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Two summers ago, a team of scientists set out on an epic journey to the northernmost place on Earth.

You could even call it the edge of the terrestrial world.

There's just something fascinating about the edge of things, like the last thing.

That's ecologist Brian Buma, who led the expedition.

And he was joined by our very own Alejandro Burunda from NPR's Climate Desk.

Hi.

Hi, Emily.

It is so great to be here.

I am so intrigued by this trip you went on to the edge of the Earth.

But where is that and why?

Yeah, it's a great question.

So the main goal of this trip was about going all the way up to the northernmost landmass on Earth,

which is this tiny gravel island surrounded by sea ice way at the top of Greenland.

It's called Inuit Kerkatat.

It's also known as Cafeklubin Island, which literally means coffee club island.

Coffee Club Island? Take me there. Yeah, it was named by some Danes who really loved coffee.

Okay. Why did you all want to go there?

Yeah, so I was up there with some ecologists who think a lot about how climate change is reshaping the Arctic. So in other parts of the Arctic, like Alaska, plant life is

changing really fast. And that's changing how the permafrost works, the amount of carbon that

gets stored in the ground, and a ton of other stuff. But no one really knows if that's happening

...