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 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]
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]
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]
Yesterday we waved goodbye to our last ice station, the eighth in the row of ice floes visited during our cruise. Working on the ice, as well as onboard Polarstern, we’ve been struck by all the types of creative solutions for reaching the goals of our measurements. Not only the instruments ... [Read more]
We have now started our seventh ice station and thought it is about time to summarize the amount of samples that were collected within the past few weeks during our TRANSSIZ cruise. Because we are scientists, we approached this summary quantitatively. In order to study the sea-ice habitat, ... [Read more]
We are at our 6th ice station and the fog has rolled in. Standing out on the back deck, you feel almost like you are enclosed inside one of those tiny snow globes, the scenery blanketed in snow and the Polarstern wrapped in a foggy mist. Looking out over the rail of the Polarstern, ... [Read more]
Without light, life is not possible. Algae depend on the sun`s energy and can only grow if there is enough light penetrating the ocean. The depth at which light reaches is dependent on the various substances present in the water. If specific substances are abundant, the sea water turns yellow or ... [Read more]
