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So remote, it could pass for Mars | So remote, it could pass for Mars |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Article written by David Shukman Science editor | Article written by David Shukman Science editor |
At 79 degrees North, deep inside the Arctic Circle, a research base offers a fascinating glimpse of what life may be like in some future human outpost on a distant planet. | At 79 degrees North, deep inside the Arctic Circle, a research base offers a fascinating glimpse of what life may be like in some future human outpost on a distant planet. |
As the world's most northerly permanent polar settlement, the huddle of buildings at Ny Alesund in Svalbard has the feel of a cross between a department of the United Nations and a miniature university campus. | As the world's most northerly permanent polar settlement, the huddle of buildings at Ny Alesund in Svalbard has the feel of a cross between a department of the United Nations and a miniature university campus. |
Operated by the Norwegians to provide support for frontline Arctic science, this community of scientists from nearly a dozen different countries nestles on a windswept shore beneath forbidding mountains. | Operated by the Norwegians to provide support for frontline Arctic science, this community of scientists from nearly a dozen different countries nestles on a windswept shore beneath forbidding mountains. |
It is a world of stark beauty: the howls of huskies echo off the cliffs, a bearded seal perches on an iceberg and fulmars dive and swoop over the waves. | It is a world of stark beauty: the howls of huskies echo off the cliffs, a bearded seal perches on an iceberg and fulmars dive and swoop over the waves. |
The midnight sky is still bright enough to read by, a white-gold sun dipping only briefly below the horizon. | The midnight sky is still bright enough to read by, a white-gold sun dipping only briefly below the horizon. |
In fact the place is so unearthly, so Martian, that the American space agency Nasa chose it as a proving ground for its latest expedition to the Red Planet. | In fact the place is so unearthly, so Martian, that the American space agency Nasa chose it as a proving ground for its latest expedition to the Red Planet. |
The teams now running the robotic vehicle Curiosity on Mars ventured here because the terrain was judged suitably alien. | The teams now running the robotic vehicle Curiosity on Mars ventured here because the terrain was judged suitably alien. |
No place for man | No place for man |
Initially, as a new arrival, the efficiency of the staff and the triple glazing of the warm rooms make it easy to forget that all of us are existing in a spot that Nature never really intended for mankind. | Initially, as a new arrival, the efficiency of the staff and the triple glazing of the warm rooms make it easy to forget that all of us are existing in a spot that Nature never really intended for mankind. |
Warnings about polar bears are a constant reminder of the hazards of living in what anyone might sensibly consider to be well inside another creature's realm. | Warnings about polar bears are a constant reminder of the hazards of living in what anyone might sensibly consider to be well inside another creature's realm. |
A guide to newcomers states on its cover: "Read this and avoid to become extinct". | A guide to newcomers states on its cover: "Read this and avoid to become extinct". |
A particularly bold polar bear ambled through the base last year, for some reason sniffing a line of bicycles. | A particularly bold polar bear ambled through the base last year, for some reason sniffing a line of bicycles. |
A video clip shows it passing the centrepiece of the community, a giant bust of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, a man with his own fair share of polar bear scrapes. | A video clip shows it passing the centrepiece of the community, a giant bust of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, a man with his own fair share of polar bear scrapes. |
And having studied the video, I now realise the animal went right past the building I'm staying in. | And having studied the video, I now realise the animal went right past the building I'm staying in. |
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"If you go out filming," we are told, "never leave the base without someone with a rifle and if you are on the base always be ready to rush for shelter should a bear approach." | "If you go out filming," we are told, "never leave the base without someone with a rifle and if you are on the base always be ready to rush for shelter should a bear approach." |
So a golden rule of survival in this settlement is that every building must have its front door unlocked - and that includes those of the hosts, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and of the French and Germans, the British, the Indians, the Chinese and many others. | So a golden rule of survival in this settlement is that every building must have its front door unlocked - and that includes those of the hosts, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and of the French and Germans, the British, the Indians, the Chinese and many others. |
Yes, an extraordinary range of countries is represented here, each committed to scientific research but also perhaps ensuring a footprint is planted in a region of immense potential value. | Yes, an extraordinary range of countries is represented here, each committed to scientific research but also perhaps ensuring a footprint is planted in a region of immense potential value. |
