Last of the Firsts: Diving to the Real North Pole

Flag #42 - Report on the Arktika 2007 Expedition

July 24th 2007 - August 7th 2007

Prepared by Mike McDowell and Peter Batson, Deep Ocean Expeditions Summary Here we describe the Arktika 2007 Expedition from conception to completion. As one of the most logistically challenging marine explorations ever mounted, its incubation was long and complex, spanning a decade. The Expedition’s principal objective was to reach the 4,300-meter-deep seafloor at 90°N and demonstrate a workable method for deep under-ice submersible operations. Secondary objectives included geophysical and biological studies of the polar abyss tied in with the 2007-08 International Polar Year. Expedition logistics were conducted using Russian ship, submersible and air support assets, personnel and expertise. Two surface ships, the nuclear icebreaker Rossia and the RV Akademik Fedorov travelled together to the Pole, with a combined complement of approximately 400 persons. The Expedition Leader was Dr Artur Chilingarov, an esteemed and experienced Arctic explorer. His role as organizer of the expedition was strengthened by his post as Deputy Speaker of the Russian parliament and President Putin’s International Polar Year representative for Russia.

The Expedition’s Mi-8 helicopter aboard RV Akademik Fedorov. Central to achieving the Expedition’s objective was the Russian Mir submersible operation led by Dr Anatoly Sagalevitch. The experience and skill of pilots Sagalevitch and Chernyaev was backed up by expertise from the 26-member Mir Group, who have worked together for twenty years. Safety was paramount. The twin submersibles were extensively modified for under-ice operations, with redundant navigation and thruster systems, and upward facing sonar and video to assist with locating the hole in the ice. The Arktika 2007 Expedition reached its climax on Augut 2nd, 2007, when the twin Mirs were launched through a natural hole in the polar ice cap. Submersible Mir 1’s complement included Anatoly Sagalevitch (pilot), Artur Chilingarov and Vladimir Gruzdev; Mir 2 was occupied by Yevgeny Chernyaev (pilot), Frederik Paulsen and Mike McDowell. Four of the North Pole divers are current Explorers Club members, namely Sagalevitch, Chilingarov, Paulsen and McDowell; and Explorers Club flag #42 was carried aboard Mir 2 by Paulsen and McDowell. During the dive, the submariners collected geological, biological and hydrological samples, observed marine life, took video footage and planted various items on the seafloor, including a Russian flag, a time capsule and a plaque. The successful completion of Arktika 2007 marks one of the last geographically significant ‘firsts’ to visited by humans on Earth, and is a feat unlikely to be repeated. Data collected during the expedition may prove useful as an environmental baseline by which to measure future changes in the polar abyss related to the predicted disappearance of the Arctic icecap.

Origins The story began in 1997, during a social gathering en route to the North Pole aboard the icebreaker Sovietsky Soyuz. Invited to the chief engineer’s cabin were a mix of ship’s Russian officers and staff from Quark Expeditions, an ecotourism company chartering the massive icebreaker for an Arctic operation. The conversation turned to feats of exploration and the group decided that in actual fact no one had ever gone to the ‘real’ North Pole. What did this mean? Thousands of people – first explorers, then scientists and tourists – have walked on the ever-changing sea ice at the top of the world. Getting there today is almost a matter of routine. But there is another, lesser known, North Pole. It lies deep beneath the gleaming ice cap on the dark and mysterious floor of the Arctic Ocean. As the decades passed, and other geographically notable places were explored, this ‘real’ North Pole remained resolutely unreachable and unexplored. Among those present on the Sovietsky Soyuz that night were two American ex-naval submariners, Don Walsh and Fred McLaren, along with Quark’s Australian founder, explorer Mike McDowell. All three were well acquainted with deep-diving submersibles. Walsh co-held the record for the deepest ever submersible dive after a hair-raising descent into the Marianas Trench in 1960; McLaren came from a noteworthy nuclear submarine career in the US Navy; and McDowell had previously worked with deep submersibles. Their thoughts quickly turned to how logistically feasible such a dive would be.

Co-holders of the world deep-diving record, submariners Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in Switzerland, November 2007. Walsh (right) was one of the originators of the North Pole diving concept. It would be difficult. Few places in the ocean were more inaccessible. The ‘real’ North Pole is located more than four thousand metres deep, on a vast abyssal plain immersed in eternal darkness and near freezing temperatures, and capped by permanent layer of sea ice several metres thick. Could an expedition to such a place be mounted?

