in the Arctic and Antarctic, monitoring ocean currents at our deep-sea moorings in the Fram Strait and the Weddell Sea, and the data from our sea-ice buoys drifting through the Antarctic and Arctic Oceans [...] planet’s hotspots As polar researchers, we have the privilege of working in unique habitats. The Arctic can be breathtaking: where else can you see the rugged glacial fjords of Greenland and Spitsbergen [...] striding across ice floes, or the stark contrasts produced by warm waters from the subtropics and Arctic cold fronts? Antarctic expeditions on board the research icebreaker Polarstern take us to the stormy

region? Svalbard is a key region of climate change in the Arctic. On the one hand it is close to the Atlantic water inflow to the Central Arctic Ocean, and on the other hand it is located along the North Atlantic [...] by other stations in the Ny-Ålesund Atmosphere Flagship Program , and with Arctic wide observations in the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) . Major activities are related [...] Changes observed in this region with increased heat advection can be seen as a precursor for the future Arctic climate. The section “Atmospheric Physics” is operating a large part of the atmospheric observations

parameters in the water column of the Arctic Ocean on a regular basis to better understand the impact of a variable environment on ecological processes in the Arctic ocean. ICES Working Group on Plankton and [...] such as Pseudnitzschia sp. , or different species of the genus Alexandrium sp . FRAM (Frontiers in Arctic Marine Monitoring) The development of a standardized molecular observation strategy for marine eukaryotic [...] microbial observatory that aims to monitor and understand how ongoing environmental changes affect Arctic marine prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities and how these changes will alter their role

The microbial communities of the Arctic Ocean are taxonomically distinct from other oceans, suggesting vulnerability due recent climate related changes. In the Arctic, the environments that select different [...] of sea-ice on Arctic marine single-cell eukaroyte community composition, or of ocean warming in Eastern Fram Strait since the year 2000. In the future, the observation strategy for Arctic marine microbes [...] y from climate change impacts on these high-Arctic systems. Connie Lovejoy Perspectives for the Arctic. Connie Lovejoy Département de biologie, Québec Océan, Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes

progress into the north significantly. During our journey in the thick ice across the deepening Arctic Ocean, wildlife became scarcer and scarcer. Patches of Melosira arctica were only spotted rarely.

started in the marginal sea ice zone east of Svalbard, and then set course north into the central Arctic Ocean.The marginal sea ice zone was mostly covered with decaying sea ice and some larger ice-free areas

observation of ice, ocean and seafloor processes in the Central Arctic. A main aim is to observe and analyse the changes in the sea ice cover, and its causes and consequences for ocean and life.

Arctic Ocean
More melt water is entering the Artic Ocean from the glaciers due to climbing temperatures. In addition, the rivers are carrying large amounts of sediment from thawing permafrost. How the [...] the Arctic Ocean will react to such changes is a very big question, which is concerning scientists around the world. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now published, together with int

these algae. This also means that the decline of the Arctic sea ice may have far-reaching consequences for the entire food web of the Arctic Ocean. Their results have been published online now in the journal [...] Food web
Algae that live in and under the sea ice play a much greater role for the Arctic food web than previously assumed. In a new study, biologists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre

Arctic Ocean
This September, the Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk to 4.1 million square kilometres (sq km)-the second lowest in the history of satellite measurements. It is exceeded only by the all-time [...] all-time record low of 3.4 million sq km in 2012. "Once again, a massive loss of sea ice in the Arctic," says Prof. Lars Kaleschke from Universität Hamburg's Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability