What lies 1,000 meters beneath the North Sea could help the climate of the atmosphere above. And I’m on my way down to see it.
The rattly lift drops at 10 meters per second, the speed of a sprinter, ruffling the air and flapping my shorts as it plunges down. Yes shorts.
I wear a lot of PPE on location in my job but this is the first time I’ve donned hi-vis beachwear accessorized with bright orange shin-pads. It’s needed because one danger the miners face is heat.
This far below, you’re closer to the Earth’s core so the temperature climbs to 40C. All the workers carry liters of water or specialist hydration fluids.
My guide is Richard Severn, head of operations here at the ICL Boulby mine in the North York Moors. Going down isn’t the end of the journey, we still need to go along.
“It’ll be about 40 minutes to where the guys work, about 7km – we’ll go under the North Sea… but you won’t see any fish… otherwise something has gone wrong.”
The world we drive through is moon-dust grey: after a shift the workers gain a ghostly pallor and gear left unused for a few days acquires powdery drifts.
