These scientists dive beneath Arctic and Antarctic ice to discover its secrets

Buijs (right) and Chen prepare to dive during a Polar Scientific Diving class in Kilpisjarvi.

As bubbles rippled across the frigid Finnish lake, diver Daan Jacobs emerged from a hole carved out of the thick, crackling ice.

The journey had taken him eight metres beneath the surface, where sunlight filtered through the Arctic ice and fish swam around a rock formation. It’s a remote place few will ever see, especially in winter, when snow blankets the ice and temperatures on land approach minus 40 degrees in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.