On a rainy summer’s day in late June, the Norwegian port city of Bergen is quiet. Every so often, the sun breaks through the clouds and douses us in a few minutes of sunlight as the city comes alive for a brief moment. Under the shroud of rain, a group of sailors, filmmakers, young scientists, and climate advocates are quietly preparing for a journey unlike any other – one that will take them across the Arctic, from Norway to Alaska through the legendary Northwest Passage. Their vessel, the Abel Tasman, stands proudly in the harbour, her 20-metre-mast dwarfing the other sailing and motor boats moored nearby.

Climbing onboard, I can immediately feel the excited energy that ripples through the rockstar crew as they chat about the weeks and months ahead. Leading the expedition is Keith Tuffley, long-term climate activist and former chairman of Energy Transition and Sustainability in Investment Banking at Citibank. He is joined by the two sons of renowned climate scientist Johan Rockström, a Brazilian film crew who will be capturing the expedition for a documentary TV series, as well as an economics student. Also joining later into the expedition will be expert paramotor pilot Kester Haynes, mountaineer Karina Oliani, and artist Meg O’Hara.

In between intense showers, the sun comes out and the sky fills with rainbows. I take the opportunity to interview the crew to capture what this expedition means to each of them individually and the urgent need for climate action, and to film them preparing the boat for their epic adventure. The clear and glassy water of the harbour reveals hundreds of jellyfish, large fish, and abundant marine life, reminding us what is at stake.

“Our mission will take us deep into the Arctic circle, sailing through the fabled Northwest Passage. This legendary route will explore six of the planetary tipping points and we’ll be collecting scientific data on ocean plastics, biodiversity, and acoustics,” says expedition leader Keith Tuffley.

What sets this expedition apart, is its focus on documenting and communicating six of the nine climate tipping points found in the Arctic (out of 16 globally). Along their route, the team will also be capturing benchmark data on microplastics, eDNA (to measure marine biodiversity), and other markers of ocean health, such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and CO_2, while capturing acoustic samples of the Arctic soundscape too. This expedition will not only explore the fragile Arctic ecosystem, but also capture the alarming rate at which it is changing.

Before the crew’s departure, I had the opportunity to meet the expedition’s patron and scientific advisor who is none other than Johan Rockström whose research on planetary boundaries and climate tipping points has made him a global figure in the fight against climate change. We shook hands and I could immediately tell that Rockström is both deeply knowledgeable and incredibly humble. The ease at which he talked about what are very complex scientific concepts was impressive. He explained to me how “the Arctic is truly ground zero on planet Earth”. “What’s happening in the Arctic is affecting Antarctica via a cascade of tipping points that even hits the Amazon,” he added.

After the crew made a few last minute trips to local hardware stores and supermarkets, I rejoin them all on board for one last time. What was an absolute bomb-site of food, clothes, and equipment just one day prior during my previous visit, has turned into an organised cabin.

So, armed with state-of-the-art science equipment, a four months supply of food stuffed into every corner and crevice of the sailboat, and all the tools they might need to make repairs, the crew is finally ready to set sail. A small team of supporters – myself included – wave from the shore as the Abel Tasman makes her way towards the horizon, and out into the North Sea. Just a few hours after setting sail, I receive an update from Keith: “We’re headed into a big storm.” And so the adventure truly begins.

Over the course of their four-month journey, the crew of the Abel Tasman encountered incredible marine wildlife, stunning landscapes, and met with local communities in Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. Despite being the trip of a lifetime, the expedition was, in fact, not without challenges, from sailing into huge storms, navigating rapidly shifting sea ice, dealing with ripped sails, and many other issues.

It’s hard to distil over 100 days at sea, but here I outline a few of the highs, and lows, they faced along the way. Shortly after the crew rounded the infamous Cape Farewell there was a moment of elation. “We’ve seen our first iceberg,” Keith told me, after several days of sailing through thick fog and keeping a keen look out for icebergs. After that, the icebergs came thick and fast, according to the crew, especially when the expedition reached Disko Bay on 22 July, the hottest day ever recorded on Earth.

The bay was littered with icebergs of all shapes and sizes that had floated down from the Ilulissat Icefjord. It was both visually stunning and an incredibly gut-wrenching experience for the crew. Here they were, taking in this extraordinary beauty, whilst knowing that all of this ice is coming from the rapidly melting Greenland ice sheet which, if fully melted, will raise global sea levels by seven metres. This tipping point, if reached, would put some of the most well-known cities underwater. Reflecting on the experience, skipper Isak Rockström said: “It gives you a sense of the unstoppable force of nature.”

