♪ Once someone has spent a bunch of time in these kinds of environments and in the poles, it changes you.

And if you like it, if you love it, then you just want to keep finding ways to come back.

It's about -20, 25 today and days like today I just wish I'd done tropical reefs.

Not glaciers.

You good?

I'm cold.

I've been working here for almost 30 years now.

I just love the place.

Sometimes I wish it was a bit warmer.

I love the thought that we have to survive and thrive as a scientist in these far flung, remote environments.

You do need to like to suffer a little bit.

Or at least be prepared to suffer because you will suffer.

You'll get cold toes and feet.

You'll get hungry, you'll get thirsty.

You might be, you know, inherently cold all the time.

And you need to have something just pulling you through that that's driving you to gather information and do your work beyond the harshness of the environment that you place yourself in.

Absolutely my favorite part is getting to go out in the field and kind of push the boundaries of where humans have been, where humans have looked, where humans have explored.

It's an incredible privilege, and there is still so much that we don't know.

We look all around us and it's just an endless horizon of ice.

It plays with your perspective.

It plays with your senses.

It is comforting, you know that the world is so much larger than I imagine.

And coming to this environment, it makes you realize how amazing this planet is.

It definitely makes me feel small.

I mean, I feel that way on mountains and I feel that way in polar regions.

You realize you're just really this tiny, tiny little speck.

It really makes you realize nature is so much bigger.

Nature is powerful.

Nature is still boss.

There's nothing quite like the Arctic to humble you, right?

I realized that humans aren't as indestructible as we think we are.

Every time you close your eyes or blink, any of the moisture from your eyes then are going on to your eyelashes and freezing instantly.

Your nose hair starts to freeze.

And as soon as you take that first breath of air -40, your lungs feel it as well.

The coldest temperatures thus far, with windchill, we're probably in the minus 40s minus 50s.

I have written in my diary numerous times.

What am I doing here?

Fortunately, I'm surrounded by a great team who acknowledge that we are here.

Yes to hopefully cross the ice sheet, but more importantly, to gather useful scientific data so they know what our mission is.

Part of the bonding experience with with collaborators in the field, part of what makes it so special is that it is not easy.

All good?

Yeah, sure.

Not to be dramatic, but you really are trusting these other people.

That's the kind of experience that you can't have back home.

It's something that only happens out in these extreme places.