A floating 'igloo' research station has left France for the Arctic, where it will drift with polar ice to study climate change and life in one of Earth’s harshest environments

A floating research station shaped like a giant aluminium igloo has left France on a two-year Arctic mission to study biodiversity and the effects of climate change. The station will drift with sea ice while an international team of scientists collects more than 10,000 samples despite extreme cold, months of darkness and the risk of polar bear encounters.

A floating 'igloo' research station has left France for the Arctic, where it will drift with polar ice to study climate change and life in one of Earth’s harshest environments
A floating research station shaped like a giant aluminium igloo has left France on a two-year Arctic mission to study biodiversity and the effects of climate change. The station will drift with sea ice while an international team of scientists collects more than 10,000 samples despite extreme cold, months of darkness and the risk of polar bear encounters.