Rude awakening

The Arctic sea ice is not like the Antarctic ice sheet, which so far (thankfully) is very stable. Sea ice, on the other hand is constantly moving, cracking, and occasionally opening up leads (open stretches of water, generally narrow) and polynyas (larger areas that can stay open for weeks to years).

Well, anyway, imaging being on a survey of Arctic sea ice to correlate the effects with global warming and having a lead open up directly under your tent in the middle of the night. That would be a problem and a nuisance, to say the least!

Well, here's what a British expedition had to deal with:

Not likely to induce a good night's sleep, is it?