UPDATE September 2024: We’ve now completed the Northwest Passage from Alaska to Greenland! We’re now preparing to overwinter in Greenland in the ice. This webpage will get updated soon. In the meanwhile feel free to browse what the Northwest Passage was about!
Juho, skipper/videographer
When I’m not skiing, kitesurfing, fixing the boat or planning our next sail you can usually find me sitting at the navigation table crafting a Youtube video of our adventures. I’m usually the one responsible for gathering the field work data for snow and ice related projects.
Sohvi, sailor/researcher
I love the outdoors, but I also love tortillas and binge-watching Netflix! I work as a postdoctoral researcher at Arctic Centre (University of Lapland). When the weather is nice I grab my splitboard or yoga mat and emerge out of the boat to enjoy some fresh air.
Juuso & Kuutti, visiting crew
You might have seen these familiar faces on one of Juho’s Youtube videos. When we expect the going to get rough these two get an invite to join the fun. The fact that neither of them ever gets seasick certainly helps.
s/v Lumi
She’s not a person, she’s a boat. Juho & Sohvi bought Lumi after an extensive search in California in 2022. She had sat abandoned at the boatyard for 15 years and was in a very sad state. After a gruelling 5 month refit she is now (almost) ready for the Northwest Passage. She’s a Nouanni 44, built by Garcia Yachts in France.
WHAT WE DO
We live on s/v Lumi and love the wild beauty that we see each morning as we wake up in our remote anchorages. We want to help care for the environment that has brought us so much.
We concretely contribute to Arctic research.
We enhance the global appreciation and understanding of the Arctic.
This is how:
- We participate in natural science projects that require data from the hard-to-reach areas of the Arctic. Using s/v Lumi and our mountaineering & glacier travel skills, we can access areas that would otherwise be impossible or cost-prohibitive for scientists to get to. We can help by volunteering our time and our boat as a platform.
- Dr. Sohvi is our own “in-house” researcher: She’s a postdoctoral researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. Along our journey she conducts interviews, makes observations and gets an unique perspective on the areas of her interest. Her research focuses on the changing Arctic environment and politics. Her PhD delved into the Arctic oil and gas and its entanglements with gender and emotions.ย
- Juho’s Youtube videos attractย 1 million+ monthly views. The videos contain insightful segments about issues such as disappearing glaciers (1) (2), oil spills (1)(2), wildlife (1), warming temperatures (1), and changes in the snowpack (1).ย The combination of our personal story with snippets of information is unique in its reach and impact.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
Weather data
Gathering weather data for open use. s/v Lumi’s sensors are connected to an on-board computer that saves the various data (temperature, water temperature, wind speed, wind direction, pressure) once every minute. Due to lack of measuring stations the availability of weather data in these regions is normally scarce. This data is used by researchers to improve weather models and forecasts. Accurate forecasting is especially difficult due to the rapid rate of climate change in the Arctic and the effects it has on local weather. Accurate forecasts are important for safety, for the local people and for the marine traffic.
Snowpack/ice crusts data
Gathering snow pit data for the CHARTER Arctic “Secrets of Snow” project. We’re especially interested in ice crusts that are formed by rain-on-snow events. Such layers affect plant overwintering animal movement and their ability to dig through the snow etc. These icy layers are thought to be becoming more common due to climate change. We made observations in Iceland and will continue in Greenland.
Sohvi's current research
Currently, Sohvi is working on a projectย focusing on the Arctic Ocean’s future. The project aims to create sustainable pathways and governance models for the northern waters, in which humans and more-than-humans could thrive together. During the Northwest Passage in Arctic Canada in Greenland Sohvi focuses especially on the role and agency of ice, and its multiple meanings both to the northern shipping lanes, local people, and ourselves. She conducts interviews with the local people in the settlements that Lumi visits.
Persistent organic pollutants sampling
We gathered snow samples for the SVAL-POPs project (Gdansk Technical University) in Svalbard. The project created better methods for evaluating the amount of persistent organic pollutants in snow. These pollutants are man-made and dangerous to both wildlife and humans.
We gathered samples from several different locations that could only be accessed by the combination of sailboat and skis.
Glacier drone photography
During summer 2019 I took (drone) photos of some of the more inaccessible glacier fronts in Northern Norway. Access was by our boat and hiking. The photos were added to Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate’s Glacier Atlas, which is a database used by researchers and authorities. The information is used to observe and determine changes that are happening in the glaciers.
Marine litter
We often come across beaches that are full of (plastic) trash. It is sad how littered some of these very remote beaches are. If we can not carry all the trash back to civilization (a beach can contain several tons of trash) we report the location to the proper authorities/organizations.
Research/non-profit collaborations
Equipment sponsors
NEWSLETTER
Have questions? Got a research project in mind for us? Send an email to juho@alluringarctic.com or sohvi.kangasluoma@ulapland.fi!
YOUTUBE
INSTAGRAM