Mina (10) Can Become the Youngest to Ever Cross Svalbard From South to North

A 10-year-old girl is setting out this month to cross Svalbard from south to north with her father. If she completes the route, she could be the youngest person in the world to have done so, High North News reports.

She has long trips behind her. At 5 years old she skied across the Finnmark Plateau, an expedition of 400 kilometres. Over her ten years she has spent more than 700 nights in a tent, and she and her father have covered over 4,500 kilometres together, by ski and by foot. She says she has prepared through training, extra schoolwork and learning about Svalbard, and that she hopes to see polar bears. Her father describes this as the largest expedition the two have made together. He says it is not about records but about a ten-year-old who wants a long trip with her dad.

In Longyearbyen she will visit UNIS (the University Centre in Svalbard) and meet researchers from the CLEAN research project. They will give her small sample bottles for collecting snow along her route. The snow will later be analysed in a laboratory for PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals. Humans made these substances, they never degrade in nature, they can build up in animals and people, and they carry a risk to health and the environment.

The samples will not count among the results of CLEAN. Raul Primicerio, professor at UiT the Arctic University of Norway and leader of the project, told High North News that her role is mainly science communication. He said the project sees a chance to reach young people with information about research and human impact on nature, and that children who get to know Svalbard better can learn why its ecosystem must be protected.

The Fram Centre organises CLEAN, an interdisciplinary project that UiT leads, with 94 researchers from 13 institutions taking part. Other organisations contribute knowledge on climate, environment and childhood development. The partners include the CICERO Centre for International Climate Research, Nature and Youth in Svalbard, the network Smartphone-Free Childhood, Hold Norge Rent (Keep Norway Clean) and Miljøagentene (The Environmental Agents).