The expedition, led by Roald Amundsen and Italian aviation engineer Umberto Nobile, was the first to cross the Arctic Ocean from Svalbard to Alaska between May 11 and 13, 1926. According to Camilla Brekke, director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, part of the mission was to check if there was land north of Svalbard and Alaska, and it was determined there was not. The commemoration occurred at the mooring mast, which remains as a cultural monument.
However, Brekke noted that the mast did not play a significant role on the day because the airship never moored to it; favorable weather allowed it to go directly into the hangar. Brekke said the Arctic landscape is disappearing due to climate change, with ice disappearing from the fjord and glaciers retreating. The Norwegian Polar Institute now leads much of the work on future environmental challenges, providing knowledge for policy decisions.