We had an evening with award-winning wildlife photographer Jodi Frediani who introduced us to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago located north of the Arctic Circle, not far from the North Pole. This cluster of islands is home to polar bears, walruses, reindeer, and arctic foxes, and provides breeding and nesting grounds for thousands of seabirds. Ice covers more than 60% of the land mass, and the remaining tundra, grass, and moss-covered plains slope up toward perilous, high, ragged cliffs. Towering mountain peaks rise dramatically, surrounded by glaciers of blue and black ice. And the Arctic Ocean bathes them all.
Jodi took us on a photographic voyage circumnavigating Svalbard's largest island, Spitzbergen, where we met many of the wild inhabitants, took in the breathtaking landscapes, and marveled at icebergs, glaciers, and polar ice caps. Once a base for whalers and later home to coal mining, two-thirds of the archipelago is now protected by seven national parks and 23 nature reserves. Only global warming may still be her undoing. It is up to us to treasure this spectacular environment and do what we can to slow the warming of our planet.
This free event was open to the public. Registration was required. A suggested donation of $10 per participant is encouraged and greatly appreciated. Donations help cover webinar costs and support our education and cetacean research grant programs.
ABOUT JODI FREDIANI
A Santa Cruz-based award-winning photographer and whale researcher, Jodi Frediani has been swimming with and photographing humpback whales on the Silver Bank off the coast of the Dominican Republic for over 20 years. In addition, she has been photographing the marine life of Monterey Bay for the past eleven years, while taking time off for photographic adventures to Africa, Alaska, Argentina, Antarctica, the Arctic, Brazil, Franz Josef Land, Norway, Siberia, Thailand and Tonga. Her work has appeared in a number of national and international publications, including the BBC’s “Nature’s Weirdest Events”, and Carl Safina’s National Geographic blog, “Ocean Views”. In addition to photographing wildlife in its many forms and habitats, Frediani is engaged in whale research through several fluke ID projects both here and abroad. With co-authors Nancy Black and Fred Sharpe, she published her first paper in 2020, entitled Postmortem Attractions: Humpback Whales Investigate the Carcass of a Killer Whale-Depredated Gray Whale Calf. She is currently collaborating on two additional papers about humpback whale bubble use and recently returned from a 3-week boat-based humpback whale field research expedition in southeast Alaska. You can check out her photography at www.jodifrediani.com
