and it clings to you as stubbornly as lichen clings to rock.
Permafrost
The surface air temperatures in Svalbard were warming at twice the global rate.
Climate change was happening faster here than almost anywhere on Earth.
One woman, wearing a purple woollen hat pulled down over her eyebrows, talked about witnessing one of the icebergs doing a somersault –
something that happened apparently because the warming waters had dissolved it from beneath, causing it to become top heavy.
Another problem was that the permafrost on the land was thawing, softening the ground,
leading to landslides and avalanches that could destroy the wooden houses of Longyearbyen, the largest town in Svalbard.
There was also a risk of bodies surfacing in the local cemetery.
It was inspiring, being among these scientists who were trying to discover precisely what was happening to the planet,
trying to observe glacial and climatic activity, and in so doing to inform, and to protect life on Earth.
Back on the main boat, Nora sat quietly in the dining area as everyone offered sympathy for the bear encounter.
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