National Geographic USA - 09.2019

Soldiers and researchers

come together for a pig

roast and game night.

Competitors try to put

a jousting lance through

a small ring while a

colleague pushes them

on a cargo bike. As

the night goes on, the

ring gets smaller, and

teams seek to distract

their opponents.

One person is playing the guitar, another is

reading. There’s a relaxed, vacation vibe despite

the location: 575 miles from the North Pole at

a Danish military outpost in northeastern

Greenland called Station Nord. The generator

hums in the distance, and occasionally the two

Greenland dogs begin to bark. The sun circles

the Arctic sky.

The day-to-day operations of this base are

mostly scientific. The Arctic is warming faster

than any other place on Earth, and for research-

ers studying the impact of climate change, the

base has the advantage of being remote—at

nearly 82 degrees north and inside the world’s

largest national park—and accessible, because

of its runway. It’s no exaggeration to say that

The summer evening

is warm enough for

the soldiers to sit outside

with their shirts off.

NORTH

AMERICA

A S I

A

E

U

R

O

P

E

ATLANTIC OCEAN

ARCTIC^

OCEAN

(KALAALLITNUNAAT)

(DENMARK)

C ANADA

ICELAND

DENMARK

U.S.

U.S

. RUSS
IA

NORWAY

NORTHEAST GREENLAND

N. P.

Station

Nord

Nuuk

(Godthåb)

North

Pole

ARCTI

C^ CIR

CLE

MAP: MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NGM STAFF