By Anouk Vlug | It is 4 days ago that I boarded the RV Polarstern. The sea is currently calm, which gave me the courage to start writing this blog post. I am Anouk Vlug, one of the ArcTrain PhD students that joint PS 115.2 expedition into the Arctic as a part of the ArcTrain Floating ...[Read more]
Stormy Transit from Norway to Greenland
Andreas Muenchow, University of Delaware, USA | A storm closed the deck of R/V Polarstern on our first day at sea. Within hours of leaving port in Tromso, Norway, with its sheltered fjords, mountains, and rocks, we entered the open Barents Sea where winds and waves hit us hard. Water splashed ...[Read more]
All aboard! The RV Polarstern has set sail for North-East Greenland
By Richard Jones, Durham University | Huddled at the waterfront of Tromso, Arctic Norway, I joined a large group of fellow scientists for my first scientific cruise – actually, the first time on any form of boat for longer than a day – so 5 weeks at sea seemed daunting. I was both excited and ...[Read more]
Lung volume and blood levels
By Thomas Ronge | Am I fit enough to work for two or three months aboard a research vessel, operating far from civilisation and hospitals? To answer this question, every participant needs to see the AWI-physician for a complete body-check. It’s true, we have a physician, a nurse and ...[Read more]
Planning Phase
by Thomas Ronge | While the current expedition is still at sea, everyone from our cruise is preparing to leave for Chile later this week. But actually we are preparing since a much longer time, so that we ask ourselves: “At which point does an expedition start? When the airplane departs for ...[Read more]