Adventures Online: A Voyage to the Arctic Circle

Activity note: Today’s session will start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and end at 4:00 p.m. Road Scholars are welcome to join for informal chat at 12:50 p.m.

Afternoon: 1:00 p.m. Welcome & Introductions. Our Group Leader will greet everyone and provide an overview of the program including Zoom protocols. We’ll then get to know our fellow Road Scholars with group introductions. 1:25 p.m. Lecture. In this overview of the Arctic environment, we will learn about climatic conditions, what it takes to live here, and the main characters on land. We’ll be introduced to Arctic dwellers such as lemmings, Arctic hares, caribou, musk ox, Arctic foxes, and wolves. 1:55 p.m. Break. 2:05 p.m. Virtual landing. After a brief presentation about Paleoeskimo, Thule, and Inuit cultures past and present, we will “visit” Radstock Bay and Resolute, where we can see Proto-Inuit dwellings and houses thousand years old. We’ll also see Pond Inlet where a local resident will share some characteristics of their culture such as typical music, dance, food, and answer any questions we may have. 2:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A session. 3:00 p.m. Break. 3:10 p.m. Virtual landing. Before we “explore” the Northwest Passage, we will have a short presentation about the attempts to find a northern way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. These include the famous Franklin’s Expedition as well as that of Amundsen on Gjoa. We will then experience a landing at Beechey Island and visit Cambridge Bay. We’ll see the ship Gjoa, go on a Zodiac cruise in Transition Bay, and a landing in Johansen Bay. These sites offer a good chance to see some of the local wildlife. We’ll finish our field trip with a Zodiac study cruise amid the monumental cliffs of Stanford Fjord on the eastern side of Baffin Island. 3:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 3:55 p.m. Wrap-up and notes for tomorrow. 4:00 p.m. Today’s session will end.

Activity note: Activity Notes Today’s session will start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and end at 4:00 p.m. Road Scholars are welcome to join for informal chat at 12:50 p.m.

Afternoon: 1:00 p.m. Review of the day. 1:05 p.m. Lecture. In this historical presentation, we will learn about the Norse — or Viking — exploration in Iceland and Greenland, as well as the discovery of North America. 1:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 1:55 p.m. Break. 2:05 p.m. Lecture. We will learn about the evolution and fascinating traits of the Arctic’s most blubbery inhabitants: seals, walruses, and whales. We’ll get to know some of the most iconic species, including the engaging belukhas, narwhals, majestic bowhead whales, the mighty walrus, and the grotesque — but cute — hooded seal. 2:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 2:55 p.m. Break. 3:05 p.m. Virtual landing. We will first admire the impressive Eqip Sermia glacier, then “visit” the town of Ilulissat, 50 miles south of the Glacier, with its world famous ice fjord, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. We’ll then go on a Zodiac study cruise amid the magnificent icebergs for which this area is famed. We will be fortunate to witness one of the greatest sunsets ever, also a characteristic experience in this place. A truly “ice” day in the Arctic. 3:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 3:55 p.m. Wrap-up and notes for tomorrow. 4:00 p.m. Today’s session will end.

Activity note: Today’s session will start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and end at 4:00 p.m. Road Scholars are welcome to join for informal chat at 12:50 p.m.

Afternoon: 1:00 p.m. Review of the day. 1:05 p.m. Lecture. We will finally be introduced to a true Arctic superstar: the polar bear! In this presentation, we will learn some of the fascinating facts and challenges of their lives before we actually see some of them later this afternoon. 1:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 1:55 p.m. Break. 2:05 p.m. Virtual landing The Arctic is full of birds and Svalbard is one of the best places to see them. We will learn about the variety and impressive traits of Arctic sea-birds as well as land-birds. We will then will embark on our Zodiacs to visit one of the largest bird colonies in the world along the two mile-long cliffs of Alkefjellet, home of tens of thousands of Thick-billed Murres, Little Auks, and Glaucuous Gulls. We’ll then have a quick look at the 14th of July Glacier in Western Svalbard, where we will “meet” some Atlantic Puffins. 2:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 2:55 p.m. Break. 3:05 p.m. Virtual landing. We are constantly on the look-out for polar bears and here in Svalbard we will spot one better than anywhere else in the world. We will also land at Alkehornet to encounter the beautiful, lush tundra as well as the company of reindeer and Arctic foxes. We will finish the study cruise by visiting a walrus haul-out and a colony of kittiwakes at Edgeoya. 3:45 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 3:55 p.m. Wrap-up and notes for tomorrow. 4:00 p.m. Today’s session will end.

Activity note: Today’s session will start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and end at 4:00 p.m. Road Scholars are welcome to join for informal chat at 12:50 p.m.

Afternoon: 1:00 p.m. Review of the day. 1:05 p.m. Lecture. Humans have a long-held fascination with the North Pole, and some truly fascinating theories about it have long inspired our imagination and ambition. Attempts to reach it were just as fantastic and clever, and this history is still shrouded in mystery. 1:40 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 1:50 p.m. Break. 2:00 p.m. Lecture. With the warming climate, more and more politicians from various countries are turning their attention North, whether to explore new possibilities of exploitation, or to protect the Earth’s cooling system. In this presentation, we will discuss the international scramble for the Arctic, as well as opportunities and threats facing its future. 2:35 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 2:45 p.m. Break. 2:55 p.m. Virtual landing. We will encounter Franz Joseph Land, Arctic sea ice, and the North Pole itself. We will “visit” the abandoned Soviet weather station at Tikhaya Buhta, one of the oldest in the Arctic. We will then admire the one and only Rubini Rock with its amazin basalt columns and thousands of nesting birds. Our captain will bring the ship in so close that we would be able to touch it from the bow! We will then visit Cape Norvegia on Jackson Island, where Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen spent the winter of 1895-96 in a self-built shelter. From there. we’ll venture further and further north, breaking the ice to finally reach the North Pole, where we will “walk” around the world in just a few steps at the top of the world. 3:35 p.m. Interactive Q&A. 3:50 p.m. Wrap-up and farewells. 4:00 p.m. This concludes our program.