Jean-Louis Etienne goes back to North Pole
Published on 28.04.2009 - General Info
After the memorable setback of his dirigible airship in south of France, French explorer Jean-Louis goes back to North Pole.
Jean-Louis Etienne.
Flashback: Dr Jean-Louis Etienne, who subsequently became a polar explorer, was the first man to trek solo to the North Pole. Hauling his own sledge, he took 63 days to reach his goal (spring 1986). Later, in the spring of 2002, he accomplished 'Mission Sea-Ice', drifting with the North Pole pack-ice for three months aboard the Polar Observer conducting a research and information programme into climate warming (see our reports at our old site).
This time around, the Frenchman intends embarking on a human and technological adventure in the spring of 2010 that will delve deeper into our knowledge of the climate and how we can best preserve it.
Extracts from his press kit: "No-one has yet made a crossing of the North Pole by balloon. This will be the final part of my trilogy of solo expeditions to the North Pole. Having reached the Pole after hauling my own sledge for 63 days in 1986, then drifting for four months on the sea-ice aboard the Polar Observer in 2002, I am now preparing for this flight, which is scheduled for April 2010."
"The balloon is a Rozière, a hybrid balloon that flies on both helium and hot air like the Breitling Orbiter in which Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones did their round-the-world flight. The pod has been built specially for this crossing of the Pole."
"Throughout my flight, I will be taking two different kinds of readings: first of all the CO2 in the atmosphere for the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory - CEA-CNRS, and then the Earth's magnetic field for the Global Physics Institute at Paris-LETI-CEA."
"My aim in attempting this daring feat worthy of a Jules Verne novel is to focus the world's attention on the shrinking of the sea-ice and the effect it is having on the ethnic peoples who depend on it. I will also be highlighting Arctic biodiversity and the climate upheaval taking place on a worldwide scale that threatens to make it disappear altogether. The sea-ice is the best barometer for demonstrating that mankind has to do something to combat climate warming."
The teachers on the Fuchs Foundation
Fuchs Foundation Arctic Expedition 2009 : a support crew has just left the UK for Greenland. The team's aim is to prepare the ground for the expedition of the four teachers, who are due to arrive on site in approximately a week's time. They will start by taking the sledge dogs out on the icecap so that when the teachers arrive, they won't have to make the tough climb up to the plateau, which will save them time for doing their experiments.
