Weekly Reports Polarstern
The Expedition PS109 to the Arctic (Tromsø - Bremerhaven)
The retreat of the ice sheet of Greenland strongly contributes to global sea level rise. The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream thereby transports ice masses toward the continental shelf of western Fram Strait, where its outlet glacier – the 79°N Glacier – is in direct contact with the warm Atlantic Waters recirculating in Fram Strait. Given that the Atlantic Water has been warming in this area while at the same time the 79°N Glacier has begun to show signs of retreat of its floating ice tongue, it is the goal of the expedition “Greenland ice sheet/ocean interaction” (GRISO) to study the complex interactions between the ocean and the ice sheet of Northeast Greenland. In this framework scientists from the disciplines of physical oceanography, geochemistry, glaciology, geodesy, geology, geophysics, atmospheric physics and chemistry, biology and biochemistry will work closely together with each other aboard the research icebreaker RV Polarstern. The vessel will depart from Tromsø, North Norway, on 12 September. Over the course of the expedition, marine studies on the continental shelf close to the Greenland coast will be combined with fieldwork on both the floating ice tongue of the 79°N Glacier and the adjacent near-coastal mainland. We thereby build on studies that were carried out aboard RV Polarstern in summer 2016. The expedition will end on 14 October in Bremerhaven.
PS109 - Weekly Report No. 1 | 12 - 17 September 2017
The forerunners of Greenland
In the evening of 12 September the research icebreaker R/V Polarstern left the port of Tromsø (Norway). On board there are scientists from seven nations who cover the range from physical oceanography, geochemistry, glaciology, geodesy, geology, geophysics, atmospheric physics and chemistry as well as marine biology and biogeochemistry. The aim of the “Greenland ice sheet/ocean interaction” (GRISO) expedition is to unravel the complex physical interactions between the ocean and the ice sheet of Northeast Greenland, as well as their implications for...
PS108 - Weekly Report No. 2 | 29 August - 6 September 2017
New technical possibilities in the deep sea
The second week of our expedition was in focus of the in ROBEX new developed robotic systems.
PS108 - Weekly Report No. 1. | 22 - 28 August 2017
Expedition „ROBEX-DM“
On Tuesday August 22 at 19:00 POLARSTERN left Tromsö with an unusual freight on board into direction of Svalbard. Unusual, because 10 of the 40 scientists on board are space experts and special are also the new and innovative robotic systems, which should improve our capabilities in deep-sea research. The new technologies include 3 different types of benthic crawler, each designed for its specific scientific purpose on the bottom of the sea, a glider for water column studies, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support AUV operations under sea ice and an...
PS107 - Wochenbericht Nr. 3 | 7. - 13. August 2017
Long-term investigations & catching micro plastics
We finished our scientific program in the western Fram-Strait at the East-Greenland slope and went back to our main research area of the long-term observatory LTER-HAUSGARTEN – west off Svalbard. Like every summer here we realize an extensive sampling program from the sea-surface through the water column down to the seafloor. Here we are analyzing at almost twenty stations within water depth between 200 m and 5500 m seawater, plankton is caught, deep-sea sediments are sampled and photos and videos from the seafloor were made. By a...
PS107, 2nd weekly report | 31 July - 6 August 2017
How to find an eddy
On HAUSGARTEN cruises we typically study and sample the oceanographic conditions and the biological communities on a relatively large scale. Consecutive stations are often separated by 20-40 km or more. However, many important processes and physical-biological interactions take place on much smaller spatial scales. In order to show how new measurement and sampling techniques capable of achieving a high horizontal resolution in combination with interdisciplinary cooperation can study such small scale processes, we decided to launch a complementary...
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