By Magda Cardozo, PhD student of Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen | In the open ocean, microbes are the most active and abundant organism, and control processes that are crucial for sustaining life on earth. We can study microorganisms from samples taken from a wide range ...[Read more]
Sea ice samples
by Josephine Rapp | During this expedition I planned to do sea ice work for the very first time. However, due to bad weather conditions and very thick fog during the first weeks of the cruise, I first thought that it would be cancelled after all, since both the helicopter and the zodiac require ...[Read more]
Are the pumps pumping where and what we want them to?
By Josephine Rapp | After a delayed start due to cancelled flights, our expedition started only two days ago. We left from Longyearbyen on Svalbard and reached the first station after only half a day – so preparing and setting up labs had to be very quick. By now, first samples have been ...[Read more]
After one MUC always comes another
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]
A wavy welcome to the deep Arctic Ocean
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]