Chiswick Couple Join Jarvis Cocker On Boat To Disko Bay

Expeditition will report on how global warming is impacting the Arctic Circle

Chiswick residents Robyn Hitchcock and Michele Noach, set off to the Arctic on Thursday as part of a expedition to report on how global warming is impacting the climate and geography of the Arctic Circle.

Robyn, a renowned singer songwriter (formerly of the Soft Boys) and his partner Michele, a painter and cartoonist joined a group of over 40 international artists, journalists and scientists for a journey to the spectacular Disko Bay area of the Arctic and the frontline of climate change.

Amongst the group are musicians Jarvis Cocker and KT Tunstall, comedian Marcus Brigstocke, artists Kathy Barber, and Jude Kelly, BBC presenter Quentin Cooper, activist David Noble, Oceanographers Simon Boxall, Emily Venables and Geoscientist Carol Cotterill.

Robyn and Michele will be blogging on a daily basis about their experiences in the Arctic at www.capefarewell.com/diskobay

The ambition of Cape Farewell’s seventh expedition is to inspire the creative team to respond to climate change both in the Arctic and on their return. The artists, scientists, architects, comedians, musicians, playwrights, composers, engineers, film-makers and journalists will journey aboard the science research vessel – Grigory Mikheev, from Kangerlussuaq to Disko Bay. The boat will then voyage across the front of the Jakobshavn Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest glaciers moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day.

The 2008 expedition will build on the important scientific and artistic research begun in 2007. In 2008, scientists from the National Oceanography Centre and the British Geological Survey will concentrate on the West coast of Greenland to further explore the continuing northern ice melt. Dr Simon Boxall will measure the ocean tract across the Labrador Current (for direct comparison with the 160 mile ocean tract measured in 2007) Meanwhile, Dr Carol Cotterill will carry out extensive sequence stratigraphy analysis below the seabed to gain further insight into past climates, changes in sea level and the speed in which these changes can occur.

During the expedition, their website will be their communication portal. They will send back daily blogs, images and videos to communicate this extraordinary journey to a global audience.

The expedition follows on from the recent Youth Expedition, run in conjunction with British Council Canada, which saw an international crew of 28 young people, educators, artists and scientists sailing to Cape Farewell before crossing to West Greenland and finishing on Baffin Island earlier this September.

September 26, 2008