Explorer to Attempt Solo Unassisted Nonstop Circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean

On June 25, solo sailor, explorer, researcher, and founder of the nonprofit Ocean Research Project, Matt Rutherford, will depart from Aasiaat, Greenland, where he will attempt the first-ever solo, nonstop, unassisted circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean. His target finish is early October.

The route covers more than 10,000 miles through three of the most hostile ocean environments on Earth: the North Atlantic, the Russian Arctic coast via the Northern Sea Route, and the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. No one has completed this passage solo and nonstop. Until recently, no one could.

Arctic sea ice this summer is 9–15 percent below the previous all-time record low. In 2011, Rutherford became the first person to solo sail the Northwest Passage, a passage that took Amundsen three years in the early 1900s. The route exists because of what has happened to the ice.

"The fact that I can attempt this voyage at all is because there is less ice," said Rutherford. "And there is less ice because the planet is warmer. The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on Earth. By sailing around the Arctic in a single season, I will demonstrate the dramatic loss of ice in the Arctic