Ice

When people think about the Arctic, they think about a monotone expanse of white snow, devoid of distinguishing figures. They could not be more wrong. Snow can be blue, or purple, or even green under the right light, and in tiny holes under the surface of the ice a strange kind of biome flourishes, which may hold the solution to the mystery of life. Marco Tedesco is one of the scientists living among the fast-disappearing ice. Every facet of his life revolves around it, whether mapping the geography of rivers or studying the bacteria inside the cryoconite holes or the remains of the High Arctic camel. Ice. Tales from a Disappearing Continent is an exciting scientific adventure much like Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle, but, at the same time, it is a heartfelt plea to treasure ice, because without it we would lose not only the roots of our past, but also our future.

Published September 2019 | 160 pp.

Marco Tedesco is a glaciologist and professor at the Lamont-Doherty Observatory of Columbia University.

Alberto Flores D’Arcais is la Repubblica’s American correspondent.