Photographer Page

Hugo Pettit

A fin whale near the mouth of Isfjorden, Svalbard. The team saw up to 50 individuals in the area on the way to Jan Mayen. Part of the Arctic Sense expedition was to track the distribution and observe the behaviour of whales in the region: as well as fin whales they also encountered a school of blue whales off Svalbard.

South Glacier of Jan Mayen and the summit route. Visible in the image are the crevasses, which are 8 meters wide in places.

Plastic debris is strewn across the volcanic sand of South Lagoon.

Anderson and Heide are joined by the current meteorological station’s dog as they cross South Lagoon.

The Weyprecht Glacier in the north of Jan Mayen is the longest glacier on the island.

Clockwise from top left: Captain Andreas B. Heide observes the weather conditions from the starboard window in the saloon of Barba. Barba crossing the north Atlantic from Svalbard towards Jan Mayen, one of the most remote places on earth. Sailor Jaap van Rijckevorsel rushes to release the ‘flopper stopper’ – a device used to ease the rocking of a sailboat during rough anchorage. Anderson prepares the falcon tubes for the collection of snow and ice samples for the Deep Purple research team.

A research team set sail from Svalbard for remote Jan Mayen land to retrace the steps of British scientist James Wordie. Their expedition would be part tribute, part adventure – and part examination of the world’s fastest-changing environment.

Today Jan Mayen is infrequently explored and studied. The 2021 expedition took place to mark the centenary of the first ascent of Mt Beerenburg by James Wordie and his crew.

Anderson collects samples of snow and ice for the Deep Purple team to test for the presence of snow and glacier ice algae. Part of the expedition's objectives was to monitor the effects of warming on the volcano's upper reaches – at a latitude where the effects of climate change are most pronounced.

Heide (left) and Anderson (right) on the summit of Mount Beerenberg in a whiteout. The climb and descent took 36 hours in total.