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10 Illuminating Facts about the Northern Lights

According to Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. The word “borealis,” however, is Greek for “wind.” The combined phrase “aurora borealis” therefore means “dawn wind,” known in English as the northern lights. This phenomenon has fascinated people for thousands of years, a fascination that clearly continues today: The northern lights are one of the major attractions of the Arctic, and indeed there are a number of northern lights cruises in the Arctic specifically devoted to viewing this magical lightshow

Inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Literature, cinema, even video games have given us no small supply of global disaster scenarios. These often come in the form of annihilating wars, pulverizing natural catastrophes, or sweeping pandemics that leave bands of ragged survivors scrambling for boxed potatoes and bullets amid hordes of cannibalistic zombies.

Behind the Scenes with Plancius Hotel Manager Sebastian Duma

A pleasant June evening, mild and warm – for the Arctic. Outside the panoramic windows of the m/v Plancius observation lounge, peaks and glaciers and rolling white snowscapes glide past unhurried. Conversation has softened to a post-dinner hum, and the bar is almost empty except for the breathless comings and goings of Charlotte the bartender restocking cocktail glasses.

A Bug’s Life in Svalbard

When you think about Svalbard wildlife, you might imagine reindeer, Arctic foxes, polar bears – the primary animal attractions that draw passengers to an Arctic cruise. But in fact the Svalbard archipelago is a thriving location for over 1,000 species of terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates: animals that lack backbones. Despite this richness of life, however, these invertebrates are only found in the Isfjord and Kongsfjord areas of these wonderfully diverse islands.

A Thankful Tradition: Interview with Captain Nazarov

It takes a village to run a polar cruise. The guides show us the terrain, the serving staff keeps us fed, and the passengers make sure the bartender has never a lonely moment. Yet among all this fine-tuned circuitry, the captain plays the most important part.

10 Traits of Post-Ice-Age Greenland

During the last ice age, most plants and animals vanished from Greenland as a thick sheath of ice coated the landscape. Once this ice started to retreat around 12,500 years ago, it left boulders and raw mineral earth exposed for plants and animals to colonise. This colonisation, however, did not occur overnight: Due to Greenland’s geographic isolation and difficult topography, it was a slow, slow process.

The Enchanting Islands of Svalbard

Here we showcase the many wonders that keep people coming back to the islands of Svalbard year after year.

Polar Diving: A Supreme Underwater Adventure

If you’ve ever gone diving in warm, tropical waters you know how exciting that can be. In the ocean’s depths you’ll be met with an array of colors from schools of fish and the vibrant coral. In tropical waters, your biggest concern is the crowd of other divers exploring these waters along with you. But imagine diving in an environment where only a select few dare to venture. A place so unique only a special few divers have ever experienced its astonishing wonders. This is the magic, the challenge and the reward of polar diving.

10 Misconceptions About the Arctic

The Arctic is a big place. Really big. Spreading out over 14.5 million square km (5.6 million square miles), the Arctic encompasses eight countries: Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. But despite its size, the Arctic often gets painted with some seriously misconceptions. Time to set the record straight.

Arctic Icon: 10 Facts about the Polar Bear

Polar bears are to the Arctic what penguins are to Antarctica.

Five of History’s Greatest Polar Explorers

Today’s visitors to the Polar regions follow in the footsteps of some of the most famous explorers in history. Here’s a list of 5 great explorers to brave the harsh lands of the Arctic and Antarctica.

Baleen Whales – The Gentle Giants of the Ocean

There are many species of baleen whales: 15 in total. In this blog we will tell you much more about baleen whales, so you can expand your knowledge.

The Arctic Borderland of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

Kongsfjorden is a glacial fjord in Svalbard that is home to a rich mixture of Arctic flora and fauna.

Scoresby Sund: the Greatest Greenland Adventure

Would you like to discover a world of towering ice spires, magnificent glaciers and breathtaking fjords? There is such an adventure for you in Eastern Greenland. Few places can make the claim to be the biggest, the grandest or the most inspiring but Scoresby Sund (or Sound) is one of those remarkable locations.

The world is changing for Greenland's native Inuit people

You may know them as ‘Eskimos’, but the people of the Arctic are officially called the Inuit. Historically, they were hunters in the truest sense. For hundreds of years they survived the world’s harshest conditions, living off their prey of whales, seals, polar bears, muskoxen, birds, fish and caribou. This has always been their way of life. One that is now changing.

Kayaking In Greenland

The kayak is a quick, agile boat, invented by the Inuit, the native people of Greenland. For centuries, perhaps thousands of years these skilled hunters and fishermen used this light, mobile platform to hunt their prey. They still do.

Oceanwide Expeditions presents new corporate identity

Since 1993, Oceanwide Expeditions has been taking passengers deep into the Arctic and Antarctica on voyages that focus on wildlife, nature and activities.

Harp seals harping on in Greenland

Harp seals are moderately sized species, averaging 1.6 metres in length and weigh around 130 kilograms. Both the males and females are of similar size and weight, with males only slightly larger than the females. They have a thick, robust body with a small broad and flat head, short narrow flippers and a narrow muzzle.

Ice streams and lakes under the Greenland Ice Sheet

The Greenland ice sheet is not a static body of ice but instead a dynamic body of dense, flowing and deforming ice. Snow deposited on the central parts of the ice sheet is gradually compressed to ice that slowly flows towards the ice margin.

The Northern Lights dancing across the skies

The Northern Lights most commonly occur in a belt of radius 2,500 kilometres centred on the magnetic North Pole. This auroral zone extends over northern Scandinavia, Iceland, the southern tip of Greenland and continue over northern Canada, Alaska and along the northern coast of Siberia.

First to the North Pole: Five Failed but Brave Expeditions

Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave and officer in the British Royal Navy, was the first person to make a voyage to the Arctic with the intent of reaching the North Pole, sailing the vessels Racehorse and Carcass beyond Svalbard to the Seven Islands in 1773.

Amphibian, reptiles and herbivore mammals in the Arctic

Arctic ecosystems are relatively young in terms of geological time, having developed mainly over the past three million years. In general, species richness is lower in the Arctic than in southerly regions, which is consistent with general scientific observations that biodiversity declines from the Equator the poles.