Rebecca Clark could hardly wait to exit the small airplane.
She got out, darted through the snow, and hugged her father.
Rebecca was very excited to see him again.
This was her first visit to the Arctic, where Dr. Clark had been working as a polar scientist for over three months.
Rebecca knew from her father's research that the Arctic is the most northern part of the planet.
Not many people live there because the weather is very cold most of the year.
The Arctic has the longest winters and the shortest summers.
It also has the longest days and the longest nights.
In the summer, the sun shines almost all the time, and in the winter, the night can last up to six months.
Rebecca's father and his team had brought lots of fresh food with them.
This was because the Arctic soil, called permafrost, is permanently frozen, making it impossible for trees, vegetables, or fruit to grow.
The scientists had enough supplies to last them, but there was nothing Rebecca's father wanted more than a visit from his daughter.
He was eager to tell her about his Arctic adventures.
They settled in his cabin and warmed up with some tea.
"Dad, did you make it to the North Pole?" asked Rebecca.
"Yes, but I didn't walk there; I flew over it in a special airplane," he said.
Rebecca was curious. "Can you walk to the North Pole?"
"Yes," he replied, "but it is very hard to do, and many have died trying.
As you know, Rebecca, the North Pole is a very difficult place to visit.
For centuries the North Pole remained one of the last unconquered places on Earth.
People tried to see what was at the top of our planet, but they were unable to cross the many kilometers of ice and snow.
In the 1500s, explorers from Holland and England were trying to find a new route to Asia,
and they thought that going through the Arctic Ocean would shorten the way.
A few explorers tried this route, but their ships got stuck in the ice.
They returned home discouraged, and some explorers looked for other routes to the riches of Asia.
Most explorers forgot about the Arctic. It wasn't until the late 1800s that the golden age of Arctic exploration began."
"Why did people try again?" asked Rebecca.
"Well, even though explorers were no longer looking for a passage to Asia, they were seeking personal glory," explained Dr. Clark.
"Navigating a route through the Arctic and conquering the North Pole would give any explorer fame and fortune and would bring prestige to his country.
So the race was on."
"What do you mean?" asked Rebecca.
"In 1893 the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen was the first to break through the ice and get very close to the North Pole.
His famous ship, called the Fram, was especially designed for traveling through thick sea ice.
Nansen got as far as he could, and when the Fram couldn't push through the ice anymore, he set out to reach the North Pole on foot.
He took one of his crewmen with him, and they proceeded on sleds pulled by dogs.
Exhausted after many days, they could go no further.
They left the Norwegian flag at 86°14' N, which was the most northern latitude any explorer had ever reached.
Fridtjof Nansen became a hero, but the North Pole had not been conquered yet."
"So who made it first?" Rebecca asked as she poured more tea.
"This is debatable," her father answered. "Two explorers claimed to reach the pole first.
Robert Peary, a brave American who was obsessed with exploring the North Pole, led numerous expeditions across the Arctic.
He finally succeeded in his quest in 1909.
Peary learned to adapt to life in the frozen north from the Inuit people.
They are often called Eskimos and have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years.
They taught Peary how to dress warmly with sealskin and accompanied him on his expeditions.
Finally, on his last expedition, together with his most trusted crew member,
Matthew Henson, and fifty Inuit helpers, Peary crossed the Arctic and reached the North Pole.
Upon his return to the United States, however, Peary learned some terrible news.
Frederick Cook, another American explorer, was claiming that he had already reached the North Pole—one year before Peary.
No one could prove which of the two explorers, if either of them, had actually reached the pole.
It was tricky because back then there was no way of communicating with explorers so far north, and their expeditions could last a year or longer.
Also, explorers had very primitive ways of figuring out their position.
They used an instrument called a sextant to measure how far the sun rose above the horizon, which in turn told how far north or south they were.
A sextant combines a telescope, a ruler, and a mirror, and requires skill to use accurately."
"Then what happened?" asked Rebecca.
"Both men insisted they were right, and a scandal erupted," replied Dr. Clark.
"In the end, the National Geographic Society backed Peary's claim of reaching the North Pole.
But even today, some still question whether Peary really succeeded."
"Why do people doubt him?" asked Rebecca.
"Robert Peary was a great explorer," explained her father, "but not a very good navigator.
Some people thought he had read his instruments wrong when he claimed that he was at the North Pole."
"How about you, Dad? What do you use when you go exploring?" Rebecca asked.
"Today life in the Arctic is very different from what it was one hundred years ago," said her father.
"We use airplanes, submarines, and special ships called icebreakers to visit the North Pole.
Since Peary's trip, there have been hundreds of Arctic expeditions.
We use computers and satellite telephones to keep in touch.
Many scientists spend months in the Arctic doing tests, collecting data, and researching different scientific occurrences."
"Just like you, right, Dad?" Rebecca said.
She looked out the window at the pale sun, still shining in the late Arctic evening.
"And me," she added with a wide smile.
"I'm going to be a polar scientist when I grow up too!"