Hello and welcome to another Notebook from the North! This is not just any old plog episode however, it’s the 50th one! Who'd have thought we'd get this far eh? To celebrate this milestone, we have a special expert guest writer- the wonderful Greta Ferloni. Greta’s research work has taken her from Jerusalem to Italy … Continue reading 50: Sea ice in the Arctic is melting… except in the Bering Sea

In June 2020 news came from Russia that there was a national emergency. The melting of permafrost leading to the ground subsiding had caused a tank at a power plant in Norilsk to collapse, spilling 20,000 tonnes of oil into nearby water sources. The rivers turned red with oil, and Putin quickly dispatched a team … Continue reading 49: Oil Spills

We all know that winter is cold, but other than uncomfortable what actually is cold? And on that note what is the heat we feel on a hot summers day? What is temperature? This week we’ll be going to the scientific basis of what temperature actually is, some of its extremes, how we measure it … Continue reading 48: Temperature- what is it?

The ocean isn't just one giant uniform puddle of water on the earth's surface. Within it's waters there are lots of different of layers, which have, and have the potential to have big impacts on us and our planet. Also they can contain briny pools of toxic death in the middle of the ocean floor, … Continue reading 47: Ocean Stratification

For a while the big conversations around the environment and climate were climate change, pollution and the ozone hole. The climate is most definitely still changing, and pollution especially in the form of plastics is still a popular point of discussion, but what about ozone? What is it, and why was it a hole? Why … Continue reading 46: Ozone- is it good or bad, and is it still a hole?

Time for another animal spotlight here, this week being the reindeer!! And caribou… we’ll get on to that. Reindeer are pretty amazing animals, being one of the core reason people managed to survive in the Arctic in the past. We will be looking at their history, their natural history and how they were used in … Continue reading 45: Reindeer/Caribou

Roses are red, violets are blue, but how do they end up growing in that old quarry down the road which used to be covered in rocks? Complex plant communities are able to appear in places that were previously barren due to the biological process of succession, without which earth would be a pretty barren … Continue reading 44: Succession- from rock to forest

The polar regions of the planet are tough places to survive. Biting cold temperatures causing frostbite and sapping energy, harsh winds and unpredictable ice conditions making moving in this landscape dangerous, and the vast emptiness creating an environment where one is very much alone all come together to give polar regions a pretty tough reputation. … Continue reading 43: Incredible Polar Feats by Women

This week’s plog is all about the Winter War! What does a war have to do with nature and the Arctic? Well, part of the war was in the Arctic, covering that part, but the nature/climate aspect is also a lot bigger than you would expect. This war, no doubt filled with skill, pluckiness, tragic … Continue reading 42: The Winter War