“The Arctic is often perceived as being, remote and disconnected from the rest of the world, it is not.
Everything from rainfall to ecosystem changes, to finance and to global health is directly connected to the Arctic Ocean.”
Martin Hartley, The Last Ice Sentinels expedition leader.
The Last Ice Sentinels Expedition
Ice Sentinels are the last great chunks of old sea ice, and they’ve protected our planet for millennia.
They look like no other ice on earth, and they haven’t melted once in human history.
Stunning, full of information and incredibly important for our understanding of how the arctic ice affects our planet, the last of them are due to melt in the next ten years.
Astonishingly, no one has ever been to collect this information and devastatingly, there are no records for us to remember them by - we must do it now before it’s too late.
The Last Ice Sentinels expedition aims to bring home the definitive photographic archive and a critical data set of the Arctic’s great ice sentinels before they are gone.
A huge logistical and physical challenge, and the first-ever attempted traverse of this complex area of the Arctic Ocean, this is a last opportunity to document the remaining ancient ice.
With navigational guidance from the European Space Agency, an international team of scientists and explorers will embark west from Cape Oodaaq, Greenland – the most northerly point of land on Earth – towards Ellesmere Island, Canada.
Motivated by love for the Arctic, and traveling on skis over the course of 60 days, this epic journey will survey 300-400 miles of shifting seascape in search of the final surviving old ice monoliths – the Last Ice Sentinels.
Ice Sentinels Scientific Community.
-
![]()
“If we lose the Arctic sea ice, we lose the fight against climate change.”
Christian Haas, Professor, Sea Ice Geophysics
-
![]()
"Faced with the toughest conditions, this is an endeavour of global significance, one that matters to us all."
David Shukman, Environmental Correspondent
-
![]()
"We need data from the ground to really understand what's happening to the perpetual ice"
European Space Agency
“The people who have been to the ice are the people we need to listen to: the poets and the explorers – they all know ice and it will be gone, it will be gone if we don’t do something.” Professor Mark Miodownik MBE
At the top of our planet, the world’s only frozen ocean has remained covered by sea ice through all of human history. This ‘perpetual’ ice not only regulates our global climate, it serves as the keystone for one of the richest and most important ecosystems on Earth – and it will soon be lost to our rapidly warming climate.
The Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean — Earth’s only frozen ocean — has long been a protective white cap at the top of our planet reflecting the sun's solar radiation back into space. Now, scientists project we will soon witness a seasonally ice free Arctic Ocean for the first time in human history.
The Expedition
Our international expedition team, led by preeminent polar photographer Martin Hartley, includes a navigator, a scientist, a cinematographer, and a former Royal Marine.
The Science
This corner of the Arctic Ocean has never been traversed on foot or accessed by ship. The ice, water and air sampling we bring back will provide a singular data set to verify satellite imaging from this region. This kind of “ground-truthing” is invaluable to improving our global climate models and understanding the interconnection between the Arctic and the rest of the planet.