To understand what compelled the shooting and what happened in the aftermath of the expedition, read our full blog post below.
Or check out our video story on YouTube with many unique shots and footage from the journey.
📽️ youtu.be/b2dWkASiVeg
Watch our very first long-format video, which showcases the American-led Crocker Land Expedition of 1913.
From the amazing photo and film archive brought back from Greenland, we explore how the search for a phantom land during the race for the North Pole led to one man never returning from the ice.
"I feel like a citizen of Russia who has
all the rights to come back home", Alexei Navalny told us.
On this day, on Jan 17 2021, Navalny came back to Moscow. I was on that flight with him along with dozens of other journalists. Here is some of what I filmed:
In 1916, before the American entry into the World War, Arctic explorer Peary, discoverer of the North Pole, strongly urged that the United States purchase Greenland from Denmark. "Greenland in our hands," he wrote then, "may be a valuable piece of our defensive armor. In the hands of a hostile interest it could be a serious menace." Source: Geographic News Bulletins 1941
Robert Peary on the main deck of steamship Roosevelt c.1909. Source: Wikimedia
American interests in controlling Greenland are nothing new.
A century ago the famous American Arctic explorer Robert E Peary fully supported the purchase of Greenland from Denmark, citing national security concerns. A 🧵
"We hypothesised that the mammoth died in a stressful situation. He was probably hunted by predators. As the body is so well preserved, we can see the scratches on the skin. They are most probably from a cave lion, based on their size and shape.” Dr Emilio Mármol told the Barents Observer.
The latest satellite photos of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, for instance, illustrate the extent to which local glaciers have melted. "We need to dramatically reduce emissions", - a new research emphasises.
Half of the CO₂ released by human activities, such as through burning fossil fuels, enters the atmosphere... This impacts the climate all over the planet, including the Arctic.
Amazing footage of the North Pole! Not everyone gets a chance to be there. And so cool that you even saw a polar bear!
While en route to the North Pole on a modern ice-going vessel, glaciologist Henry Patton reveals some of the crazy mapping mistakes and theories of what people used to believe lay hidden in this icy kingdom.
📽️ Editing by @media.elizaveta.no
Straight from the North Pole! See the great pics by @rhewlif.xyz, who is now sailing on board the icebreaker vessel Kronprins Haakon. The story of how researchers grappled with 'unsettling' feelings three decades after their first visit to the northernmost point on Earth. Plus 📷 of a polar bear.
"The Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in the summer by 2050,” the Norwegian government says.
"Animals living on or within the sea ice ... will lose their habitat... This changes the Arctic ecosystem, but we don’t know how," UiT Arctic University of Norway Professor Marit Reigstad told me. #climate
The famous scientific ship RV Kronprins Haakon leaves #Svalbard today with 25 scientists on board. Till Sep 19 they'll be collecting data to shed light on Arctic #climate during past ‘warmer-than-present-day’ conditions. It matters as future projections show sea-ice-free summers before 2050.
Why was Mercator a genius? Explained in just 1 minute by @mapmyths.com
Hiking with hunky hubby @rhewlif.xyz 😀🇳🇴
"In 2024, the company made 23 million kroner (approx. €1 928 725) in revenue, whereas in 2023 it was 17 million NOK (approx. €1 425 580). Whisky is our most profitable product”. My new photo report:
"Maybe they should enjoy nature instead of being confused"
In this short Midnight Sun report by @media.elizaveta.no I contributed drone footage of some amazing North Norwegian landscapes.
First time seeing a brown bear up close too 🐻
I spoke to the archaeologist in charge of the excavations:
"These brooches were likely made by professional artisans in the urban communities further south, for example in Trondheim. People were importing and exporting products across Scandinavia and as far as England, Ireland, and Iceland.”
"We have water, we have wind, and we have the sea. Instead of saying no, we are against (wind farms). Then what are we for?" - a local politician told me. "What are your proposals for a solution? We have created growth based on our natural resources”. #climatechange
My new long-read:
Interesting story about the Danish/American rivalry over #Greenland a century before Trump:
😱
A Moscow court sentenced 4 journalists for alleged involvement in Navalny’s “extremist” Anti-Corruption Foundation: Antonina Favorskaya, Artem Krieger (both SotaVision), Konstantin Gabov (Reuters) and Sergei Karelin (AP) to 5.5 years in prison
📷 Alexandra Astakhova/Mediazona
"It's okay that people are coming here, but it is in a way too much, I think, too many. And it's a problem. For example, they use nature as a toilet sometimes”, some locals told me. "Northern Norway needs tourism”, others said. #Tromsø #Arctic. Check out my new photo-report:
If you are a #researcher who has just done an interesting new study on climate change/environment in the #Arctic - let me know! I'm looking for #climate change news stories in the #Barents region and I'm always open to new suggestions and research. Let's explain science to the world! :)
Abandoned and presumed dead: The rivalry over Greenland a century before Trump. The first photo of Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen taken after spending 28 months alone in Greenland with his comrade Iver Iversen.
The eyes of a man found after more than two years alone with his comrade in the remotest parts of Greenland.
His rescue brought news to the world that a major map myth had been finally busted.
Read the story full of tragedies and perseverance on our blog: myths.rhewlif.xyz/blog/peary-c...
The year of 2024 was the warmest on record in the 175 years of observations.
"The change now is much faster than natural climate change in the past," Philipp Assmy, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told the Barents Observer.
My new photo report - I visit a seaweed farm in Tromsø, Arctic Norway, and then a kitchen on board a huge coastal liner
"In Asia it is very common to eat seaweed. There has been a tradition for it in Norway back in history. But it has been lost and forgotten”, a researcher told me.
Thanks for sharing, Thomas!
My new video from northern Norway, where researcher Freya Sykes explains what is happening and how we can help our planet.
And Dr Henry Patton @rhewlif.xyz takes us on a quick trip across Greenland, which, according to recent studies, is losing 30 million tonnes of ice every hour!
My picture of Alexei #Navalny and his wife Yulia at a street protest in Moscow, #Russia, 2019. Today, 16 February, is the first anniversary of Navalny's death in a Russian prison.
