Field Notes: Uncovered
Go into the field with scientists, researchers, and conservation leaders exploring some of the most fascinating questions about our planet.
Host and educator Kirsten Alburg travels to the places where discovery is happening — joining scientists in the field, putting on the gear, participating in the work, asking the questions, and uncovering the stories behind the science. The scientists are the experts. Kirsten is our way into their world.
From Arctic sea ice to the Great Lakes, wildlife recovery to conservation research, Field Notes: Uncovered turns real science into an adventure.
Field Notes: Uncovered — Proof of Concept
Episode One · Utqiaġvik, Alaska — Kirsten goes out onto the frozen ocean with the scientists studying it.
What can sea ice tell us about a changing Arctic?
Concept animatic · 3:55 · Sound on. This sample demonstrates how the series works — the question, the arc, the pacing, the host voice — and is not filmed footage. Imagery is illustrative Arctic stills with subtle motion, and the host script is read by a temporary stand-in narrator; Kirsten's voice and likeness are not synthesized or represented. No researchers, institutions, research programs, findings, or partnerships are depicted, and the partner-recognition frame near the end is a labelled example only.
The format
Kirsten travels to the place where scientists are trying to answer it, meets the people doing the work, and goes into the field with them — asking the questions, taking a turn on the equipment where permitted, and running into the same weather, timing, and uncertainty they do.
Field Notes: Uncovered — The Podcast
Episode One (companion) · 45–55 minutes · Same question as the episode: “What can sea ice tell us about a changing Arctic?”
One host, one to two guests, recorded after the field days. Conversational, unhurried, no lecture. The episode follows the same arc as the video, then keeps going past where the cut had to stop.
The companion podcast goes deeper with the same scientists after the field days — what actually happened, what the observations mean, the parts that didn't fit the episode, and the questions still open.
Signature story
A story of hope, science, and conservation in action. Follow the people working to save the Sihek (Guam kingfisher) from extinction — one of the most important recovery missions in the Pacific.
How the show works
Each episode opens with a real scientific question. Kirsten travels to the place where that question is being investigated, meets the scientists, researchers, conservationists, and community experts doing the work — and then goes with them. Onto the ice. Aboard the vessel. Into the forest. To the monitoring station.
She suits up, asks the obvious questions and the hard ones, helps collect measurements where permitted, and hits the same weather, equipment, and timing problems the field team does. The uncertainty is never manufactured — in real fieldwork, the science itself creates the mystery.
Kirsten is not the expert. The scientists are. She is the audience's way in: curious, warm, adventurous, and comfortable saying “I don't know.”
Made for curious people
Field Notes: Uncovered is built for curious adults, families, adventure and nature viewers, students, and educators alike — anyone drawn to extraordinary places and the people working in them.
The adventure brings viewers in. The people make them care. The science gives the story meaning — understandable without ever becoming simplistic.
The episode engine
Then Kirsten goes looking for the people trying to answer it.
Freshwater science · in development
The question: how do researchers monitor one of Earth's largest freshwater systems? A planned episode on the instruments and observations that reveal a changing Great Lakes. Vessel access and researcher participation are still being arranged.
Polar science · Coming soon
The question: what can sea ice tell us about a changing Arctic? Kirsten travels to Utqiaġvik, Alaska, suits up, and heads out onto the frozen ocean with the scientists measuring it.
The podcast
After the field days, the Field Notes: Uncovered podcast sits down with the same scientists and experts to go further — what actually happened out there, what the observations mean, the parts that didn't fit the episode, their own path into the work, and the questions still open.
Podcast partnership
Podcast partnership is underwriting, engagement, and education support — not advertising inventory. Partners are recognized alongside the science they help make visible, and the conversations stay independent.
Campaign
Odyssey Discovery has not yet selected S/V Svala. We are searching for the fiberglass, fixed-keel, singlehand-capable sailing vessel — roughly 36–42 feet — that best fits our Great Lakes science, storytelling, and education mission. No vessel has been selected or acquired; any future acquisition will be subject to professional evaluation, financial review, insurance review, and mission confirmation.
Who it's for
Partner with Field Notes: Uncovered
Field Notes: Uncovered works with select corporate, foundation, science, and conservation partners to underwrite documentary storytelling and the Field Notes: Uncovered podcast, and to expand access to real-world science education.
Partnership opportunities are available across Arctic science, Great Lakes research, wildlife conservation, podcast seasons and conversations, and the broader Field Notes: Uncovered platform.
Partnership support underwrites storytelling. It does not purchase editorial control or scientific conclusions — Odyssey Discovery retains editorial independence on every story and episode. Odyssey Discovery is a for-profit business, so partnership is a commercial sponsorship rather than a tax-deductible charitable gift.
Meet the scientists behind the stories through Field Notes: Explorer.
Field Notes: Uncovered is the storytelling platform of Odyssey Discovery — sharing the scientists, places, and discoveries shaping our understanding of the planet. Created and executive produced by Kirsten Alburg.