Exploring the Extremes: Discovering Life on Greenland’s Kaffeklubben Island”.

At the very top of the Earth, in a region that is as barren as it is inaccessible, lies Inuit Qeqertaat, also known as Kaffeklubben Island. This dark gray expanse of gravel along the northern coast of Greenland is the northernmost stretch of land where a person can stand. It’s a harsh environment, where the land gradually transitions into frozen sea ice.

In an effort to explore the plant and animal life that exists in this remote area, climate change researchers, National Geographic Explorers Brian Buma and Jeff Kerby, along with their team, embarked on a journey to survey the region. Among their discoveries was a common species of moss, Tortula mucronifolia, which is the world’s northernmost plant. They also came across a yellow and lime-green Arctic poppy, Papaver radicatum, growing just a few inches south of the moss.

But it wasn’t just about flora for this team of explorers. Greenlandic archaeologist Aka Simonsen also uncovered a ring of approximately 700-year-old Inuit stones on the nearby mainland. This discovery may be the northernmost archaeological remains ever found in the region and provides valuable insights into the history of human activity in this remote and inhospitable environment. The combination of these discoveries sheds new light on what life was like in this harsh landscape all those years ago.