oceanographic and geological samples and had a common tug of war and a football game on an ice floe. Polarstern again reached the pole exactly 10 years later together with the USCGC Healy.
21st century
USS Charlotte at the North Pole in 2005
In recent years, journeys to the North Pole by air (landing by helicopter or on a runway prepared on the ice) or by icebreaker have become relatively routine, and are even available to small groups of tourists through adventure holiday companies.
In 2005, the United States Navy submarine USS Charlotte (SSN-766) surfaced through 155 cm (61 inches) of ice at the North Pole and spent 18 hours there.
In April 2007, Dutch performance artist Guido van der Werve performed a work of art at the North Pole. By standing exactly on the Pole for 24 hours and turning slowly clockwise (the earth is turning counterclockwise), just by following his own shadow, Van der Werve literally did not turn with the world for one day. This performance is called: ‘nummer negen [Dutch for Number Nine], the day I didn’t turn with the world’. Van der Werve time-lapsed the 24 hours to 9 minutes.
In July 2007, British endurance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh completed a 1 km swim at the North Pole. His feat, undertaken to highlight the effects of climate change, took place in clear water that had opened up between the ice floes. His later attempt to paddle a kayak to the North Pole in late 2008, following the erroneous prediction of clear water to the Pole, was stymied when his expedition found itself stuck in thick ice after only three days. The expedition was then abandoned.
A 2007 episode of the BBC motoring show Top Gear, in which the presenters were described as journeying to the “North Pole,” was