sailboat, and without the support of an icebreaker. This is perhaps the last time an expedition through the passage is a real challenge. In the future the ever melting ice will make sailing through the passage easier and easier and open it up for increased transport, tourism and resource development in this vulnerable region. Taking the sea ice away from the Arctic will cause impacts all the way through the arctic food web, destabilising a system that is already fragile.
On this journey we will try to bring this unfamiliar world to you and explain why the changes we are seeing are important. With the Copenhagen climate conference approaching fast, and the need for improving the environmental governance of the Arctic ever increasing, our journey comes just in time.

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
It’s 2.18am local time and I’m on my first watch after leaving Murmansk. Latitude 69 degrees 28.6 north, longitude 34 degrees 16 east.   Air temperature is about 10 degrees, water temperature is 9 degrees.  Sea is slight, wind about 5 metres per second.   A few Russian trawlers show up on the radar and occasionally emerge from the fog which casts a gray haze over our progress.  We have just turned to head east, with a straight run now for about 500 nautical miles to the entry to the Kara sea at the southern tip of Novaya Zemlya.  That’s about 3 days sailing. 6 more watches for me before we see land again.
I share my watch with Anders, the captain, which is fantastic because there is so much to learn and he has so much experience.  We do the midnight to 4am and noon to 4pm watches, using Moscow time as the ‘ship time’. The night watch is great because everybody is sleeping and it is quiet, one of the few such occasions on ‘small’ boat like Explorer. The disadvantage is that you miss the dawns and most of the morning as you are sleeping.  As we go east, the difference between ship time and the sun’s time will change dramatically:  the far east of Russia is 10 hours ahead of GMT, so my midnight shift will be an after lunch one according to the sun!
It never really gets dark up here.  The midnight sun ended a few weeks ago but the best night we will see on this trip is a few hours of semi-darkness after midnight towards the end of the journey.  At the moment I have turned down my laptop screen brightness, but I can still see the seabirds flying past, the waves, and the other boats.  It’s sort of like a gray and rainy day in ‘normal’ parts of the world.  The long long days play a hugely important role in arctic ecology, providing a massive burst of growth to all the creatures that live here, and a shot of energy to the physical and ecological processes like ocean circulation, plant photosynthesis and so on.
It’s my turn at the wheel now, so I’ll stop here.  More soon from the eastern Barents Sea!