Tour of the Arctic (2/2) – from Greenland to Alaska | DW Documentary

This is a world of incredible natural beauty, raw and hostile. One who knows no mercy. And where mistakes can have fatal consequences. Life here has always been a fight for survival. In a world where the sun never sets in summer and in winter the nights are full of magic and color. We're exploring the remotest reaches of this inhospitable terrain: from Greenland, through the Northwest Passage, to Alaska. Do we know people who feel that their world is changing? and those who are changing it. This is a world in which the future of humanity will be decided. the Artic.

While performing risky maneuvers at full speed, Åge Barseleisen feverishly searches for a passage through the ice. Ice is coming. It's a race against time. Sea ice. So we look for open water. A northeasterly wind that is unusually powerful for early July pushes large amounts of ice drifting from the Arctic Ocean into the fjord. The icy headwind makes travel difficult and pushes the ice sheets closer together, creating ice sheets. After traveling almost 700 kilometers in Scoresby Sound, we found ourselves stranded in the Arctic. Together with the Barselaisen family, in one of the most isolated and inhospitable places on Earth.

A week earlier we had left Iceland on a two-hour flight over the Arctic Ocean. Our destination: Ittoqqortoormiit, a town about 800 kilometers from its closest neighbors. The descent itself is impressive. On the shore of one of the arms of the fjord we landed on a gravel track. It was built by an American oil company that withdrew from development in 1990, but the runway remains. We have to continue our journey by boat, since there are no roads. The trip lasts about two hours. On a calm, beautiful July afternoon like this, who would imagine that something could go wrong? The colorful houses of Ittoqqortoormiit stand out like beacons among the rocks and ice.

We are overwhelmed by the incredible beauty of the Arctic. And its immensity confuses our senses. Icebergs are often as tall as skyscrapers! From here to the coast, on the other side of the fjord, it is more than 40 kilometers. 350 people live in Ittoqqortoormiit; almost all are Inuit. Most of them work directly or indirectly subsidized by the Danish government to keep the settlement alive. There is a church, a hospital, a sports center and a primary school here, plus what could be the most spectacular football field in the world. Your artificial grass is carefully manicured among debris and snow.

They even just opened an outdoor pool for children. It is only the second in all of Greenland. Children splash around to the rhythm of techno music, although the water is a little cold. That still needs some improvements. How hot is the water? About ten degrees. Ten degrees? -Yes, ten. Isn't it too cold for children? It's cold, but we're working to make it warmer. At the small weather station they are launching a weather balloon. As they do every day at 11 in the morning and at night, at the same time as hundreds of weather stations around the world.

Tore Andreasen runs the station. He has lived in Ittoqqortoormiit for 46 years, but he says things have changed dramatically here in recent years. Climate systems have changed. The temperature, humidity, precipitation have changed. Everything has changed. It has been much hotter and much more humid. Much more rain in summer. The climate we have now is what they had a thousand kilometers south of us when I came. It's a pretty big change. Above the town there is a cemetery with a stunning view. Although it is warmer here, in summer they still dig additional graves, so that they can bury those who die in winter, when the ground is frozen.

Suddenly there is excitement in the town. The men are loading their weapons and everyone is standing. People drop everything to go look. The narwhals are here. Those not in the boats watch from the shore and tell the hunters which path to take. Time and time again, the whales dive and the boats chase them. The sound of large-caliber weapons echoes throughout the bay. Hunters fear that the smell of carcasses could attract polar bears. To keep them away from the coast and the settlement, dead whales are dragged to an ice sheet and dismembered there. Outside one of the cabins we meet Mette Barselaisen, who is following the action with binoculars.

Her husband Age and her brother Agalu participate in the hunt. We asked him why people here are so crazy about narwhals. So what role does narwhal hunting play in your community? It is very important for our own supply throughout the year. You eat the meat and make oil with the fat from the skin, and with the skin, you eat it. And if you're good at crafting, you can make jewelry with, you know, the tooth. Mette invites us to stay for lunch. Goulash is on the menu; He is the children's favorite. Mette tells us that a lot has changed here in recent years.

And she asks us if we would like to accompany them on a boat trip through the fjord in the next few days. We travel with them almost 400 kilometers through the Scoresby Strait, at 50 or 60 kilometers per hour, making our way through the ice. After four hours of very cold (and for us, often harrowing) travel, we took a break in stunning surroundings. The silence is only broken by the sound of melting glaciers. While her youngest son, Brian, keeps an eye out for polar bears, which can appear out of nowhere at any moment, we asked Mette about the biggest changes she's seen here in recent years.

