This is what happens when you wash your hair at -40ºC (Dr Helen Findlay, Ice Base 2011)

NSIDC graph shows record low extent and volume for 2011

Kristina's research involved these amazing devices called 'peepers', which measure co2 concentration in sea ice

We love a good reason to post photos of the beautiful Arctic. This one is for @Kenny73 - hope you like it too.

Stunning aerial shot of this year's Ice Base. Taken using Go Pro camera attached to helium-filled weather balloon

And here's an Arctic copepod for reference #WOD. Or an "elongated marine wood louse" http://bit.ly/foCOv6

And here's Victoria as an Earth Reporter:

Explorers arrive back at Heathrow this morning - Phil's cheeks taken a bit of a battering from the cold....

Swimming their way south: one of the team make their way across another large lead

The ice base team find the time while packing to celebrate the royal wedding too - hurrah! #royalwedding

The ice base team finds time while packing up to celebrate the royal wedding too - hurrah! #royalwedding

Who's left these paw prints in the snow? Tyler, Adrian, Ann and Phil cross the path of a local

An amazing shot of the Catlin Ice Base from above with a fisheye lens camera

… Would you like to start your day with an explorer pic too?

Explorers navigate through their “ice playground” – rubble fields, compression zones and ice chunks. Go team go!

Midnight sun, but because of difference between local and solar time, we are a few days from 24/7 sunlight.

The Ice Base team flatten the runway the hard way, hoping for a resupply flight tomorrow.

Call yourself a husky? Tuk shelters and the scientists are out maintaining sampling holes.

Ann saw an Arctic mushroom yesterday: can you see it too? Or has the cold got to the team?

The explorers make the most of all the open water they’ve encountered, deploying their scientific equipment off a lead: