Dartmouth engineering MS student Ian Raphael '18 watches as the Akademik Fedorov tests the thickness of an ice floe by driving through it. Image: Ravenna Koenig/NPR

"High up in the Arctic Ocean close to the North Pole, a solitary ship floats in darkness, moored to an expansive piece of ice," writes NPR.

"If all goes according to plan, the ship will remain with that ice for an entire year, so that scientists on board can study the Arctic system and how it's responding to climate change.

"It's a project called the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). But finding a piece of ice thick and stable enough to host the mission's science and logistics is not easy, and there may be challenges for the ice and the scientists in the months ahead. ...

..."'It's so amazing,' says Ian Raphael, a master's student from Dartmouth who is part of the MOSAiC group studying sea ice. He's leaning over the bulwark of the ship watching the ice crack and capsize. 'It's the deepest blue and there's so much variation in it.'"