Interesting rock formations-flow structures, bombs, and eroding volcanic necks-testify to the geologically violent history of the island. It appears as a rocky moonscape of alternating layers of basaltic lava flows and ash or tephra-save for a few sparse areas with dandelions, arctic flowers, and thick beds of mosses.

Last active in 19, the land is raw and barely vegetated in most places. Bombs, small lava tubes, and eroding volcanic necks attest to Jan Mayen’s volcanic history. I love volcanic landscapes, and this hot spot and divergent plate boundary did not disappoint. True to form, our expedition hike occurred in overcast, foggy, drizzly weather which made photographing the beautiful terrain challenging. These forces combine to make clear, sunny days an extreme rarity on Jan Mayen. Huppert.Īt 71°N, 8°W, the climate is arctic-maritime and greatly impacted by both the Gulf Stream (which bathes the rocky tundra in its relatively warmer waters) and the persistent Icelandic Low, a low-pressure system. Michele Huppert takes a selfie from the saddle on Jan Mayen. Since 1929, the Norwegian Armed Forces has maintained a small but important meteorological station and some radio communications in this remote outpost 340 miles north of Iceland and 280 miles east of Greenland. The island offers habitat to a variety of bird life, but the only mammals on the island are the rotating human residents on the Norwegian military base which number 18 over winter and up to 35 in the summer maintenance season. On the map, it looks like a spoon with a thin handle to the southwest, the large bowl of the active 7,470-foot high volcano Beerenberg in the northeast, and a narrow saddle of land in the middle. Jan Mayen is approximately 34 miles long and a bit over a mile wide at its narrowest. As a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow on a Lindblad Expeditions adventure into the High Arctic, I had an amazing opportunity to visit this remote volcanic island spilling five glaciers into the Arctic Ocean on July 6, 2014. Jan Mayen, the most northerly island along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, is one of them. HuppertĮarth still has some amazing places where a very small number human beings leave their footprints. Expedition Location: Arctic Svalbard, Norway, Greenland, and IcelandĪ steep glacier flows from Beerenburg on Jan Mayen into the Arctic Ocean.

The Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program is a professional development opportunity made possible by a partnership between Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Education. The following post was written by 2014 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Michele Huppert during her expedition to the Arctic.

Grosvenor teacher fellow