Dr Anatoly Sagalevitch: Chief Pilot and Head of the Mir Submersible Group from the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow.

It could, Walsh, McDowell and McLaren concluded, but only in a theoretical sense. In 1997, as today, only five manned submersibles in the world could reach the North Pole abyss. Getting access to one of them, transporting it to the Pole and deploying it safely beneath ice would be a formidable challenge. Certainly in 1997 there was no operation capable of, or willing to, undertake such a hazardous expedition, let alone fund it. Over the next decade the idea would evolve into workable plan. The first step took place late in 1997 when Mike McDowell founded Deep Ocean Expeditions (DOE), a company conceived to explore opportunities for deep-diving submersibles among private sector clients. McDowell used his Russian connections to secure a commercial partnership with the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow, and their submersible group led by Dr Anatoly Sagalevitch. This arrangement enabled access to the Institute’s prized submersibles: the twin Mirs, along with their mothership, the RV Akademik Keldysh. From 1998 onwards Deep Ocean Expeditions in partnership with the P.P Shirshov Institute of Oceanology completed many expeditions, including repeated visits to the wrecks of Titanic and Bismarck, a multitude of hydrothermal vent sites and forays to other deep-sea dive targets. Dr Anatoly Sagalevitch, head of the renowned Mir submersible group, was also their chief pilot. An accomplished and highly regarded scientist and submariner, he was also one of the Mirs’ designers and knew his subs’ capabilities intimately. His decades of experience with the Mirs and other deep submersibles made him a world authority in deep ocean logistics. Over the years McDowell and Sagalevitch became close friends, and the Russian became a pivotal person in the group’s quest to dive to the Pole.

The business end of a Mir submersible bristles with equipment.

Preparations By 1998 it had become clear that the twin Russian Mirs were the only submersibles available to dive at the Pole. Sagalevitch and McDowell began a more detailed analysis of the expedition’s daunting surface and subsea logistics. The chief challenges were twofold: getting the Mirs to the Pole, and ensuring they could complete the dives safely in the uniquely harsh conditions found there. An icebreaker would be needed to get the subs to 90°N, and the best option was to charter one of the large Russian Arktika-class vessels. Nuclear-powered, they were among the few ships that could reliably be expected to reach the Pole. McDowell had worked intensively with these ships during his Quark days, when 25 expeditions to the North Pole were competed. He maintained excellent contacts with the ships’ managers in the Murmansk Shipping Company. Early negotiations were encouraging, but it soon became clear that the powerful icebreakers lacked an onboard crane powerful enough to safely lift the Mirs in and out of the water at the North Pole. McDowell considered installing a crane specifically for the expedition, but the plan faltered when it was discovered that such a crane would be too heavy for the icebreaker’s deck. Eventually McDowell concluded the only viable option was to use two ships during the expedition – a nuclear icebreaker to clear a path to the pole, and an icebreaking cargo ship equipped with a heavy crane and expansive hold, to follow in its icy wake. Negotiations were made with Murmansk Shipping Company in 2000, and soon afterwards Deep Ocean

Expeditions, in partnership with McDowell’s former company, Quark Expeditions, began marketing ‘the Real North Pole Expedition’, featuring a voyage to the geographic North Pole and a dive to the seafloor. As bookings for the expedition came in, Sagalevitch began work on preparing the submersibles for Arctic diving.

The Russian nuclear icebreaker Rossia reverses to free RV Akademik Fedorov from heavy ice.

Without a doubt, the Mirs added a definite ‘X factor’ to the expedition. Both three-person submersibles could dive to 6,000 metres for up to 20 hours, and are widely regarded as amongst the most advanced and versatile deep-diving submarines in the world. The three human occupants – one pilot and two observers – are housed in a seven-foot pressure hull. Composed of nickel-steel with three Perspex viewports, this mighty sphere can resist water pressures 600 times that found at the surface. Mechanical arms and external science compartments at the front of the sub enable samples to be collected and experiments deployed. To power the Mir’s various propulsion, lighting, camera, computer and life support systems, electricity is supplied by onboard batteries. The endurance and flexibility of each individual Mir is excellent, but possibly their greatest advantage over other subs is that there are two of them. Throughout their careers they have dived and worked together. For pilots and passengers alike, it is comforting to know there is a realistic chance of rescue if something goes wrong. No manned deep submersible had ever dived beneath ice before, raising some ‘meaningful’ engineering questions. Under the leadership of Dr Sagalevitch, the 26-person Mir group researched and planned for every aspect of the dive. The challenges included coping with the cold Arctic climate and operating the subs away from their mothership, the RV Akademik Keldysh, for the first time in their history.