China's building is unmistakeable because its entrance is graced by a pair of stone lions. | China's building is unmistakeable because its entrance is graced by a pair of stone lions. |
But the atmosphere could not be more benign. In fact this scenario of unlocked laboratories and sleeping quarters is probably as close to a global utopia as we're ever going to get. | But the atmosphere could not be more benign. In fact this scenario of unlocked laboratories and sleeping quarters is probably as close to a global utopia as we're ever going to get. |
Generations of UN leaders would have dreamed of having so many nations of the world gathered together in one spot with so few keys. | Generations of UN leaders would have dreamed of having so many nations of the world gathered together in one spot with so few keys. |
People generally seem happy to rub along though a test of that is thrown up by another rule: that everyone - however fond of their own home dishes - has to eat together in a communal canteen. | People generally seem happy to rub along though a test of that is thrown up by another rule: that everyone - however fond of their own home dishes - has to eat together in a communal canteen. |
It does make for a self-evidently international atmosphere - Italians sitting close to the Indians, Chinese at the neighbouring table to the Germans. | It does make for a self-evidently international atmosphere - Italians sitting close to the Indians, Chinese at the neighbouring table to the Germans. |
No modern communications | No modern communications |
But I cannot help noticing that after exchanging polite smiles in the hot food queue, and nodding to one another over the cheese board, the national groups tend to stick together. | But I cannot help noticing that after exchanging polite smiles in the hot food queue, and nodding to one another over the cheese board, the national groups tend to stick together. |
But they are at least talking. No one is head down, solitarily hunched over a tiny electronic device, alternately stabbing at a screen and a plate of pasta. All such gadgets are banned. | But they are at least talking. No one is head down, solitarily hunched over a tiny electronic device, alternately stabbing at a screen and a plate of pasta. All such gadgets are banned. |
This is a land without mobile phones, WiFi or Bluetooth. It feels like a throwback to life before the 80s. | This is a land without mobile phones, WiFi or Bluetooth. It feels like a throwback to life before the 80s. |
The reason for the ban stands not far from the runway. | The reason for the ban stands not far from the runway. |
A vast satellite dish scans the heavens for signs of those bizarre deep space phenomena known as quasars - the huge structure twitching and turning around the clock. | A vast satellite dish scans the heavens for signs of those bizarre deep space phenomena known as quasars - the huge structure twitching and turning around the clock. |
Despite its size, the instrument is so sensitive that the whole base has to be starved of the oxygen of mobile communication. | Despite its size, the instrument is so sensitive that the whole base has to be starved of the oxygen of mobile communication. |
As we got off the plane, cameraman Duncan Stone, producer Mark Georgiou and I went through the strange experience of not turning on our mobile phones. We felt somehow naked. | As we got off the plane, cameraman Duncan Stone, producer Mark Georgiou and I went through the strange experience of not turning on our mobile phones. We felt somehow naked. |
Land of glaciers | Land of glaciers |
Living here requires adjustment. If the night-time light falling through my curtains is too bright, I get up and enjoy the view from my window. | Living here requires adjustment. If the night-time light falling through my curtains is too bright, I get up and enjoy the view from my window. |
It is an ice scientist's heaven: I can count eight glaciers flowing down between the mountains. | It is an ice scientist's heaven: I can count eight glaciers flowing down between the mountains. |
On a slope nearby are the remains of an abandoned mine. | On a slope nearby are the remains of an abandoned mine. |
Researchers were not the first to land here. Whaling was once a big lure, then coal, extracted until a terrible accident in 1963. | Researchers were not the first to land here. Whaling was once a big lure, then coal, extracted until a terrible accident in 1963. |
A steam engine and its trucks stand rusting on a railway used to ferry the black gold to the ships. | A steam engine and its trucks stand rusting on a railway used to ferry the black gold to the ships. |
Fossil fuels once made this place and may transform the Arctic in decades ahead. | Fossil fuels once made this place and may transform the Arctic in decades ahead. |
For now their effect on the atmosphere is being patiently measured by the scientists. | For now their effect on the atmosphere is being patiently measured by the scientists. |
The Arctic world can mean many different things: raw nature, untapped geological treasure, essential research into climate change. And of course life beyond the usual. Take your pick. | The Arctic world can mean many different things: raw nature, untapped geological treasure, essential research into climate change. And of course life beyond the usual. Take your pick. |
You can see our coverage from the Arctic on BBC News on Friday - on television, on radio and online. | You can see our coverage from the Arctic on BBC News on Friday - on television, on radio and online. |
Photographs by Mark Georgiou and Duncan Stone. | Photographs by Mark Georgiou and Duncan Stone. |
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