The colours of the cold

Australian expedition cruise company is seeing red in the Arctic. And orange. And yellow.

It has partnered with a project called Thermal Imaging of Polar Ice (TIPI) to bring thermal imaging technology to our understanding of polar ice and environmental change.

It uses specialised thermal cameras which detect surface temperature differences.

They translate temperature into colour, so that ice formations and glaciers can been seen through heat rather than light.

It makes for striking images, of course. And they, in turn, provide an accessible way to understand ice dynamics, in the largely monochrome Arctic.

TIPI’s founder Joe Muise leads the project, bringing a new citizen science initiative to life onboard Aurora’s expedition fleet.

An Aurora Expeditions spokesperson says it is now fully operational, making this the the first expedition operator to apply thermal imaging technology at scale within an expedition-based citizen science program.

The spokesperson explains: “The project offers expeditioners a powerful new way to visualise temperature, melt and change in polar environments, revealing patterns not visible to the human eye.”

The partners have worked to ensure the scientific methodology gives robust, repeatable and valuable data, which stands up for long-term study.

On board, Aurora’s expedition team and citizen science co-ordinators involve clients, and imagery is collected throughout each voyage.

“This project allows us to see polar environments in an entirely new way,” Muise says.

“Thermal imaging lets us visualise information that we normally can’t — allowing us to track temperature, melt, and subtle changes in ice. By piloting and strengthening the methodology in real expedition conditions, we’re laying the groundwork for what could become a valuable longitudinal dataset.”

aurora-expeditions.com