Whilst exploring Disko Bay, Sebastian Sánchez, an expert sound recorder who was also onboard, took the opportunity to capture underwater sound recordings. Akin to the bustling sound of a coral reef, these melting icebergs pop, crackle, and boom as they release decades-old trapped gases.

After sailing across Baffin Bay from Greenland, the crew arrived at their first stop in Canada, Pond Inlet, marking the official start of their journey through Canada’s Arctic Archipelago. This maze of 36,563 islands has entrapped many explorers. For hundreds of years, sailors sought to find safe passage, but treacherous conditions and thick sea ice made the route impassible.

Sailing towards Devon Island, not only did the crew come across a pod of narwhals – aptly nicknamed ‘the unicorns of the sea’ – in Eclipse Sound, but also a calving glacier, the first they’d been able to get close to. Incredibly excited to investigate further, Kester and Sylvestre took to the skies on their paramotors, ascending to over 2,000m to take in the view. Here, they were met with a shocking reality. The ice cap that feeds this calving glacier actually flows into seven glaciers in total. But six no longer flow into the ocean. They have retreated too far as the temperature in the Arctic has rapidly increased – three to four times faster than the global average.

The crew’s next destination was like “stepping onto Mars”, Keith tells me. Devon Island, with its barren terrain, rugged coastline, and deep orange hues, is completely uninhabited. Yet, the crew did encounter some residents: a large pod of walrus, with a calf, lazing on the rocks.

The landscapes and the wildlife encounters, the crew remembered, just kept getting better as the Abel Tasman sailed deeper into the archipelago. “The Arctic landscape is unlike anything I have ever seen. It’s a natural masterpiece that will never appear the same way twice,” says Ramon Gonçalves, a cameraman onboard.

After stepping back in time at Fort Ross – an abandoned trading outpost – and an exhilarating sail through the Bellot Strait with its strong and rapidly changing currents, the crew neared Prince of Wales Island. Within seconds, someone shouted “polar bear” and the whole team rushed to the deck. Even with 4,000 polar bears in the region, the crew had only ever seen tracks on the journey thus far, so it was a very exciting moment. Alex Rockström, first mate, was heavily involved in the data collection happening onboard, and set out to take an eDNA sample from the water by turning on the microplastic filtration system, hoping to pick up eDNA traces from the polar bear. Over the next few days, the team were treated to a total of seven sightings, including a mother with two young cubs.

“Rebecca, we may need to alter our route to reach Gjoa Haven,” Keith told me on another day, “there’s thick sea ice blocking our path around King William Island.” And sure enough, the next message I received confirmed the crew needed to bypass their next stop altogether. Throughout this section of the expedition, the Canadian Archipelago, the crew were constantly checking the ice maps, currents, and winds to determine which route was safe to take. Sailing through Prince Regent Inlet, the Abel Tasman was forced to carefully pick her way through three long bands of thick sea ice. Here, the crew exerted themselves poking any encroaching ice pieces with large poles away from the boat’s delicate sides. Despite this, for the most part, the entire route was ice free.

In the spot where Sir John Franklin’s ships Erebus and Terror famously became trapped 176 years ago, there was no sea ice in sight. It served as a sobering reminder of just how rapidly the Arctic has been changing. Sea ice is not just critical to wildlife, like the polar bears seen just days before, but also Indigenous peoples that call this region home.

In this momentous spot, the Abel Tasman unfurled her striking Climate Stripes Sail – to send a message. A message of our warming world. And a call to accelerate action on climate change. The first time they had been displayed at sea, the stripes were a vivid representation of the global temperature rise, each red stripe sending a warning.

As we wait for the eDNA and microplastic samples and other data to be analysed in the lab, the sailing expedition through the Northwest Passage has already vividly shown what will be lost if we don’t act now. Time is running out, because climate change is not linear. Climate tipping points represent phase shifts. And once flipped, they are self perpetuating, putting us on a path of no return. It’s up to all of us to steer the Earth back on course.

Tuffley added: “We want to raise awareness about just how precarious a position our planet is really in. While many may hear about tipping points through graphs and news articles, few understand what impact crossing these tipping points will have on our planet, on people everywhere, and on the future of humanity. This may sound alarmist. But this expedition has also given me an immense sense of hope and optimism. Climate tipping points are a warning, they are not yet our fate.” 

To discover more about the journey, take a look at the logbook on the Northwest Passage Ocean Science Expedition’s website here.