Women at the Polar opposite

Climate change is having a devastating impact on the North and the South Pole – melting glaciers and endangering the local wildlife. Kim Chakanetsa meets two women who are monitoring these changes closely.

Hilde Fålun Strøm is an explorer and citizen scientist based in Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town in the Norwegian arctic. Hilde and her expedition partner, Sunniva Sorby, run Hearts in the Ice, a project raising awareness about climate change. In 2020 they became the first women-only team to overwinter in the High Arctic, where they gathered data for climate change research.

Dr Irene Schloss is an Argentinian biologist based in Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city. She is a principal investigator with the National Council of the Research of Argentina, for the Instituto Antártico Argentino and the Austral Center of Scientific Research. She holds a PhD in biological oceanography and for the past 25 years has been monitoring the impact of climate change on plankton and other marine life in Antarctica.

Produced by Alice Gioia

(Image: (L) Hilde Fålun Strøm, credit Catherine Lemblé. (R) Irene Schloss, credit Jeremías Di Pietro.)