The glaciers, in recent years, have been melting approximately. Like ten years ago until now, it can melt up to a kilometer. Then, suddenly, two polar bears appear: a mother and her cub. A potentially extremely dangerous encounter for both parties. So it's lucky for us to be safe on our boat. And luckily for polar bears, this year's harvest quota has already been met. I don't want to get close because they have very big claws. But I like meat. Like goulash, you know, you make small pieces of meat and make a goulash with rice. Is very good! Polar bear goulash!

Our journey through the fjord continues. We have been traveling through this magical world of ice for two days. But this is not a family vacation, even though it sometimes seems like it. Eight-year-old Brian takes us to our camp for the night, at full speed. Isn't Mette worried? She was afraid when he was five and six years old, because he is still very small. But her father wanted him to learn to drive as soon as possible. And he already shot? She knew how to shoot when she was four or five years old. Whenever they can, they bring their children to the fjord.

Teach them how to survive here in the Arctic: how to feed themselves; how to hunt and fish, how to sneak up on polar bears, seals and muskox. And how to adapt to the ever-changing world around them. There used to be a river here, but now it's all dry. Before we can get the water here, next to the camp. So now we have no more snow or glaciers here in the mountains, and now it's all dry. It's because it's hotter and we have a longer summer period. And in the winter season it gets warmer earlier, so the snow always melts.

The next morning we have to go fast. A strong wind is approaching that could be dangerous. Then we have to go. We still have a 350 kilometer return trip ahead of us?...and then we find ourselves stranded in the Arctic. Mette's brother, Agalu, has gone ahead, crossing the ice floes, searching for a passage through the ice. How is he? Good? Not good. Our biggest concern now is that something could happen to the ships. They risk being destroyed by drifting ice. And without the boats there is no way to return. We have to turn around. In an ice-free bay we meet some hunters who are also trapped.

We launched our drone to get a better overview of the situation. Agalu and the other hunters examine our images. It really doesn't look good: there is a thick layer of ice all the way to the horizon. We're not getting out of here so fast. We set up camp and posted guards to watch out for polar bears. The hunters share their food with us. Mette cuts the narwhal's skin and fat into small strips to make it easier to chew. Is it fresh, was it caught yesterday? the place we should have gone. He tastes a little like bubblegum.

If it is too good. It's good to stay warm now, because we'll be outside for we don't know how long. After being stuck here for two days, things are suddenly moving very fast. The family has made a decision. Age tells us that Agalu will bring us back: the three of us, the children and a hunter in a boat. Mette and Age want the children to return to the village. It's too cold out here and polar bears are an ever-present danger. They plan to follow us as soon as there is a clear path through the ice. Your boat is too big to drag over the ice.

It is an exhausting and dangerous return journey. Anyone who falls into the water here will hardly survive. It is difficult for us to judge exactly how thick the ice really is. We dragged our boat over the ice. All the time we are afraid that the ice will break or that someone will fall into freezing water. We moved from floe to floe, taking advantage of every small ice-free step to use the boat. We dragged, pushed and pulled, getting in and out of the boat for hours on end. This is not normal in mid-July. New weather patterns are making life difficult for the Inuit.

The knowledge they have acquired over many generations, which helps them predict weather conditions, is becoming unreliable. Has it happened to you before? No, that's the first time for me. Actually? Yes. Late in the afternoon, after hours crossing the ice, we are safe! A helicopter arrives to pick us up. Eric, the local police officer, has come to say goodbye and make sure we are okay. The narwhals have returned to the bay. And, after two nights on the ice, Mette has also arrived home. We left Ittoqqortoormiit deeply moved by its people and its natural beauty. The path to the landing strip is still blocked by ice.

This is Yellowknife, Canada, in the military section of its airport. We traveled with the 2nd Battalion of the 22nd Royal Quebec Regiment, a unit supporting Canada's Joint Task Force North. It has been a long journey since Ittoqqortoormiit. Almost 8,000 kilometers, with stops in Quebec and Yellowknife, before reaching Cambridge Bay, in the Canadian Arctic. We participated in Operation Nanook Nunakput. Their mission: patrol the Northwest Passage. Canadian territory that could hardly be more isolated. The two Griffon military helicopters fly low, taking advantage of the element of surprise. You can see the vast area we have to cover here in the North: there are thousands of kilometres.

