physical, chemical, and biogeochemical interactions within the Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere (OIA) system, new knowledge of polar and global climate, and enhanced ability of society to respond to climate change [...] strongly using an iterative workflow. Workpackages WP1: Observed ocean-ice/snow-atmosphere processes: improved knowledge and existing model shortcomings WP1 will produce integrated knowledge of how sea ice and its snow cover are coupled to oceanic and atmospheric processes using ongoing and existing observations (in-situ and satellite) and existing model output. We use a

and moisture exchange between the atmosphere and the ice covered ocean, leads and polynias play an important role. This is documented by many modelling studies, but only very few observations exist yet [...] in the northern polar ocean. To prove if they can be applied for antarctic conditions, low-level legs were flown during 5 flights over the sea ice in the Weddell [...] sea ice in the Weddell Sea to complement the findings from the Arctic and to investigate differences in more detail. Furthermore, two flights were flown in a close formation with the BAS Twin Otter to

local-regional scale physical and chemical processes for atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the Arctic and Antarctic, their responses to, and influence on, projected changes in the global circulation and [...] projected changes in the global circulation on the climate of the Arctic and Antarctic. Polar climates in a global context remains poorly understood and thus climate change projections in Polar regions [...] in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean, and involved interactions that play a major role in the coupled Arctic climate system and associated Arctic Amplification. AWI

shows, the flood 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 Arctic Ocean. High concentrations

of our planet was not only dictated by the coming and going of oceans and mountains, or the wandering of continents; it was also constantly shaped by natural climate change. From the past we can learn [...] with tundra, like what we now see in eastern Siberia. Today’s Arctic, with ice-covered Greenland, Siberian permafrost and sea ice at the North Pole, is a holdover of that glacial world. But for how [...] Diekmann Find out more > Dialogue & Lectures Lectures | 15.07.2018 Arctic Environments in Change Ecologic Arctic Summer College Policy advice

the environment, e.g. in water bodies, the soil and the air. Via ocean currents and rivers, the tiny plastic particles can even reach the Arctic, Antarctic or ocean depths. A new overview study has now [...] Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel – describes how microplastic finds its way into the atmosphere and how it is subsequently transported.

Airborne Observations In, Below and Above Arctic Clouds Map of the areas for aircraft operation illustration the coordination activities at Polarstern and Ny Alesund (Photo: [...] embedded in the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre TR 172: ArctiC Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and SurfaCe Processes, and Feedback Mechanisms (AC)³. The general goals of both aircraft [...] better understand and quantify the role of clouds in the lower Arctic atmosphere. A special focus is on the amplified climate change in the Arctic. To that aim measurements during ACLOUD and AFLUX were

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 summer sea-ice extent [...] 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 expedition will be on the warming

Gelatinous zooplankton from the Fram Strait region, Arctic Ocean (Photo: Mario Hoppmann/AWI) Gelatinous zooplankton, comprising cnidarians, ctenophores and tunicates, are known to be major [...] ARJEL: How diverse are gelatinous zooplankton communities in the Arctic Ocean? Since gelatinous zooplankton are fragile and easily fragmented, there are some biases associated with net and trawl sampling [...] studies with the secondary user projects “ICE-Jelly” on the Arctic campaign PS131 and “SO-Jelly” in the Southern Ocean during PS134. Finally, we also carry out trophic studies investigating the role

The Research Vessel Polarstern was in the Arctic for the past seven weeks. There, the summertime sea-ice extent declined by ca. 40 percent over the past 40 years – making it one of [...] Strait and in the marginal ice zone north of Svalbard, as well as ocean/glacier interactions off the coast of Greenland. Central research questions included how the ice conditions, ocean heat fluxes and ocean stratification determine sea-ice melt in the marginal ice zone (between the ice free waters and the dense pack ice) and how the melt