Scientists from an exploration led by Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute are presently establishing camp on an ice floe, situated at 85 ° N, 135 ° E, on which they prepare to make a year long wander via theArctic Ocean Making the drift with the floe will certainly be the German icebreaker Polar Stern.
The exploration is called MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary wandering Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) as well as is the biggest polar exploration in background, An global fleet of 4 icebreakers, together with helicopters as well as airplane will provide the group on its impressive trip. A total amount of 600 global individuals, fifty percent of whom are scientists, will certainly become part of the objective.
“During the expedition, Polarstern will be become frozen in the ice, and will provide safe accommodations while research is undertaken outside on the sea ice under extreme conditions,” claims Antje Boetius, Director,Alfred Wegener Institute “We have a network of the best international Arctic researchers from various disciplines to get the mission off the ground.”
“This mission is ground breaking,” claims Markus Rex, Head of MOSAiC,Alfred Wegener Institute “Never before has there been such a complex Arctic expedition. For the first time we will be able to measure the climate processes in the Central Arctic in winter. And so for the first time we will be able to understand this region and correctly represent it in climate models. The Arctic is the epicenter of global warming and has already undergone dramatic changes. And it is the weather kitchen for our weather in Europe. Extreme weather conditions like outbreaks of cold Arctic air here in winter, or heat waves in summer are linked to the changes in the Arctic. At the same time, the uncertainties in our climate models are nowhere bigger than in the Arctic. There aren’t any reliable prognoses of how the Arctic climate will develop further or what that will mean for our weather. Our mission is to change that.”
“RV Polarstern is about 40 years old, and it is an excellent icebreaker – and one of the best vessels to sail the seas,” claims Stefan Schwarze, Captain of the Polarstern, which is run by the F.Laeisz Shipping Group “It is often the case that good icebreakers are bad sea-going vessels. But this is not true at all for Polarstern, making her genuinely unique in this respect. Polarstern is central to MOSAiC – the hub everything revolves around, and everyone returns to. If something goes wrong, Polarstern always remains solid as a rock. If everything goes wrong, Polarstern needs to remain our last stronghold – and I will make sure of that. That’s my task.”