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Ever-changing and ever new: In the Arctic and Antarctica, frost and the sun, waves, water and the wind create perpetually changing tints and shades, shapes and patterns. In order to capture the beauty of this interplay, one must take-off and take a bird’s eye view on the polar landscapes. A perspective that only polar researchers like AWI sea ice physicists on their routine survey flights above the ice are lucky enough to slip into. On each of those flights, one or two photographic cameras keep record of the landscape at the scientists’ feet. Pointing vertically downwards, the camera is mounted in the hull of the research aircraft or installed in the torpedo shaped body of the EM-bird – a sea ice thickness measurement device that can be dragged by the research aircraft or a helicopter. The past years of research did hence not only result in new scientific knowledge about sea ice, but also in truly fascinating images, picked by AWI sea ice physicist Stefan Hendricks.
Team of reseachers have provided an exceptionally comprehensive assessment of the status quo and future of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean that surrounds it.
A new study by AWI researcher Henrik Sadatzki shows that widespread sea-ice retreat occurred within a period of 250 years or less and repeatedly triggered abrupt climate fluctuations during the last glacial.
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 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.
Marine Protected Area in the Weddell Sea
Sea Ice
Ice Sheets
Influences on Europe's climate
Climate change in the Arctic
Climate change and the Southern Ocean
Climate change and the North Sea
Climate change and the ocean
Permafrost
Arctic Council
Shipping in the Arctic
Arctic and Antarctic - more differences than similarities?
Arctic Governance
Svalbard