Sea Ice, Material Agency, and Reapproaching the Crisis of the Cryosphere

Humans have always interacted with sea ice. From the indigenous peoples who have relied on it for their existence, to European voyagers being hindered by its presence, the history of sea ice is a deeply human one. Today, sea ice weighs on society's consciousness because it is disappearing. The implications of this loss are great: rising sea levels, a warming climate, and pressures on indigenous ways of life and animal habitats. At a time when so much of our thinking on sea ice is dominated by these narratives of loss, history offers us an alternative approach.

Throughout history, people have acknowledged and experienced the power of ice to influence human movement. Ice has been revered and feared for its sheer volume and physical might. Take the example of Thomas Ellis’ account of a voyage to find the Northwest Passage. Ellis accompanied Martin Frobisher in his third and final attempt to find the Northwest Passage. Leaving England in 1578, Ellis offers a rich picture of his ship being surrounded by ice during a storm west of Greenland:

“Thus the yce comming on us so fast, we were in great danger, looking everie houre for death. And thus passed me on in that great danger, seeing both our selves, and the rest of our ships so troubled and tossed amongst the yce, that it would make the strongest heart to relent.”

One of the ships sinks after being struck by the ice, whilst the rest must bear through the night in this state of fear. According to Ellis, ‘it was pitifull to behold, and caused the heartes of many to faint.’ Fortunately, he survived this ordeal and could later marvel at the ice:

“We came by a marvellous huge mountaine of yce, which surpassed all the rest that ever we sawe: for we judged him to be neer a foure score fa[tho]ms above water, and we thought him to be a ground for any thing that we could perceve, being there nine score fa[tho]ms deepe, and of compass about halfe a mile.”

In Ellis’ account, ice is feared and revered, if not respected. Human technology and intervention finds their limits through ice. Ice, we might say, expresses its own agency.

Today, this balance has shifted as human action, and indeed inaction, degrades and shrinks the cryosphere. Endless drives towards expansion and so-called ‘progress’ have masked loss and devastation of these regions that are vital to life on earth and ways of life. It is here that historical encounters with ice like that of Thomas Ellis’ account offer us alternative pathways through these issues. By finding histories of people working with and not against ice, we can rethink our relationship to ice today.

How might societies approach this crisis if we see ice as living, worthy of respect, and able to resist human action? What if we move beyond a strict boundary between the human and non-human? In this way, ice is a vast archive of potential action, recording different peoples’ past and current relations to it, relations that move beyond destruction.

For this issue, BSSI invited contributions from two emerging scholars whose work responds to these types of questions. Taken together, their research allows us to think about why ice is not only environmentally significant, but also culturally important. Isabel Realyvasquez is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, whilst Reetta Sippola is a PhD candidate in Cultural History at the University of Turku. Their research both draw on the journals of the eighteenth-century voyager Captain James Cook, specifically his travels to the Southern Ocean and the Arctic.

Taken together, Realyvsasquez and Sippola offer us compelling examples of the imaginative power of sea ice. Both consider what histories of the cryosphere can tell us about today’s crises. It becomes clear from their work that a more intimate relationship to ice and a greater appreciation for its power and agency can help us shift towards more sustainable practices. As Realyvasquez aptly puts it, by bringing indigenous peoples’ approaches to ice into dialogue with Cook’s account, we may:

“reorient polar ice not merely as a site of catastrophe, but as a medium through which alternative ecological relations become thinkable. Global ice melt does not simply mark an ending; it invites us to reimagine the shifting, entangled relations between humans and nonhumans that arise in its wake.”

Humans do not need to act in opposition to ice. Instead, a culture of respect for and co-operation with ice allows us to protect it with renewed vigor and urgency.

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Further reading:

Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. “Ice Gain in Antarctica? Cool Story, Still a Hot Planet.” June 16, 2025. https://www.asoc.org/ice-archive/ice-gain-in-antarctica-cool-story-still-a-hot-planet/.

Findlen, Paula. “Epilogue: Nature’s Narratives.” In Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds, edited by Mackenzie Cooley, Anna Toledano, and Duygu Yıldırım. Routledge, 2023.

Heuer, Christopher P. Into the White: The Renaissance Arctic and the End of the Image. Zone Books, 2019.National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Why it Matters.” Accessed April 13, 2026. https://nsidc.org/learn/parts-cryosphere/sea-ice/why-sea-ice-matters.

Purich, Ariaan and Edward W. Doddridge. “Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state.” Communications Earth & Environment 4 (2023): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9.