Researchers Trapped in Arctic in Remote Cabin Amid Pandemic

Citizen scientists Hilde Strom and Sunniva Sorby are trapped by the pandemic in a remote cabin near the Arctic Circle. Their 9-month expedition studying climate change was supposed to end last week, but the ship scheduled to pick them up was canceled due to the coronavirus.

Now they’re stranded with no electricity or running water, and their next possible pickup is in September. Inside Edition spoke with the scientists by satellite phone.

"I think we're going to be OK," Sorby said. "We eat a lot of canned food and dried food."

The women are used to roughing it, and without running water they haven't showered in nine months.

"Longest time either of us have gone without a shower, but we do a sponge bath," Strom said. "Self care is really, really important." 

They also didn't see the sun for three long months. Then there are the polar bears, which they keep out with spiked wooden window shutters on the outside of their cabin.

Though they are trapped, the women say there is a bright side — they may be the only on the planet who don't feel threatened by the virus.

"It's odd, but we are probably in the safest place on the planet right now," Strom said.

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