And slow ships can't cover everything, so patrols like this are vital. We can keep track of what other vessels operate in Canadian waters. The helicopters take off over the water. They have their sights set on a cargo ship and radio the freighter to identify themselves. The captain is surprised. He asks why the helicopter is there. He never imagined that two military helicopters would suddenly appear in the middle of the night. The pilots have fun. We ask the questions! The guy just wasn't very clear about it. They may have been surprised by the fly-by we gave them and the gentle questioning.

It's not unheard of, for sure. The freighter was properly registered, but the message is clear: Anyone traveling through the Northwest Passage must face questions. Back at command headquarters, briefings are taking place. Reconnaissance patrols will be moved to observation posts in the Northwest Passage, monitoring an area roughly the size of Germany. To maintain our sovereignty, during this time of year there is no ice, so there is much more boat traffic. That's why we want to make sure that we can have people on the ground and in the air, with the support of the air force, to monitor any type of maritime activity.

Is it also for the ships that didn't say they were coming? Russian submarines? Yes, there is a difference between seeing a submarine or a fishing boat, right? So, does one of the two require? They require a different response. The base of its operations is known as CAM-MAIN. Located in Cambridge Bay, it is part of the joint Canadian-American Northern Warning System. Approximately 2,000 people live in Cambridge Bay. It's a sort of rough-and-tumble Arctic frontier town in the middle of nowhere kept alive by the generous support of the Canadian government. Most people here live off hunting and fishing and government subsidies.

Arctic char fishing is one of the few well-paying jobs here. For two weeks of work you can earn about 4,000 euros. But the fishing grounds are spread throughout the Northwest Passage and can often only be reached by seaplane. At the Cambridge Bay dock we found some fishermen unloading their catch. We asked them if they have found vessels in the Northwest Passage that have no business being there. I heard stories from our elders, in boats. and they see somethingin the distance, thinking it's an island and all of a sudden it just submerges and disappears. So, yes, in the Coppermine area.

We know, based on some sightings from other people, that the Russians are coming to the Canadian Arctic, but that's all we know. And it's been on the news, basically, you know. I know the Canadian government, they're trying to keep it down somehow, not make a big deal out of it, but I'm sure they know a lot more than they're letting on. At an observation post we met the commander of Joint Task Force North, Brigadier General Patrick Carpentier. He is inspecting his troops, who are conducting surveillance in this isolated region. He explains how difficult it is to maintain a presence throughout northern Canada.

If you take that land area, it's about the size of the continental United States. So, in that area there are only 115 thousand people, which are around 72 different communities. So the challenges are communication, transportation, infrastructure? Everything is a challenge in the North, and that's not even counting the weather! His troops are always accompanied by a group of Arctic rangers, local Inuit people who work with the military. They play an important role. They are essential because, if you think about the Arctic, it is very large. The rangers are actually the eyes, ears and voice of the North. They give us a lot of situational awareness of what is happening in the Arctic.

The Canadian Armed Forces only have about 400 soldiers permanently stationed here in the North. Therefore, they could not do without the help of Arctic rangers and the local population. Together with two Arctic rangers and a reconnaissance patrol, we are transferred to an outpost, on a small uninhabited island. The pilots ask us if we get dizzy. Let's be honest, because many people start to feel dizzy when the helicopter gains speed. They fly low and fast. For more than an hour we traveled through rocky terrain, as well as countless lakes. Sometimes it feels like we can reach out and touch the ground!

We have to disembark quickly. The pilots must return to base. This will be our camp for the next few days: a couple of tents on a small island in the middle of the Arctic. There are no trees or bushes to protect you. We are totally exposed to the wind and weather, which often changes from one minute to the next. Night has fallen. On slightly higher ground, the first guards have taken up position. Using infrared devices and powerful binoculars they look for hot spots in the icy waters. These can be detected even at great distances. Would you see a submarine coming if it were up there?

If it's up, we'd see it. If it's down, no, we don't do it. But I know we have some submarine specialists with us. Not here, but somewhere else. But they don't show us that: the next morning, this reconnaissance patrol searches the horizon. They have just detected a "foreign invader"! It's right there. We saw him coming this way so we turned around. It's hard to see, but it's there. I can show you the photo. My God! He's looking at you guys. He says hello! Amy and Allen load their weapons. The Canadian Arctic is Inuit territory. The soldiers here are guests and are unarmed.

