Adventure Television Casting News - Animal Planet and Survivorman

Have you always wanted to be a reality television star? If so, than I have a couple of casting opportunities for you that just might be your big break.

First, Animal Planet is looking for expedition leaders to travel Greenland to be a part of their show Ice Cold Gold. The program follows a mining company as it travels to remote areas of globe in search of valuable metals and minerals. This year, that quest is taking them to parts of Greenland that have seldom been visited by outsiders before, where they'll race to complete their job before the harsh Arctic winter sets in, covering the landscape in snow and ice once again.

If you think you might be qualified, send an email that includes a photo and a brief description of yourself, as well as some info on your expedition experience,  to lauren@metalflowersmedia.com. You can also find a bit more of a description in this posting at ExWeb.

The second opportunity is one that I'm sure will appeal to a number of readers will be interested in. Reality television legend Les Stroud is preparing to film new episodes of his show Survivorman and he's looking to take one lucky viewer with him out into the field. For those who haven't seen this show (have you been living under a rock?), Les is dropped off in a remote region of the world – usually completely alone – and he must survive in that environment while making his way to safety.

But for an upcoming special episode Les wants to take someone along with him on his adventure, and he is accepting applications to do just that here. Applicants will need to fill out the online form and submit a 5-10 minute long video explaining why they are the right person to accompany him out into the wild. The submission deadline is April 1, which is a week from today, so you better get going. Les explains more in the video below.

Good luck to anyone who applies for either of these opportunities. They could certainly lead to some interesting adventures.

Two Norwegian Scientists Exploring the Arctic Ocean via Hovercraft

Two Norwegian scientists are on the expedition of a lifetime in the Arctic Ocean. The two men – 73-year old Yngve Kristoffersen and his partner Audun Tholfsen – have been exploring the mostly-unknown region of the world between Canada and Greenland aboard a hovercraft since last August, braving extreme cold, inhospitable weather, and months without sunlight for their research.

The 18-month long project has a number of goals, not the least of which is mapping a massive deep-sea ridge that runs from Ellesmere Island all the way to the North Pole. But they are also searching for a large meteorite that is believed to have crashed into the ice millions of years ago, as well as conducting research into what the Arctic was like back then, when the water was much warmer, and unique species of sea turtles and crocodiles lived there.

The two men have been living in a small hovercraft for the past four months, using it not only as their means of transportation, but also as a mobile research lab. The hovercraft is a vehicle that is well suited for travel in the Arctic, where the ice can get so thick at times that only specially equipped ice breakers are capable of breaking through. Riding on a cushion of air generated by two large turbines, their sturdy craft glides along above the ice however, rarely encountering any surface conditions hat it can't maneuver over or around.

The scientists will often park the hovercraft on an ice flow and stay stationary for days while they take samples of the ice and record atmospheric conditions. At other times, they're on the move, off to another location to explore a new area of the Arctic. As they go, they have witnessed the way the ice moves, breaks apart, and shifts, giving them a rare glimpse of the powerful forces that are at work at the top of the world. During their time exploring this part of the world, they have discovered indications of a tectonic fault line in the region and spotted a strange new species of fish that resembles an eel living in the cold mud of the sea floor. They have even stumbled across a Russian submarine patrolling the Arctic as well.

In a few months, Tholfsen will be airlifted home and replaced with another scientist, but Kristofferson will stay for the entirety of the expedition. You can follow their ambitious mission at the expedition's official website, which has more information about their goals, and regular updates on the team's progress as well.

Video: Two Lands - Greenland and Iceland

This short video gives viewers a glimpse of two of the most iconic, adventurous, destinations on the planet - Greenland and Iceland. The timelapse images depicted here are beautiful and awe inspiring, providing us with some insight into why these two cold, challenging, places hold such an allure with adventure travelers and explorers the world over.

Two Lands - Greenland | Iceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.

Video: Climbing Icebergs in Greenland

Since the release of the Hero4 camera last month, GoPro has been sharing videos that demonstrate its use in the field. This is another one of those clips, this time showing pro climbers Klemen Premrl and Aljaz Anderle as they tackle some icebergs near Greenland. The mood of the video is set in the first minute, when they are ascending a wall of ice, only to find that it is starting to crumble around them. The rest of the short documentary shows more of their adventure, and the beautiful landscapes that they operate in.