News

News from aboard will be available in the Polarstern app. Below you can download the reports additionally as weekly reports.
  
PS 141 | 27 February - 4 March 2024  
PS 141 | 5-11 March 2024 
PS 141 | 12-18 March 2024 


 

 

 

 

     

Where is polarstern?

Figures and facts
Port of registry Bremerhaven
Length 118 metres
Width 25 metres
Max. draught 11.20 metres
Max. displacement 17,277 tons
Empty weight 12,012 tons
Commissioning AWI 1982
Engine 4 x KHD RBV 8M540
Engine power 19,198 PS (four engines)
Range 19,000 nautical miles /
80 days
Max. speed 16 knots
Operation area Everywhere including pack ice zone
Crew 44
Days on sea per year on average approx. 305
Shipyard Nobiskrug, Rendsburg and Howaldswerke - Deutsche Werft Kiel AG, Germany
Scientists per day / long term sailing none / 53

 

News

POLARIN: Network for polar research infrastructures

POLARIN: Network for polar research infrastructures

From now on, a network of 50 partner institutes will provide access to polar research infrastructures. Over the next five years, the European Union will provide 14.6 million euros in funding for the new POLARIN project (Polar Research Infrastructure Network). Slated to officially launch on 1 March 2024, the project will promote interdisciplinary research that addresses the scientific challenges in both polar regions.

Research vessel Polarstern visits Australia for the first time

Research vessel Polarstern visits Australia for the first time

She has been travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic in the service of research for over 40 years, but there are still areas that are new territory even for the Polarstern: Between two expeditions to East Antarctica, the Alfred Wegener Institute's research icebreaker reached Hobart in Tasmania on 30 January 2024 and will remain there until 6 February. The German Embassy in Australia, together with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the AWI, is inviting representatives from politics, science and society to a celebratory reception on board to mark the first attempt.

Eyewitnesses to Arctic Change

ArcWatch 1

Eyewitnesses to Arctic Change

On Thursday, 3 August 2023, the research vessel Polarstern is scheduled to set off from Tromsø, Norway, towards the North Pole. For two months, a good fifty scientific expedition participants will explore the Arctic in transition as sea ice extent reaches its annual minimum in September. They will explore the biology, chemistry and physics of sea ice as well as the effects of sea ice retreat on the entire ocean system from the surface to the deep sea. Eleven years ago, Antje Boetius was part of the largest ever sea ice minumum in the Arctic and its consequences for life in the deep sea. Now she is returning with her team to compare



FS Polarstern on tour