Sea ice

Great minds don't always think alike...

For Monica Ionita and Frank Kauker, it all comes down to September – when they’ll finally find out which of their forecasts for the summertime sea-ice extent for September was more accurate: a battle of methods that spurs on research!
In action on an ice flow

AWI sea ice physicists observe and investigate the sea ice cover in both hemisphere thoroughly. Which techniques and methods they are using in shown in this graph.
Life is thriving beneath the floes

The “underside” of sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic is a unique habitat. AWI biologists investigate, how algae and animals manage to survive in the icy, dim world.
The mystery of the ice underneath the Antarctic sea ice

In some regions of the Antarctic, a several metre thick layer of platelet ice is forming unterneath the sea ice. AWI researchers have developed a new method to measure this ice across a large area.

Remote Sensing

A direct connection to the ice

Thanks to cutting-edge techniques, researchers can more accurately gauge the thickness of sea ice

Snow drift form around Polar 5 while equipment is loaded into the airplane. This photo was taken during the NETCARE campaign in spring 2015.

Photo gallery

Our best photos from the field

Sea ice, the ocean and lots of hard working scientists: Our best images of the AWI sea ice research

Laptev Sea

The Birthplace of Arctic Sea Ice

Will the Arctic sea ice continue to shrink? AWI researchers explore the "ice machine of the Arctic"

Polar patterns - The Polar Seas from a Bird's Perspective

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.

News

Arctic

MOSAiC aerial campaign: first aerial survey flights in the Arctic since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic

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.

MOSAiC-Expedition

Time to Say Goodbye

After exactly 300 days of drifting with the MOSAiC floe, the international team around Expedition Leader Markus Rex on Wednesday, 29 July 2020, started the dismantling of the research camp and evacuation of the floe. Just one day later the floe finally broke into several fragments. After accompanying the floe on its journey for ten months, the team will now shift its focus to the last remaining puzzle piece in the annual cycle of Arctic sea ice: the start of the ice formation process.

Sea Ice

Sea-ice extent in the Arctic at a historical low

The Arctic sea-ice extent is the lowest it’s ever been in July since the beginning of satellite observation. The sea-ice retreat is especially pronounced off the Siberian coast, as a result of which the Northeast Passage (also referred to as the Northern Sea Route) was ice-free by mid-July.