Every noon, around 12 o'clock, a person steps out into the cold and releases a balloon. For 30 years. And every time anew, the weather balloons show what is happening on our earth, specifically on Svalbard, to German Spitsbergen, a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean.
Temperatures are rising. There is hardly any place as fast as here at the 79th parallel, in Ny-Ålesund, one of the northernmost villages in the world. A settlement inhabited only by scientists. Eleven countries are conducting research in snow and ice to better understand how the climate is changing.
What is discovered here affects us all. And yet far fewer people would know about it if it weren't for Esther Horvath. She is one of the best-known photographers of her generation, and has been accompanying expeditions and research programs around the North Pole for years on behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute and media such as National Geographic and the New York Times. With her photos, she achieves what science alone cannot always do: create understanding. Arouse curiosity. Creating a connection between those in the ice and the rest of the world.
"I find darkness the most beautiful because it forces me to concentrate," says Horvath. A Covid infection has ensured that she has not already disappeared into the months-long darkness of the polar night in these December days, but is sitting far south in Hamburg. The snow is shining in front of the windows these days, winter is here, seemingly normal and harsh-cold as always. Horvath seems surprisingly calm for the fact that she just missed a trip for the first time in her career. She looks silently out of the window for a moment. Then she says: "To really understand things, you need a lot of time anyway."
Time actually requires every trip, if you want to go to Spitsbergen, you should plan in days and not in hours. The road to Ny-Ålesund leads through several airports, on the last stage there are only ice runways for take-off and landing. If a storm rages, everything is delayed indefinitely, even the most experienced pilots can take off with the old Russian helicopters or their small planes only if nature allows it.
Twenty kilos, that's the luggage limit for many trips, even if you disappear into the ice for months. There is no Amazon on Spitsbergen, so if you want to work here, you should know what really matters. Horvath's photo equipment alone weighs several kilos. And yet every trip is a privilege, Ny-Ålesund is home to the world's northernmost permanently operating research station. For scientists, the residency is often the highlight of their career, for which they have worked for years and become highly specialized in a niche.
For a long time, research on the Earth's poles was dominated by men, and the best-known stories are still about explorers with sled dogs, deadly races in the ice, men fighting against the brute force of nature.
Today, Arctic research is more parity than many other scientific disciplines
The reality today is different. Those who come to Spitsbergen for research, usually for 15 months, have an ambitious program and, if in doubt, work seven days a week. Almost half of the teams are female. Today, the fringe of the human-populated world is more equal than many other areas of science.
To show this, Esther Horvath has been portraying female researchers at work for years in her series "Women of Arctic Science".
Each of the women is really good at a different area. What they all have in common with the photographer is that they are still pioneers.
More polar bears than humans
If you want to live and survive on Spitsbergen, you have to be able to get involved with the environment, with the darkness that lasts for months or the blindingly bright light during the summer. On cold and seclusion. To this day, there are more polar bears than humans living on Svalbard, and every research trip to the area around the station requires rigorous preparations.
Most of the time, the polar bears are just curious, says Esther Horvath. To keep it that way, strict rules apply: the bears are not allowed to come closer than one kilometre, outside of built-up areas, all people must be at least two. If the animals come unexpectedly closer, shots are fired. First with a blank rifle, then with orange flare ammunition. In case of emergency, even with a sharp weapon. The rifles should have at least 44 calibers, according to the governor. That's about the thickness of a thumb.
She learned how to aim at bears in Bremen
If you encounter a polar bear, it is important to aim correctly, says Esther Horvath. "If you shoot too high or low in the air, he won't hear the shot." Before her first expedition, she had to learn how to shoot bears at a shooting range near Bremen, including a polar bear model. Until now, this knowledge has never been necessary. The photographer's next encounter was on board the research vessel "Polarstern" when two bears inspected the equipment on the shore. She later won her first World Press Photo Award for the image.
In addition to bears, Spitsbergen is also home to whales, seals and arctic foxes. Some sled dogs, which only listen to Norwegian commands, accompany the researchers. But now, in winter, visible life disappears, only a single bird species remains on the islands at the edge of the Arctic until spring. Often, it's just quiet.
Again and again a camera freezes
"The biggest challenges are the cold and all the distances," says Horvath. "When there are no trees and houses on the horizon, you quickly lose all connection. We are like short-sighted when we go out in the open outside the settlements."
The mechanical parts of their SLR cameras have frozen several times while taking pictures. In order to be able to operate the icy devices at all, she often wears two pairs of gloves on top of each other, which she only takes off briefly. She uses seven or eight batteries a day because their lifespan in the ice is rapidly decreasing.
For the portraits of the researchers, Horvath had the women pose in work gear during the polar winter. All the light in the images came from artificial sources, because the sun is not visible for months. Often from headlamps, sometimes Horvath also asks ships like the »Polarstern« for help with their work in order to be able to illuminate the locations of the shots.
Most of the props are tools, except for knitting needles or books, most researchers have little private luggage with them.
How do you actually go to the toilet on excursions to the Arctic Circle?
The women in the Arctic prove every day that they are up to the task. The interaction in the teams is often friendly, says Horvath, and gender roles rarely play a role.
And yet there are things that need to be discussed, often seemingly banal: Where can you go to the toilet at short notice during an excursion? How do you actually change a tampon in the arctic winter? In the meantime, Esther Horvath has established a loose discussion group with other women. She says she would like to see such a group for men in Ny-Ålesund.
Many working days start as early as six o'clock in the morning and sometimes last until midnight. Work is done when it is possible and necessary, and everyone involved wants to make the most of their time in the Arctic Circle. So that they can concentrate on their research, they are cooked and cared for by staff, and apart from the science teams, no one lives in the settlement.
Esther Horvath and the researchers are less worried that it could be too cold or too dangerous on Spitsbergen. They are afraid that the ice will melt. Temperatures have risen by seven to eight degrees since measurements began.
"I'm aware that every one of my photos is historic from the very first moment," says Horvath. "The world I photograph is small and transient. Who knows how much of it will still be seen in 50 years. I'm afraid it won't be much."
The researchers she accompanies feel the same way, she says. All of them are united by the desire to improve understanding of climate change through their work and thus perhaps be able to save the sensitive nature on Spitsbergen after all. For decades, they have been going out at noon in all weathers and launching a balloon that will burst in the atmosphere after a few hours.
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