Poler explorer and climate scientists Felicity Aston (Flag #27), who has led international teams of women on record-making ski expeditions to both poles, traveled to Svalbard with her current six-woman team to train for their 2023 B.I.G. North Pole Expedition to collect vital sea ice data from the Arctic Ocean for climate change research. The snow and ice samples will be analyzed for microplastic content, lead and black carbon as part of larger studies at the University of Colorado and the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton in the UK, where Felicity is a research student. The team also is contributing to two citizen science programs concerning albedo measurements, snow depth and Arctic Clouds as well as a psychology study of resilience for the University of Durham.

The B.I.G. expedition team members are each accomplished adventurers, but none – bar Felicity – have ever embarked on an expedition like this. The expedition serves to prove that everyone has a valuable part to play in the global effort to create a better future for our planet.

A WINGS Fellow (2014 Courage) and former Flag Carrier (2006, 2008 and 2018), Felicity is the first and only woman to ski alone across Antarctica. Completed in 2012, this 1744km, 59-day journey made her the first person in the world to traverse the continent purely by muscle power, without the aid of kites or machines, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2015 she was awarded the Polar Medal by Queen Elizabeth II – one of very few women to receive the honor – for services to the Arctic and Antarctica, and appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to polar exploration. Felicity’s last mission carrying the WINGS flag (the 2018 Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition) is documented in the inspiring 2021 film, “Exposure,” and a book due for release this fall, Polar Exposure: To the Top of a Changing World.