of plastic has reached all spheres of the Arctic: large quantities of plastic - transported by rivers, the air and shipping- can now be found in the ArcticOcean. High concentrations of microplastic can
Biodiversity Massive sponge gardens thrive on top of seamounts in the Central ArcticOcean, one of the most oligotrophic seas on Earth. They appear to feed on the remnants of an extinct fauna. Micr [...] Communications . They stress the need for a better understanding of the diversity and uniqueness of Arctic ecosystems in the light of global and local change.
have now analysed. Their most important finding: even a short-term influx of warm water into the ArcticOcean would suffice to fundamentally impact the local symbiotic communities, from the water’s surface [...] Climate Change The warming of arctic waters in the wake of climate change is likely to produce radical changes in the marine habitats of the High North. This is indicated by data from long-term observations
forces to improve the capacities for marine-based research in the ice-covered ArcticOcean. In the project “ARICE- Arctic Research Icebreaker Consortium”, they aim at better coordinating the existing polar
reached its destination, will spend the next year drifting through the ArcticOcean, trapped in the ice. A total of 600 people from 17 countries, who will be supplied by other icebreakers and aircraft [...] MOSAiC Expedition It could be the largest-scale Arctic research expedition of all time: in September 2019 the German research icebreaker Polarstern will depart from Tromsø, Norway and, once it has reached
Arctic sea ice Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), are anticipating that the sea ice cover in the ArcticOcean this summer may [...] after evaluating current satellite data about the thickness of the ice cover. The data show that the arctic sea ice was already extraordinarily thin in the summer of 2015. Comparably little new ice formed
million metric tons of CO 2 in the Arctic deep sea for millennia. In this region alone, a previously unknown transport route uses the biological carbon pump and ocean currents to absorb atmospheric CO 2
first aerial survey flights over the Arctic this year. The flights, which will extend far into the Central Arctic, will support the investigation of the atmosphere and sea ice, and supplement the MOSAiC [...] expedition’s extensive research agenda. Core research priorities include cloud formation over the ArcticOcean and the question as to whether the sea ice observed during MOSAiC was generally thicker or thinner [...] Arctic Following a five-month mandatory delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, on August 30th the two German polar research aircraft Polar 5 and Polar 6 will launch from Svalbard to conduct their first
of Tromsø. Escorted by the Russian icebreaker Akademik Fedorov, she will set sail for the Central Arctic. On board researchers will investigate a region that is virtually inaccessible in winter, and which [...] global climate. They will gather urgently needed data on the interactions between the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice, as well as on the ecosystem. Thanks to the collaboration between international experts
Today, the research vessel Polarstern will depart on a seven-week-long voyage to the Arctic, where the onset of summer also marks the beginning of the annual sea-ice melting. Over the past 40 years, the [...] zone, the team of researchers on board will investigate how heat fluxes and water layering in the ocean, as well as the characteristics of the ice, interact and influence melting. A further focus of the