Press Releases in 2003
19. December 2003: Christmas Greetings from Koldewey Station
One week before Christmas we "Überwinterer" are finally alone. We, that is station engineer Konstanze Piel and station leader Jens Kube. What does "alone" mean here in Ny-Ålesund? Mainly, that we are the only ones left at the German Koldewey-Station. The village of Ny-Ålesund, our home for one year, is hosting about thirty more people, most from Norway, but also from Sweden, China, and Japan. So we are not really lonely. And of cause, we also have contact to our friends, family, and colleagues by the means of modern communication.
17. December 2003: Antarctic researchers meet in Bremen
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) convenes July 25 through July 31 2004 The 28th International Antarctic conference of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research will take place in the Congress Centre in Bremen July 25 through July 31 2004. About 600 scientists from more than 30 countries are expected to attend this most important Antarctic research meeting. All disciplines of Antarctic research will be represented. Hence, the SCAR conference will provide a good opportunity to find out about the current status of and perspectives for Antarctic science.
11. December 2003: Reports from Kohnen Station 2003/2004
During the first days of December, the Kohnen-Station resumed activity for the season. Since then, the expedition team has reached its full complement. The members are doing well under sunny skies with temperatures of minus twenty degree celsius. There were no major problems in getting used to the altitude change from sea level to 3000 m within just a few hours.
25. November 2003: White (ice) in front of a black background
The over winterer team at the Neumayer station witnessed the last solar eclipse of the year In the late evening of November 23rd (climax 23:27 UTC) a partial solar eclipse was visible in the Antarctic.
14. November 2003: Climate Research: Oldest Ice under Procession
Scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) are handling the oldest ice that has ever been unearthed: The ice cores, which were drilled during last winter in the Antarctic research station Dome C, are up to 900.000 years old.
3. November 2003: Solar storm measured at Neumayer
Disturbance in the Magnetic Field The great geomagnetic storm from 29 Octobre 2003 encountered the Magnetometers on Neumayer-Base/Antarctica at 06:12 am.
17. October 2003: Global research in sea and sky
Polarstern sets off for the Antarctic On Wednesday, 22nd October, 2003, the research ice-breaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) - Polarstern - will depart on her 21st Antarctic expedition. Studies of the decay of the ozone layer and of communities on the Southern Ocean sea floor are planned.
8. October 2003: Polarstern returns to Bremerhaven
19th Arctic research expedition successfully concluded On 13th October, Polarstern, research ice-breaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will return to Bremerhaven after a 20 week long research cruise in Arctic waters. Over 200 scientists from 11 nations made use of the 118 metre long ship to research biological, geological and oceanographic processes west of Ireland, in the Arctic deep sea and in the fjords of east Greenland, during two cruise legs.
7. August 2003: Victor disembarks
Polarstern completes eleven week international deep sea expedition According to plan, the Polarstern, research ice-breaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), will enter the port of Tromso, Norway, on August 7th. The aims of the completed expedition were to examine deep sea corals southwest of Ireland, the Hakon Mosby mud volcano northwest of Norway and the AWI "Hausgarten", a long-term deep sea station west of Svalbard in a depth of 2600 metres. Victor 6000, a deep sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) run by French marine research institute Ifremer, was available to the 150 scientists on board. Victor is equipped with cameras, sampling devices and a grab-arm, can dive to 6000 metres depth and is controlled remotely from the Polarstern.
20. June 2003: Coral Paradise in the deep, dark and cool waters west of Ireland
On Friday, June 20th 2003, the German research ice-breaker POLARSTERN of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven/ Germany will visit the port of Galway/ Ireland, after a 3-week international expedition to study the deep-water coral reefs to the west of Ireland. Over 40 scientists working on a variety of European-funded research projects and from marine institutes in Ireland, Belgium, the UK, France and Germany are participating in the expedition. They will depart the ship to return to their home institutes in Galway, before POLARSTERN (managed by the German shipping company F. LAEISZ in Hamburg/ Rostock/ Bremerhaven) departs for the next leg of its 2003 summer expedition to the Arctic Ocean. A special feature of the first leg, now about to finish in Galway, was the combination for the first time in Irish waters, of the POLARSTERN research vessel, a modern, efficient, large and very stable (with its 11m draft), bad weather tolerant mothership with the world's most modern deep-sea robot (ROV), the VICTOR 6000 of Ifremer (Institut Francaise de Recherche pout l´Exploitation de la Mer). VICTOR is an unmanned deep-sea robot that can dive to 6000 m water depth, with a weight of 4 tons and with remotely operated cameras and manipulators that allow the collection of in-situ samples and data with unprecedented precision.