Into the Blue team launches expedition deep into Arctic climate history

Tomorrow the Norwegian research vessel Kronprins Haakon will embark on the ambitious Into the Blue Arctic Ocean Expedition.

A team of 25 scientists will collect high-resolution sediment cores and other novel geological archives that offer a window into past interglacial periods when the Arctic Ocean was blue (seasonally sea-ice‑free). 

Focusing on eras around 130,000 and 400,000 years ago, the researchers aim to reconstruct temperature, sea ice, oceanography, and ecosystem conditions during these warm phases, and see how they compare to today’s rapidly warming climate.

By combining these palaeo‑records with modern observations and numerical models, i2B seeks to determine whether humanity is approaching a similar tipping point toward a "blue‑ocean" Arctic. 

• Sediment core collection
• Detailed climate reconstructions
• Model testing
• Tipping point probes

iC3 team members Adele Westgård, Griselda Anglada‑Ortiz, Henry Patton, Jochen Knies and Peter‑Lasse Giertzuch will be on board. They are all based at the Geosciences department of Tromsø university.

Joining them is science journalist Tim Kalvelage, who is currently embedded with iC3 through the FRONTIERS Science Journalism in Residency Programme. 

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Find out more

You can follow the expedition live via its dedicated cruise website.

You can find out more about i2B on the project website and in this publication.

You can find a list of all 27 research projects affiliated with iC3 here.