They should not be seen as an occupying force. So, they let the rangers defend them. OK. So what will you do if he comes? If he's getting too close, maybe take him down. But for now, the bear is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a dense fog arrives from the sea. Now it's cold and damp: around 3 degrees Celsius. Allen says it could take a week for the fog to clear. It seems that, once again, we are trapped in the Arctic. This time on a small island with a grizzly bear! When it's foggy, let's say we're completely foggy, most of the time they can't really take off, because they can barely see each other.

So if they can't take off, they can't land, right? Then they won't take that risk. A few days later the sky has cleared and the helicopters can fly. The brigadier general comes to make an inspection. He and his staff have a burning question: more bear sightings? No, we haven't seen one since day 2. But of course, it's not the bears that pose the biggest challenge here. They are simply a tactical problem. The strategic challenge is that the North is extremely rich in resources and the immensity is incredible. So, having a presence in such a large territory is an extreme challenge.

The Arctic has a great wealth of natural resources: diamonds, copper, iron, oil, gas... and fish! And now that the ice is melting faster and the ground is melting, it is becoming easier to extract these treasures. They are in high demand and only those who maintain a presence here can protect their interests. It's a huge company in Canada, the second largest country on Earth. And a herculean task here in the far north, at the end of the world. We continued our journey, traveling almost 2 thousand kilometers west to Fairbanks, Alaska. And, from there, another 800 kilometers to Deadhorse, along the Beaufort Sea.

It's early October and we're on the Dalton Highway. Much of it is just a mixture of mud and gravel. It has been called one of the most dangerous roads in the world. Crossing the Yukon River, we head north into the Arctic, following the route of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. And cross the imposing Brooks Range, a thousand-kilometer-long mountain range that runs through northern Alaska. Halfway along the route we arrived at Coldfoot, little more than a gas station in the middle of nature. Until the mid-1990s, the Dalton Highway was closed to normal traffic. Anyone who wanted to use it needed special permission from the oil companies.

Now truck drivers tell us that they encounter more and more

tour

ists. Most come here in winter to see the northern lights, but they often underestimate the risks. No matter how pretty it is, no matter how pretty it is, for me it's not worth it, because it's very dangerous, you know? And above all, come unprepared. Think about it, you might have to walk ten miles in this weather. I felt that people come here and have nothing; They have light jackets, tennis shoes and it's not very smart. - They are the

tour

ists. Yes, more or less. We go deeper into the mountains.

There has been a lot of snowfall in recent days, unusual for early October. We stopped in Wiseman, a town that flourished during the gold rush. Relics from the days when the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline were being built in the Arctic can be seen everywhere. Only 14 people still live in Wiseman, where the freezers look like this, and it's only October. Is everything quite rustic here? At his cabin, Jack Reakoff tells a group of Chinese tourists about life in the wilderness and how he shoots moose and bears to survive. It is a heavy caliber 8.6mm. This is what the bullet looks like when it comes out.

The bullet hits the animal and breaks open; It shot out here, right through the lung. When the bullet passes through the lung, the heart continues to pump blood to the lung and all the blood continues to gush out of the lung. Pretty soon you have no blood left and she's dead. But Jack tells us that hunting isn't as good as it used to be. I had 15 days and climbed many mountains. I looked at many countries where there was hardly anything. It makes it harder, it makes it harder. Jack came to Wiseman in 1971 with his parents. His father helped build the Dalton Highway.

Jack explains why there are practically no more moose here in the forest. We've had three years of deep snow since 2004. Three feet of snow kills moose, especially when it melts on top and then freezes. They are going through chest-deep snow and cutting themselves at the edge of the snow. The snow was crusty like that: it was killing them. And it looks like this could be another bad year; There is already too much snow for early October. The air is too warm and too humid. The moose population does not have enough time to recover if deep snowfall occurs every four or five years, as has occurred over the past two decades.

Jack shows Chinese tourists powerful moose antlers, a popular photographic motif. We asked these visitors what brought them here to the Far North. The Chinese are getting richer and richer at the moment and want to see the outside world. But I had never seen it until now. I hope I can see the aurora tonight. As you try to get away, we hope you can see the Northern Lights tonight. The conditions are favorable. The night sky is clear and full of stars. Suddenly the celestial light show begins, becoming more and more spectacular. The next morning, we continued our journey north toward the Arctic Ocean, following the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

The road is icy. For hours, we made our way through the Brooks Range, which separates central Alaska from the North Slope region. At the northern foot of the Brooks Range is Toolik Field Station. Scientists from all over the world come here to investigate changes in the Arctic. Jeb Timm runs the station. He says they now have mosquitoes and snakes that can survive the winter here. That's something new. There is no denying that climate change is real. It's hard to argue with that and I'm in a bit of a strange situation. I am surrounded by science; I grew up surrounded by science.

