Greenland hosts some of the world’s northernmost caves–and one of its most unforgiving environments. In 2023 a team of scientists launched a mission into its icy, unexplored cliffside caverns to search for speleothems, layered mineral deposits holding clues to Earth’s earliest climate history.

The team braved storms, polar bears, and choppy helicopter flights to and from each cave. It was only in the final hours of the expedition, deep within a narrow, frosty passage of WUL-7, that the elusive specimens were found.

Annika Hoerner, NGM Staff.

Sources: Northeast Greenland Caves project; WorldCover, European Space Agency; ArcticDEM, University of Minnesota; U.S. National Ice Center

Greenland hosts some of the world’s northernmost caves–and one of its most unforgiving environments. In 2023 a team of scientists launched a mission into its icy, unexplored cliffside caverns to search for speleothems, layered mineral deposits holding clues to Earth’s earliest climate history.

The team braved storms, polar bears, and choppy helicopter flights to and from each cave. It was only in the final hours of the expedition, deep within a narrow, frosty passage of WUL-7, that the elusive specimens were found.

Annika Hoerner, NGM Staff.

Sources: Northeast Greenland Caves project; WorldCover, European Space Agency; ArcticDEM, University of Minnesota; U.S. National Ice Center