Mir 1 is lowered into the ice hole to commence its dive to the polar abyss.

During the North Pole dives, everyone agreed the biggest priority was ensuring the Mirs could return to the hole in the ice made by the icebreaker, even if there was a systems failure. It is usual practise to avoid diving submersibles underneath solid obstacles, but for the ‘Real’ North Pole expedition to happen there was no realistic alterative. Under normal circumstances, if a submersible loses power, hydraulics, communications or navigation system, it is easy to make a safe emergency ascent to the surface; doing so under the ice would mean near-certain death for the sub’s occupants. For this reason, the Mir group ensured that all major systems had a back-up available in case the primary system failed. When the submersibles were finally unveiled for the North Pole dives, they looked conspicuously different from their usual egg-like shape, sporting an extra pair of lateral thrusters. Antifreeze was added to the main ballast tanks to keep the contents from freezing as they passed through the sub’ high-pressure pumps. The forward section bristled with equipment: an upward-facing ice sonar, additional buoyancy foam and added sensors and sampling equipment. Many of these modifications would only have been noticed by engineering specialists, but together they represented thousands of hours of work by the Mir group.

Arktika 2007 Expedition Leader: Famed Russian Explorer Dr Artur Chilingarov. Putting the Pieces Together By the middle of 2001 things were looking positive for an passenger-funded expedition to dive to the Pole the following year. The logistical problems seemed to be largely solved – or at least solvable – and interest was high, with a healthy number of expedition bookings and deposits already received from prospective divers. The plan at this stage was to conduct four or five days of diving operations at the Pole. But the events of 9/11 caused an immediate decline in the worldwide expedition scene, and the expedition had to be postponed. It began to look like a window of opportunity had come and passed, although funding attempts continued, with DOE prepared to cover reasonable sized funding shortfalls. In 2005 Mike met Frederik Paulsen, a Swedish-German businessman and fellow polar enthusiast. The two struck a chord, and Paulsen agreed to assist in re-invigorating the project by funding a significant proportion of the costs – in return for places on the first North Pole submersible dives. This move greatly reduced the need for finding a large number paying of expeditioners, making it once again a realistic proposition. McDowell immediately began negotiations to reactivate the logistics for a proposed July 2006 expedition, but the icebreakers were fully committed, and the project went quiet for another year.

In 2007, a key player, Dr Artur Chilingarov took over the organization of the expedition logistics. He was perfectly positioned to bring the expedition together, being both a noted polar explorer and a prominent Russian politician. A friend of Frederik Paulsen, Chilingarov had harboured thoughts about the possibility of a North Pole submersible expedition since 1977, when he visited the North Pole on the first ever surface ship expedition to 90°N (aboard the Russian nuclear powered icebreaker Arktika). As President Putin’s appointed representative for the 2007/08 International Polar Year, and head of Russia’s Polar Foundation, he brought great respectability to the project, and used this to fund the remaining cost of mounting the expedition. The North Pole Expedition was announced for late July.

Mir 2 Pilot during the Arktika 2007 Expedition, Yevgeny Chernyaev (photo by Don Walsh).

Getting to the Top of the World On July 24, 2007, nearly a decade after the idea was conceived ‘The Real North Pole Expedition’ departed Murmansk, Russia’s famed atomic port. The Murmansk Shipping Company supplied the icebreaker Rossia, a nuclear-powered, 75,000-horsepower behemoth. The polar research icebreaker RV Akademik Fedorov was supplied by the Arctic Antarctic Research Institute based in St Petersburg. Dr Chilingarov sailed in the role of expedition leader. He and principal backer Frederik Paulsen, were based on the nuclear icebreaker Rossia, while Dr Sagalevitch and Mike McDowell were stationed on the RV Fedorov, where the Mir submersibles were undergoing final preparations in the capacious hold. During the expedition the ships would travel in convoy, with Fedorov travelling in the path of broken ice created by Rossia. A Mi-8 cargo helicopter served as a scout and a shuttle between the two ships throughout the expedition. It was used extensively by science parties working on the ice throughout the expedition. A sturdy machine by Western standards, it was secured to the helicopter pad after each landing with heavy gauge chains in anticipation of bad weather.