But I'm also a bit of a redneck. You know, I like to hunt; I like to play on snow machines. But it's hard to argue with the research I see and the glaciers I see disappearing firsthand. And, you know, how warmer our seasons are is pretty obvious. Jeb says one thing is that it's hotter. But what will happen as a result of this will be the real big problem. There's enough permafrost up here that if that thick surface layer, that 20, 30 meter layer, melts, the entire northern slope will fall about 30 feet or 10 meters. He says it's not there yet, but things are getting critical.

He points out that he is not an expert. He suggests we talk to Vladimir Romanovsky, one of the world's leading permafrost researchers. Romanovsky, who advises governments and companies, says the situation is quite clear. You already have 35 years of measurements. And during this period of time, we started this permafrost temperature of around -8 degrees; It is now minus 4 on Alaska's North Slope. Around 2013-2014 we had a really strong new wave of warming, where entire sites in interior Alaska showed very substantial warming. If this continues, it could also have serious consequences for energy supplies around the world, as more and more of the world's oil and gas supplies come from the Arctic.

In many permafrost areas, ice distribution is very uneven. There are some large chunks of almost pure ice there and when these chunks melt, the surface sinks, developing very, very irregular surfaces. And there are already many occasions in which this sinking is already threatening oil extraction infrastructure. To the north, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline takes us out of the mountains and across the frozen Arctic tundra. A region of stunning natural beauty. Then we get to Deadhorse and the contrast couldn't be greater. Is it a big muddy mess? And much warmer than further south. The Dalton Highway ends in Deadhorse, at its only store: General Store.

Terry Underhill is one of the few women in Deadhorse. She runs the store and, like everyone here, comes from the south. She flies to work for two weeks and then has two weeks off. That's the pace of life here. She tells us that she is a big fan of Donald Trump, like everyone else here. We ask why. Obama made it impossible to drill offshore, which killed us. And he prohibited many things. He put a lot of regulations on everything, which got to the point where they couldn't do anything. And then when Trump came, he lifted all the regulations and allowed us to drill offshore again, everything started opening up again.

So, he was almost dead. It was like a ghost town. But now Deadhorse has come back to life. And work is back. The worker camps are full. The huge containers are supported on stilts, like everything here that is built on or in the permafrost. Since the land here is just above sea level (and in summer the upper layers of permafrost continue to melt more and more), gravel is spread to stabilize the soil. The question is: how long will all this last? All of this infrastructure was built to extract more material, which will eventually be burned and accelerate warming.

Which will increase the rate of permafrost thawing and create increasing problems for the infrastructure designed and built to extract these goods. So that's the kind of irony here. We boarded a private plane to pick up supplies, to get a better view of the situation. The oil companies won't let us film their operations, even though we approached them weeks ago. For hundreds of kilometers, huge plants are seen, built in the slowly warming permafrost. All connected by the pipeline that runs through this swampy landscape? Even offshore, in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, there are drilling platforms. Bob, our pilot, tells us that normally there would be ice here.

But he says that this year things have changed:Is this normal or unusual? No, it's very unusual. It's the first year I haven't seen ice all summer. Bob says it's getting hotter here. We wonder if the instability of the terrain is not already causing problems. Aren't there already effects on infrastructure and oil fields? Yes, but it is not official information, let's say. And they ask us not to speak. But yes, they have problems. And that's why maybe they're selling out. They're selling... BP has left the North Slope. Oil giant BP is completely withdrawing from Alaska, even as more oil fields are being discovered and opened for drilling.

Our journey around the Arctic Circle ends here, in the oil fields of Alaska. For some, they are the promise of a better future; For others, they are part of the problem. We have traveled thousands of kilometers across this vast, isolated region: a world that is warming faster than any other on Earth. A world that will determine the future of humanity. The enormous demand for raw materials and climate change make life more unpredictable every day. If the permafrost and ice crust disappeared, our world would be different. And the knowledge acquired here over generations is already losing its meaning.

Here in the Arctic!