At the world's northernmost year-round research station, scientists are racing to understand how the fastest-warming place on Earth is changing — and what those changes may mean for the planet's future.
But around the tiny town of Ny-Aalesund, high above the Arctic circle on Norway's Svalbard archipelago, scientific data is getting harder to access. And sometimes it's vanishing before scientists can collect it.
Scientists hoping to harvest ice cores are finding glaciers inundated by water. Research sites are getting harder to reach, as earlier springtime melt leaves the ground too barren for snowmobile travel.