Diving under the pole

The submarine polar expedition "Deepsea Under The Pole" is an innovative human adventure, focusing on the underwater side of the icefloe, this hidden side being still quite unknown due to its difficult access.

Its objectives consist in :

• realizing an audiovisual testimony (pictures, video and sound) about the underwater side of the icefloe in order to constitute its « memory » and to reveal it before it disappears victim of global warming
  
• carrying out two scientific programs related to sea ice melting (ice and snow thickness measurement along the progression) and to human physiology under extreme conditions (particularly adaptation of divers’ decompression subjected to efforts and intense cold).

In order to reach these various objectives, 8 professional crew members have proceed on skis pulling pulkas during 45 days (from March 25th to May 11th 2010) through 1200 km of icefloe and have realized 51 dives (one as deep as 35 meters) between geographical north pole and Ellesmere Island in the extreme north of Canada (89°25'N/76°08'W, close to Ward Hunt Island), exploring the magical and surreal world underneath the Arctic ice.
“The images that we are bringing back show a good testimony of the reality of the world that surrounded us here – they are magical and surreal.” reported Ghislain Bardout, leader of the expedition.

Note : Marine GeoGarage viewer based on Google Maps uses Mercator projection for maps display.
Because the Mercator projects the poles at infinity, Google Maps cannot show the poles. Instead it cuts off coverage at 85° north and south.
This is not considered a limitation, given the purpose of the service : there are not a lot of navigations at those latitudes, except this type of scientific expeditions...

Links :

• Deep Sea Under the Pole News
• ExploraPoles : expedition follow-up
• Modis survey
• Other Artic expedition : Catlin Artic Survey