As they skied and snowshoed along an ancient route across Iceland, explorer Aaron Doering and his team braved robust winds and historically deep snow. Over 3,000 classrooms across the globe followed their journey online as they documented their adventures in real time.

Doering recently returned from his 10th exploration in the Arctic. It was the second trip in the University of Minnesota professor’s Changing Earth series, which he says aim to highlight ways people across the globe are dealing with climate change.

“We’re trying to build a tapestry of narratives around the world of people adapting to the changing world,” Doering said.

They use a drone, satellite Internet connections and other technology to post daily blog updates of their adventures with photos and videos.

The project is part of the University of Minnesota Learning Technologies Media Lab, of which Doering is the director, invites educators to follow their journeys with their students. Teachers are provided free curriculum resources to use the group’s travels as a springboard to teach a variety of related geography, science, technology and cultural concepts.

“We’re trying to bring kids along with us and really get them engaged,” the professor said.

They chose Iceland as their second of eight expeditions because it “really is the canary in a coal mine of climate change,” Doering said.

Its glaciers are shrinking by the length of an Olympic-size pool every year, he said. The shrinking ice and increasing volcanic activity are causing the island to rise as much as 1.4 inches a year — the highest rate in the world.

In between visits to Akureyri (a small city in the north) and Reykjavik (the capital along the southwest shore), their plan was to ski and snowshoe across 137 miles of wilderness. They chose a route between two glaciers that’s been traversed for centuries but rarely during winter.

Their journey was shorted after a storm dumped 20 inches of snow — the most in 80 years — the day they arrived.

Instead of hitching a ride up into the highlands, Doering said the snow made the upward journey impossible for vehicles and they had to climb the 3,000 feet on snowshoes. In between their two days of climbing while pulling their gear behind them in sleds, they got to see the northern lights.

Even after they reached the plateau, the deep snow, wind and at times white-out conditions made the remainder of their 10-day wilderness trek more slow-going than anticipated.

Some nights they had the luxury of staying in a shack. Most nights they braved the elements in a tent.

One night in the tent their portable stove caught fire. It exploded as Doering threw it out of the tent. A camera happened to be rolling and they posted video of the scare on their blog.

“It shows how things can change in a second when you’re on an expedition,” Doering said.

They didn’t make it as far south as they planned before they ran out of supplies. Locals with all-terrain SUVs came to get them but again the snow made four-wheeled travel nearly impossible. It took eight hours to traverse 100 miles back to civilization and they had to abandon one of their vehicles when it broke down, according to their blog.

In Akureyri they toured a school and met an underwater photographer who’s an activist for protecting Icelandic waters.

In Reykjavik they toured a geothermal power plant that has invented a process for taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turning it into rock.

Iceland is a model of renewable energy success, Doering said.

All of the country’s electricity is generated by geothermal and hydro systems. About 85 percent of its total energy consumption comes from indigenous renewable resources.

Doering and the other three members of his team are now back in Minnesota editing more photographs and videos from their adventure and posting them on their website. 

Last year Doering and team trekked across Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Next fall they will explore the rainforests of Peru.

Doering will soon launch a new adventure learning project called AgCultures. Four trips abroad and four in the U.S. are planned to highlight innovations in agriculture.

Their first excursion is planned in May and will follow transportation of grain produced in Minnesota down the Mississippi River.

Goodrich writes for the Mankato, Minnesota Free Press.