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Race to the Pole – Below Ice

On this day in 1909, explorers Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and their Inuit guides Ootah, Egigingwah, Seegloo and Ooqueah claimed to be the first humans to reach the North Pole. Ninety-eight years later, explorers and scientists from WHOI will make two of their own treks to the Arctic one by air (April 2007) to the North Pole Environmental Observatory and another by icebreaker (July 2007) to study the seafloor Gakkel Ridge. WHOI teams are examining the water current systems at work beneath the ice, as well as the structure (and possible life) on the Arctic Ocean floor. (Illustration by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)