mapping initiatives including the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) , the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) ,the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean [...] 2030) , a project with the ambitious goal to map the world’s oceans by 2030, and hosts the Seabed 2030 Southern Ocean Regional Center (SORC) . SORC’s and IBCSO’ s responsibility is to produce the best possible authoritative map of the Southern Ocean, the South Atlantic, South Pacific, and South Indian Ocean south of 50°S. The maps we produce are all publicly available in PANGAEA

. Plastic particles are broken down in the ocean by sunlight, temperature fluctuations, mechanical abrasion and wave action into small fragments known as microplastics. These tiny [...] (Video) | 25.04.2018 Plastic pollution: record levels found in Arctic sea ice Find out more > BBC | 24.04.2018 Record concentration of microplastics found in Arctic Find out more > Dialogue & Lectures Policy advice Arctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP) Member of the Expert Group on Microplastic Monitoring in the Arctic

just snow. There are clear differences if you compare, e.g., the Arctic and Antarctic. While the snow on the Arctic sea ice is completely melting over the course of the year, and so-called meltwater ponds [...] global warming, which means that in the future, in the Southern Ocean, the snow cover might also start melting significantly during summer. Today, we are already observing a seasonal change in the snow [...] it insulates, and as such reduces the transfer of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. However, the less warmth the ocean gives off, the thinner the sea ice remains. Therefore the snow not only

TRANSDRIFT -Project are: to assess the influence of sea-ice and ocean dynamics in the Laptev Sea on the transpolar drift; to investigate changes in the arctic halocline, water mass formation, and [...] of Ocean ACIDification) Project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Duration: 01.10.2015 - 31.12.2017 Coordinator [...] stressors, and what are the consequences for marine ecosystems and ocean biogeochemical cycles? Contact: A. Boetius, F. Wenzhöfer

Stable Isotope Facility Bremerhaven Nutrient Facility Observatories Ocean: FRAM Water: COSYNA Meteorology Geophysics Ships Polarstern Heincke Uthörn Mya II Aade Stations Neumayer Station III Arctic Station

factors to explore the ecological role of marine mammals in the Arctic Ocean. Data stem from the interdisciplinary Arctic FRAM ocean observatory, which provides a unique opportunity to gain insight into [...] . I strongly believe that a holistic understanding of the Arctic Ocean ecosystem is essential in view of future management and conservation strategies to preserve this unique and fragile ecosystem [...] the acoustic occurrence of baleen whales in the Arctic Ocean. This region is of special concern due to strong ongoing environmental alterations triggered by climate change, such as sea-ice

marine ecosystems must always keep the polar regions in mind. The Arctic and Antarctic, for example, play a central role in the system of global ocean currents, and the large but shrinking ice sheets are

The vertically facing towed camera system OFOS (Ocean Floor Observation System) is used to assess large-scale distribution patterns of larger epi-benthic organisms and other objects ( [...] invertebrates from the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN (Fram Strait, Arctic Ocean). Marine Ecology Progress Series 602: 15-29. Taylor, J., Krumpen, T., Soltwedel, T., Gutt, J., Bergmann, M. (2017): Dynamic [...] interannual variability of megafaunal assemblages in the Arctic deep sea: preliminary results from the HAUSGARTEN observatory (79ºN). Deep-Sea Research I 58: 711-723.

Example of a sea ice model (Graphic: Alfred Wegener Institut) The Arctic areas - ocean even more than land - are difficult to reach, for several winter months not at all. Instruments must be able to work [...] compute the model forward in time". The area of interest- here the Arctic Ocean is overlaid with a three-dimensional grid. The geometry of this grid can be as simple or complicated as one likes. Numerical [...] Spelman, M. , Winton, M. and Zhang, R. (2005): Formulation of an ocean model for global climate simulations , Ocean Science, 1 , pp. 45-79 .

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