Two science heroes die seeking to protect the Last Ice Area

Polar explorers Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, in Resolute, Nunavut on April 2, prepare for their trek through the Last Ice Area. Credit: Cold Facts.

Monday, May 11, 2015, 6:18 PM - While on an important expedition through the Canadian Arctic, Dutch explorers Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo lost their lives, apparently due to the thinning ice they were there to measure.

As the planet warms due to climate change, changes in weather patterns and ocean currents are causing temperatures to rise in the Arctic faster than any other region on the planet.

As a result of this, Arctic sea ice is being whittled away, and according to the World Wildlife Fund, by the year 2040, the only portion of the Arctic that will likely have sea ice year-round is the water between the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago - a region the organization calls The Last Ice Area (shown in the image below).

In an effort to study this region, and thus provide the scientific community with the information needed to set up an environmental stewardship over the region, Dutch explorers Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo set off on the "Last Ice Survey 2015" in late March.

Along with a borrowed husky named Kimnik, Cornelissen and de Roo started out from Resolute, Nunavut, traversing the ice on skis, and travelling north between the islands of Cornwallis and Bathurst.

In live updates to the Survey, on the Cold Facts website, the team reported challenges such as quick reversals in the weather, powerful winds, and a course change due to slushy conditions. However, they apparently remained in good spirits and ready to face whatever the journey brought them. On April 28, after trekking roughly 200 kilometres, the last update from Cornelissen mentioned encountering extremely warm conditions, such that he was forced to ski in his underwear to combat the heat.

While this certainly provided a humorous moment for the explorers, and anyone following their progress, Cornelissen's mention of thin ice would prove tragic the following day.

Credit: Cold Facts

Early in the morning on April 29, the Dutch base camp reported receiving an urgent request from the two for pickup. With no other details available, a plane was dispatched to fly over the area, but when it arrived at their location, there was no sign of Cornelissen or de Roo.

Only a large hole in the ice was found, with one of their sleds floating on the water and the other sled partially unpacked on the ice. The dog, Kimnik, was spotted nearby as well - alive but alone.

Ice conditions were reportedly so poor in the area that no landing could be attempted by plane or helicopter, and search and rescue operations over the next two days turned into a recovery operation, as it became apparent that Cornelissen and de Roo had drowned.

In the days since, recovery teams have reportedly picked up Kimnik, who was hungry but otherwise unharmed. Efforts to collect the team's equipment had resumed after being delayed by blizzard warnings. As of Friday, May 9, a press release from the RCMP reported the discovery of one of the men, although the body remains unidentified at this time.

Heroes of the Science Community

When the discussion of climate change comes up, it often includes mention of the projected cost in human lives, due to severe weather, heat waves, drought, disease and even war brought on by scarcity of resources, and most often these losses are reported as a future concern.

The loss of Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, however - two dedicated and experienced polar explorers - is an impact that's being felt right now, for those who knew the two men personally and professionally, but also for the climate science community in general.

According to the European Space Agency, whose CryoSat mission Cornelissen had supported:

Marc was a professional expeditioner, with an eye for meticulous preparation to overcome known obstacles. However, he and Phil had ventured out into the wilderness one last time to witness the irrevocable Arctic changes accompanying the rapidly warming climate. It is difficult to avoid the possibility that these changes, ultimately, led to the unpredictable circumstances that appear to have claimed both their lives.

While it is possible that climate change played a direct role in their deaths, Professor Christian Haas, Canada Research Chair in Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics at York University, in Toronto, has another explanation.

In an email to the New York Times, Haas wrote that the thin ice the two explorers encountered is very likely due to strong currents under the ice, which bring warmer water to the surface from deeper down, melting the ice from underneath.

"The ice in this region of approximately 100 kilometres in diameter is always thinner than the surrounding regions, and small areas of open water are common year-round," Haas wrote. "In fact, our own airborne ice thickness surveys just north of this region have shown that the ice is (still?) very thick, ranging from over two meters for first-year ice to over three meters for multi-year ice."

Thus, according to Haas, the thin ice that apparently led to this tragedy does not carry any implication that this "Last Ice Area" will also be lost in the future.

So, while Cornelissen and de Roo were not necessarily direct victims of climate change, they were braving this dangerous and remote region of the world in order to protect it as climate change threatens to claim the rest of the Arctic polar ice cap. Thus their tragic loss truly makes them heroes of the scientific community.

Why were they on this expedition, and why was this work so important?

With Arctic ice retreating, and the impact this retreat is having on the species who depend on the ice during the summer months to live, hunt and mate, the World Wildlife Fund is attempting to safeguard this region through environmental stewardship.

Polar-orbiting satellites and airborne missions provide data on snow and ice cover, but it's measurements taken on the surface - "in-situ" or on site - that provide a means to validate those measurements from above. This makes the work of Arctic explorers and researchers like Cornelissen and de Roo vital for tracking the changes happening there and providing the means to forecast the region's future.

"There is no other reliable method to measure the thickness of snow than to step on the ice and use poles like Marc did," Haas told the New York Times.

Sources: Cold Facts | WWF | ESA | New York Times