Pools of meltwater in the high Arctic; abundant natural beauty helped to calm the nerves of the deep divers prior to their journey into the unknown. Aboard the Fedorov was a diverse team of scientists from various Russian marine science institutes, among them geologists, biologists and physical oceanographers. Their equipment ranged from a giant grab for collecting mud samples to sophisticated instruments for measuring the minute changes in seawater composition that occur with increasing depth. To the oceanographers, the expedition represented an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the abyssal environment in one of the least known places on Earth. It took the convoy eight days to reach the North Pole, and this included a one day stop near Franz Josef Land to test the submersibles systems before the big dive. During the test dive pilots Anatoly Sagalevitch and Yevgeny Chernyaev took Mir 1 and Mir 2 down to a depth of about 1,300 metres to check all systems were in order. They were, and as soon as the subs were recovered onto the Fedorov, the ships set course for the geographic North Pole. About 400 Russian sailors, submariners, scientists and associates were onboard as well as a large media contingent and a small party of foreign participants. On the evening of August 1st, the Pole was finally reached and a dive plan confirmed for about 0800 the next day (ship time), with good weather conditions prevailing. Early on the morning of the second a remarkable sighting took place under the midnight sun: observers on the Rossia spotted and photographed a polar bear – the first time one of these animals had been recorded this far north. It was a timely reminder of global warming and the consequences of the rapidly melting ice on these top predators. Back on the ships, the six submariners slept through the sun-filled night in cabins with blacked out portholes, while the airborne ice scout spotted a natural hole close to the Pole. It was small but robust, and close enough to the Pole to make the dive’s objective reachable (89°59.996 North). The scene was set. This natural hole, with its inherent stability, provided a better option than using the nuclear icebreaker to manufacture its own diving hole.

Artist’s impression of a Mir submersible navigating beneath ice at the North Pole (credit: David Batson). The Dives Early the next morning a crowd gathered in the frosty air to watch the sub launches. The hole in the ice somehow didn’t seem quite as big, with endless ice stretching in every direction. There was a tense atmosphere as the submariners climbed down through each Mir’s hatch and were sealed in. The contingent of assembled media jostled for the perfect shot. First to go at 0530 GMT was Mir 1, piloted by Dr Sagalevitch and accompanied by Dr Chilingarov and fellow parliamentarian Vladimir Gruzdev, a sponsor of the expedition. The launch went smoothly and the submersible soon disappeared from view. Shortly afterwards Mir 2 was carefully lowered into the water. Inside Yevgeny Chernyaev piloted, accompanied by Frederik Paulsen and Mike McDowell. Mir 2’s launch created a nervous moment for the assembled spectators when wash from one of Fedorov’s thrusters propelled a large slab of ice in the sub’s direction, just as she began her descent. The glancing collision was relatively minor, but it was reminder of just how easily the unanticipated could spell disaster in this unforgiving environment. As the submersibles sank into the abyss, the control room set up by the Mir group in one of the Fedorov’s aft laboratories became a hive of activity. Navigation information and monitoring of the two dives was handled here, and voice communications provided the submariners with their only link to the world above. An atmosphere of calm professionalism masked the team’s unspoken awareness that if any dive needed to proceed according to plan, it was this one.

Vladimir Gruzdev dove to the North Pole aboard Mir 1 with pilot Dr Sagalevitch and Dr Chilingarov. Navigation was the overriding concern: it was imperative that each of the subs maintain a constant awareness of their position relative to the ship and the ice hole alongside. Ocean currents can push a submersible in unpredictable directions as it descends, and sometimes currents in different depth layers move in opposing directions. To add another layer of complexity, the ice cap itself is in constant motion, moving relative to the currents below and the seafloor. The potential for lethal confusion was ever-present. To help maintain accurate navigation a ‘reverse transponder array’ was set up in a wide perimeter around the ice hole. The array comprised a series of acoustic beacons that ‘talk’ to the sub, effectively telling it where it is by triangulation. The sub issues a ‘ping’, which the transponder detects and responds to with a ping of its own. Normally such arrays are placed on the seafloor, but in this case the requirement for accurate navigation was at the surface, and the transponders were hung 90 metres through holes drilled in the ice pack around the ship. Three transponders were deployed around the Fedorov, each about 800 metres away; a fourth (T4) was hung directly beneath the ship. A trio of underwater lights were also hung beneath the ship, to serve as a visual beacon to the returning submersibles. Inside both the Mirs, the descent was going smoothly. Aboard Mir 2, nerves were settling after the excitement of the launch. The methodical calmness of Yevgeny helped, and Paulsen and McDowell chatted away, pausing occasionally to look out the viewports. At 30 metres per minute, the descent would take almost three hours, so there was time to take in the surroundings. The interior of the sub was crammed full of electronics and life support systems. Yevgeny had a small bench, while the two passengers had a short bunk to prop themselves up on. The three portholes faced in slightly different directions, so each observer had a unique view. McDowell asked Yevgeny to turn his exterior light on, enabling him to survey the myriad forms of planktonic life as they passed his viewport. Since the submersible was sinking, most of the life appeared only briefly, seemingly headed for the surface at speed. Mike was surprised how much plankton he saw – mostly jellies of various kinds. The deep

Arctic Ocean was clearly not lifeless at depth. Between 1,000 and 3,000 metres, the period during which the exterior was lit, the stream of life was constant. About a depth of about 3,500 metres the sonar began to pick up the seafloor, forming the image of a flat plain. The ‘real North Pole’ was getting close.

Styrofoam drink cups were attached to the exterior of the Mirs prior to the dive; upon return to the surface they had shrunk to the size of thimbles – the consequence of immense deep-sea pressure. After a three-hour descent, Mir 1, the first of the two subs arrived at a tranquil scene. As expected, the seafloor was indeed flat, and composed of a fine clay of terrestrial origin. Small shrimp-like crustaceans flitted beneath Mir 1’s bright lights. The sub’s depth sounder registered 4,261 metres. All systems were working fine, so the submersible began its task of collecting samples and heading north to plant a symbolic flag and time capsule commemorating the dive as a historic Russian achievement. The seafloor sediment was so fine that great clouds of grey would billow at the slightest disturbance, requiring the finest of touches on the thrusters controls to avoid creating a blinding smokescreen of mud. The three Russians surveyed the barren scene proudly, knowing that they had simultaneously added another chapter to their nation’s history of polar exploration and deep-sea exploration. About half an hour later Mir 2 arrived on the seafloor nearby, its depth recorded as 4,302 meters by the pressure gauge. Several hundred metres above the bottom Yevgeny had adjusted the buoyancy of the submersible to near-neutral by pumping water out of the ballast tanks. The pumps made a high-pitched whine as they worked against the immense water pressure. The pilot slowed the descent to a slow crawl and the truck-sized sub touched down gently. After a few minor adjustments, Mir 2 was ready to head north, exploring its surroundings along the way. Powerful lighting illuminated a world that had forever lain in complete darkness. As with landing site of Mir 1, the mud was almost completely featureless,

and there were no rocks or human debris visible – despite the fact that plenty of items had been deliberately or accidentally sunk at the pole over the years, including two aircraft.

The Expedition’s Mi-8 thunders overhead during one of its regular ice-scouting and science runs.

Biologist Konstantin Tabachnick holds a contracted sea anemone collected by Mir 2.

Burrowing sea anemones dotted the seafloor, one or two per square meter. A few fish lazed slowly over the ancient sediments then dashed away as the sub approached. Using the Mir’s manipulator arms samples were scooped up from the seafloor, including several of the pretty anemones. Samples of the deep-sea mud and water samples were scooped up for scientific study. Mike had brought a small titanium plaque to personally commemorate the dive and this was dutifully placed on the polar seafloor. Two hours after Mir 2 reached the bottom, the decision was made to return to the surface. It would have been easy to continue exploring for several hours more, but this would erode the safety window to a point where options would become limiting if there was a major systems failure. Mir 1 had already left the bottom, and was well on its way to the surface when Yevgeny began pumping water out of the ballast tank. Inexorably, the sub began to rise. Celebratory lunches and drinks were unpacked, and the submariners allowed themselves a few minutes of relaxation before the difficult task of returning to the ice hole. During the descent to the seafloor currents had pushed both Mirs hundreds of metres to the side of the ice hole, and this distance was increased to nearly a kilometre by the subs’ exploratory foray over the bottom. Both pilots needed to drive their respective Mirs back towards the ice hole during the ascent. As the subs floated up towards the surface, it became clear that contact with the transponder net was not strong. Despite this, Mir 1’s ascent proceeded without difficulty.

Thick blocks of ice broken by the nuclear icebreaker Rossia. Some of these are five meters thick.

