These women endured a winter in the high Arctic for citizen science

Hilde Fålun Strøm and Sunniva Sorby are taking citizen science to the extreme. In August, the two women moved into a tiny hunting cabin on the high-Arctic Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The hut, dubbed Bamsebu, is the only shelter for 140 kilometers. Polar bears prowl the area. It’s not unusual for the winter chill to reach around –30° Celsius. The conditions are so harsh that few polar scientists themselves collect field data from the area during winter. That’s where Fålun Strøm and Sorby come in — gathering observations about wildlife and the environment that could help scientists’ understand how rapid warming is changing Arctic ecosystems. Read More…