Scientists from 19 countries embark on the biggest and most complex expedition ever attempted in the central Arctic to better understand climate change
Arctic research expedition ship RV Polarstern is pictured during the farewell ceremony in Tromso, Norway’s Breivika harbour on September 20, 2019.
"The Arctic is the epicentre of global climate change," said Markus Rex of Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Ocean Research, who will lead the expedition. "At the same time, the Arctic is the region of the planet where we understand the climate system least." Stefanie Arndt, a sea ice physicist who has been preparing for the expedition for nine years, said darkness will be the biggest challenge.
"What's particularly interesting is the transition from winter to spring," she said, a time when the ice is normally too thick for ships to reach the Central Arctic. Energy from light affects algae growth and ocean temperatures, which in turn influence how much sea ice melts from below. Recent changes in the jet stream – a current of air that circles and insulates the Arctic like a giant thermos – have allowed warm, moist winds from low latitudes to move north. At the same time, chilly blasts of Arctic air – the dreaded polar vortices – have brought deep freeze conditions to the continental US and Europe.Concerns about global warming have spread far beyond the scientific community in recent years.
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