But things did not go so smoothly for the second sub during its ascent – most of the time Mir 2 struggled to receive clear data from the navigation system, a cause of obvious concern. It was not until about 1,000 metres depth that the signal strength improved somewhat. But even then, T4, the transponder marking the location of the ice hole, remained strangely silent. At about 600 metres Yevgeny slowed the ascent to a slow crawl, and started assessing the navigational data he was receiving from the other transponders. Carefully he turned his sub towards the point he calculated the hole to be based on the intermittent flow of information and began driving.

Mir 2 begins her journey to the ‘Real’ North Pole. For those in the control room, back on the Fedorov communications were lost with Mir 2 as it ascended past 1,000 metres. The last message they received from the submersible was that it was encountering slow navigational responses. The team’s faith in Yevgeny was strong; however concerned faces crowded around the underwater telephone, waiting to hear his voice coming in over the static. Getting close to the surface, the occupants of Mir 2 were confident in Yevgeny’s ability to decipher the flow of incoming data from the working transponders. The onboard navigation equipment indicated the sub was getting close to the ship, and this was confirmed when he encountered the light beacon hanging 60 metres beneath the Fedorov. A whoop of joy punctuated the tense atmosphere inside the Mir, just as the submersible began the final ascent – right under the hull of the cargo ship. Adroitly the Russian manoeuvred the sub towards the ice hole. He received assistance from McDowell, who was relaying the view on the monitor

displaying the upward-looking camera feed. As the stretch of open water loomed into view Yevgeny pumped one final burst of water out of the ballast tank, and Mir 2 popped to the surface, almost directly beneath the crane’s waiting hook. As the submersible was lowered gently onto deck, everyone present – inside and outside – sighed a collective sigh of relief. The mission had been completed. Inside the sphere, the occupants felt a massive burst of elation and adrenalin, and then felt their ears pop, as the hatch was opened. Climbing out into the afternoon sun and presented with champagne, the submariners of Mir 2 hugged each other and the crew from Mir 1. A decade-long dream had been realized. With both submersibles and their crews back onboard, the expedition was a resounding success. It attracted worldwide media interest and focused attention upon the Arctic and its future – one of the key goals of the International Polar Year and Chilingarov’s Polar Foundation. The achievement was recognised at the highest levels. On February 21st, 2008, during a special event at the Kremlin, President Putin awarded expedition leader Chilingarov and the two submersible pilots, Sagalevitch and Chernyaev, the ‘Hero of the Russian Federation’ medals – Russia’s highest honor – for their roles in the North Pole dives. President Putin awarded Vladimir Gruzdev the ‘Order of Merit before the Fatherland, 3rd Class’ for ‘courage shown in extreme conditions during high-latitude Arctic deepwater expedition. For their part, McDowell and Paulsen both received ‘Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation’ medals.

Toasting a safe return: three of the North Pole divers, Paulsen, Sagalevitch and McDowell.

The science conducted during the Arktika 2007 expedition will add much to understanding of the Arctic. A large quantity of multidisciplinary data was collected during regular science stops to and from the Pole as well as at the Pole itself. Science parties were often flown onto the ice to deploy instruments on and below the ice and the RV Akademik Fedorov deployed remote samplers including CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) samplers, rosette water samplers and benthic grabs from its winches. The submersibles themselves collected a range of hydrological, sedimentological and biological samples and measurements. Additional geophysical work was conducted from the Rossia. It will take months and years before the scientific samples and geophysical data collected are analyzed and results are published, but collectively the impact of the Arktika 2007 Expedition will be significant. The Expedition’s findings will add to a growing body of knowledge about the polar regions, data that may prove useful in monitoring the effects of climate change in the Arctic and predicting how these changes will affect the wider world. Useful as the results will undoubtedly be, the expedition should also be remembered as a milestone in pure geographic exploration – exploration of a kind that rarely takes place these days. As one of the expeditioners noted on the day of his dive, a dozen men walked on the moon, but only six humans have visited the ‘real’ North Pole. It is unlikely others will follow.

Four of the six North Pole submariners pose with the Explorers Club Flag no. 42. From left: Frederik Paulsen, Anatoly Sagalevitch, Mike McDowell, Artur Chilingarov; all four are Explorers Club members. Photocredits: Unless otherwise stated, all images © Peter Batson/DeepSeaPhotography.Com Do not reproduce without permission.