Page 131 - The Midnight Library

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Permafrost

e surface air temperatures in Svalbard were warming at twice the global

rate. Climate change was happening faster here than almost anywhere on
Earth.
One woman, wearing a purple woollen hat pulled down over her
eyebrows, talked about witnessing one of the icebergs doing a somersault –
something that happened apparently because the warming waters had

dissolved it from beneath, causing it to become top heavy.
Another problem was that the permafrost on the land was thawing,
soening the ground, leading to landslides and avalanches that could

destroy the wooden houses of Long yearbyen, the largest town in Svalbard.
ere was also a risk of bodies surfacing in the local cemeter y.
It was inspiring, being among these scientists who were tr ying to discover
precisely what was happening to the planet , tr ying to obser ve glacial and
climatic activity, and in so doing to inform, and to protect life on Earth.

Back on the main boat, Nora sat quiet ly in the dining area as ever yone
offered sympathy for the bear encounter. She felt unable to tell them she was
grateful for the experience. She just smiled politely and did her best to avoid

conversation.
is life was an intense one, without compromise. It was currently minus
seventeen degrees, and she had nearly been eaten by a polar bear, and yet
maybe the problem with her root life had partly been its blandness.
She had come to imagine mediocrity and disappointment were her

destiny.
Indeed, Nora had always had the sense that she came from a long line of
regrets and crushed hopes that seemed to echo in ever y generation.