Join CIRES and Reach the World for a special joint livestream event! Polar expedition members Lianna Nixon (MOSAiC) and Timothy Jacob (Endurance22) will compare and contrast two modern polar expeditions and the historical expeditions (Fram Expedition and Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, respectively) that inspired them. We invite classrooms and the public to join in the discussion on polar science, the study of sea ice, and what we learn from voyages to remote regions of the world. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A session. 

The MOSAiC Expedition was inspired by Fridtjof Nansen’s 1893 expedition during which he successfully froze a specially-designed ship, the Fram, into Arctic sea ice in an attempt to drift to the North Pole. The Polarstern research vessel was frozen in the ice for a year to drift with the ice floe and study the changing Arctic ecosystem.

The Endurance22 Expedition was organized and funded by The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT) to locate, survey and film the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which was trapped and crushed by the ice and sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915.

Timothy Jacob is Director of the Traveler Program at Reach the World, a global education non-profit based in New York City. He was the onboard Education & Outreach lead for the Endurance22 Expedition, using virtual exchange to connect 30,000+ K-12 students around the world with expedition team members throughout the search for Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost ship, Endurance, in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.

Lianna Nixon is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. She collaborates with storytellers, educators, and researchers all over the world to explore the intersections between nature, storytelling, education, technology, and activism. She recently graduated from the School of Education: Learning Sciences Human Development at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work continues to push what it means to tell stories as catalysts from environmental action.

Learn more about the historic Fram and the modern MOSAiC through these VR tours: 

• VR Expedition: Explore the Arctic Aboard the Fram 
• VR Expedition: MOSAiC Ice Camp