By Franz Schroeter | We are currently in the “marginal ice zone”: the zone right in front of the thick multi-year-ice. Since we reached the sea ice on August 21st, 2015, we have been moving slower. At first, only ice floes drifted by. Soon, however, we approached a white front ahead. We were ...[Read more]
From Mario Hoppmann und Hendrik Hampe | As soon as the countless containers are un-stowed and the first instruments have been prepared the scientists are ready to start with their main task: the investigation of the atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Since it usually takes a ...[Read more]
By Justin, Stefan and Ursula | TransArc II *) - this means for us - 55 scientists and 43 crew members – for the coming two months an expedition right across the Arctic Ocean with the German research ice breaker Polarstern. We want to track the climate change, which is so very prominent in the ...[Read more]
By Katy Hoffmann and Josephine Rapp | We have now been on board for more than two weeks, and the expedition’s halfway point has already passed. In some moments it feels like we’ve been on this ship for ages, and in others like we only just started. Sometimes you are really looking forward to your ...[Read more]
By Katy Hoffmann and Josephine Rapp For roughly five days now we have been sailing through Arctic waters aboard RV Polarstern, our home for the coming weeks. It is the second time that both of us have been here to collect samples for our PhD projects. Over the next three weeks we will conduct ...[Read more]
At the moment we are on our way to Tromsø, where our Arctic adventure finally ends. Here, we would like to give you the opportunity to get an insight in the life on board RV Polarstern as an ArcTrain student. 07:00... Alarm rings. Press the snooze button. Get up ten minutes later. Take a shower - ...[Read more]
By Anastasia Zhuravleva Is it surprising that our modern society is highly affected by climatic instabilities and rapid environmental shifts? Apparently, not! Meanwhile, dramatic changes have been observed in the Arctic during the past few thousand years, which are expressed as temperature ...[Read more]
By Raul Scarlat I know what a CTD is, I just had trouble remembering what the acronym stands for. Apparently it's "Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth" as Kerstin explains it to me. Kerstin is one of my ArcTrain colleagues. Matter of fact she had participated in CTD sampling the day before and ...[Read more]
Only few days are left; we are approaching the end of the cruise. Last Wednesday we already entered the open ocean and left the Arctic sea-ice edge behind. On our way south, we passed an area inhabited by quite a few seals, and some of us were lucky enough to see whales. On Tuesday we had our last ...[Read more]
For many people (including members of this blog team), remembering their physics lessons at school is not a very fond memory. Physics, often coupled with math, all too often seems very abstract. On a polar expedition, however, the physicists are a far cry from the stereotypical image of a ...[Read more]
