Not subscribed?

Use this photo as a 'freeze-frame' exercise in the classroom to think about what happened before and after this photo was taken. Act out what you think led up to this and then what happened next.

There aren't really any courses you can take in how to cope with all the different ice conditions that you might experience in the Arctic. You just need to have experience and use your initiative. One of the methods that the team employed is to use the pulks as a raft.

Many pictures from Arctic expeditions show explorers and scientists skiiing along dragging their sleds or 'pulks'. When the team come across a pressure ridge they have to drag the pulks by hand over the ice. The explorer teams have to train for months to have the strength and fitness to cope with the conditions in the Arctic.

The pulks or sleds used by the explorers to carry all their equipment have a lot of special qualities. Some materials become brittle when they are cold and can break or snap. Other materials may be tough but too heavy. What materials and designs would you use to make the perfect pulk for a polar expedition?

Sea ice does not freeze in one big layer, instead it freezes in big sections known as pans. The wind and ocean currents often push these pans together creating pressure ridges. These ridges, and the ice rubble around them, make walking in the Arctic very slow.

Some science work requires what are called 'transects'. This means collecting data along a single line. The use of this kind of data collection is to see if there are variations in the samples collected in different locations.

The team encountered many different types and thicknesses of ice. Some of the ice was quite thick and easy to walk on. Other ice was much thinner and may have broken up if the team were not careful.

What can you see in this photo that tells you what the weather was like? Was it hot or cold? Cloudy or clear? Windy or still? What other information might you need to ask to get a complete picture of the weather?

Even polar explorers have to stop for a break every now and again. It's important to take on food and liquid to have the energy to continue walking. Can you think what they might be drinking on the expedition?

Ann Daniels is gearing up to cross a lead, a stretch of open water between the ice. To do this, she wears an orange immersion suit to keep her dry and is tied on for two reasons. First, if she gets into trouble she can be rescued. Second, by taking a rope across the lead she can secure it to the far side to help the others cross.

Some of the techniques that Arctic explorers use are taken from nature. Polar bears spread their weight out when crossing thin ice, by making sure that as much of their body as possible is in contact with the ice.

All the explorer team's equipment, food and belongings were packed into their pulks every morning. Think about some of the terrain they needed to cross and why a sled or 'pulk' may be the most effective transport in the Arctic. A good pulk can cost thousands of pounds as they need to be built from special materials that are both very strong and very light and are not damaged by the cold.

The explorer teams were on their own in hundreds of miles of Arctic Ocean expanse. The solitude bonds the team together.

When the explorer teams are out on the ice, there may not be any other living person for hundreds of miles. They pitch their tent on the frozen ocean and sleep as best they can.

On the 2010 expedition, the team woke to find that an ice crack had opened up under their tent. It was a bit of a shock!

The team were woken by the sound of the ice cracking. How would you have reacted if you had been in their place?

Think about all the different things that could have been lost down the ice crack. What do you think would be the most important thing to save? Would it be fuel, food, a satellite phone, clothing or something else?

In 2011, the Explorer team walked to the Ice Base. The weather was so bad that they could only see a few metres in front of them. They used GPS to locate their position using satellite. They couldn't use other means of navigation as the visibility was so poor and they were near the Magnetic North Pole which means that compasses would not work properly.