78°55′N 11°56′E

Co-ordinates like these usually exist only as imaginings or numbers on maps and charts; they're alien in their obscurity to those who live further south. As we head further North and closer to Dark Time, we're losing daylight at the astonishing rate of twenty minutes a day. The little light that remains becomes more and more elusive, less and less describable, and totally captivating. We're now in the realm of sci-fi. 

But this bold structure we've arrived at is not surprising and could be part of the coal mining relics if you didn't look twice. It's been standing here near the top of the world for almost a century and looks perfectly natural in the landscape. A fine black ink drawing of a mast 35 metres high, it was built to moor Amundsen's airship, and if the Norge flew alongside and tied up now it would seem completely normal. The voices and the cries of excitement are loud and clear in the icy silence as the pioneers prepare to push the limits to reach The North Pole. It's all so real. 

Home to the most northern Arctic Marine Laboratory and research station, this former mining community, Ny Ålesund  still has the spirit of Arctic exploration, but this time it's mostly carried out by scientists in warm laboratories, their exploring and findings recorded on computers and less of a spectator's sport. We were given a pleasant talk by a woman in the Norsk Polar Institute, a warm, light filled modern building  where we took off our shoes and coats and listened to how the the scientists work in the field of earth sciences, pushing boundaries, making new discoveries. 

When the talk ended I wandered along the corridors in hope of finding a working scientist to ask more about their planet-saving work. I didn't find one. Instead I found closed doors with plaques on, giving the names of the individuals who worked there and the global oil companies they worked for.