By Rafael Lazo Perez | The ship trembles while we slowly advance through the ice. A crack appears in the ice piece blocking our way. The ship cracks it into two pieces resembling the school charts that show the separation of the continents. We are approaching to Greenland and ice is becoming ... [Read more]

By Rafael Laso Perez | Tac, tac, tac. The sound of the peristaltic pumps helps to stay awake at 4:00 AM in the lab. We just got some water samples from the deep sea and need to process them as soon as possible. After sampling a couple of stations, the procedure has become an enjoyable routine ... [Read more]

Today, we have a post from guest author Prof. Reinhart Claus a physicist, enthusiastic astronomer, and musician.   "Electric Displacement and Maxwell's Equations - Why and how? Our modern understanding of all electric phenomena more or less starts with Maxwells equations from ... [Read more]

By Rafael Laso Perez | The excitement runs through my veins. In a couple of hours we will arrive to S3, my first sampling station of the PS107 cruise, which researches the Fram Strait, the gate to the Arctic Ocean. It is 20:00 o’clock and although I should get some rest for the night sampling, ... [Read more]

By Benjamin Lange | Arctic sea ice thickness and extent have undergone significant changes over the past ~30 years. The observed changes are actually much greater than predicted by even the best global climate models for the Arctic Ocean. In addition, sea ice thickness and volume are key indicators ... [Read more]

To follow up our interview series, this month we would like to introduce you to the former and the current speakers of the Survey group, Danja and Bernhard. Danja worked on the establishment of the survey 2017, arranging the technical aspects since January 2016. Bernhard, the speaker of the 2017 ... [Read more]

By Ulrich Küster | Being a northern Germany native, the term “Beluga” was mostly associated with the large Airbus transport planes that would pass over my parents’ garden on their approach to the Airbus facility in Finkenwerder, Hamburg. Unbelievably large airplanes, with whom I had ... [Read more]

By Fokje Schaafsma | On Friday the 23th of June, RV Polarstern left Svalbard for the SiPCA expedition to the Arctic Ocean. SiPCA stands for Survival of Polar cod in the Arctic Ocean. The main aim of the expedition is to learn more about the life of Polar cod, which is a species that is ... [Read more]

Perhaps you know the feeling of being overwhelmed by your daily tasks and project(s) - I know I am at times. Instead of finding excuses, today I will say that this is completely my own fault, and mine alone. Not because I am not working hard enough, but simply because I am naively attempting to ... [Read more]

2016 February. Having just completed my Masters defense, I felt my enthusiasm and confidence towards scientific research was not adequate to warrant tackling another minimum three years of PhD. Not seeing myself forging a research career, I decided to look for other scientific opportunities. ... [Read more]