Arctic odyssey ends, bringing home tales of alarming ice loss
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Arctic odyssey ends, bringing home tales of alarming ice loss

Environment

BSS/AFP
09 October, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 09 October, 2020, 10:39 am

Related News

  • US immigration enforcement targets more serious offenders as overall arrests plummet
  • Under the hood: A guide to car engine types
  • UN validates 38C Arctic heat from 2020 as record high
  • DMP arrests 77 for selling, consuming drugs in city
  • Drug kingpin among 2 held with record 5kg crystal meth in Dhaka

Arctic odyssey ends, bringing home tales of alarming ice loss

In the summer, the researchers saw for themselves the dramatic effects of global warming on ice in the region

BSS/AFP
09 October, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 09 October, 2020, 10:39 am
Polarstern ship used for Arctic expedition. Photo: BSS
Polarstern ship used for Arctic expedition. Photo: BSS

The biggest Arctic expedition in history will return to the German port of Bremerhaven on Monday after a year-long mission, bringing home observations from scientists that sea ice is melting at a "dramatic rate" in the region.

Coronavirus restrictions mean there will be no grand fanfare when the German Alfred Wegener Institute's Polarstern ship docks.

But the information gathered by researchers as the ship drifted through the ocean trapped in ice will be vital to helping scientists understand the effects of climate change.

In the summer, the researchers saw for themselves the dramatic effects of global warming on ice in the region, considered "the epicentre of climate change", according to mission leader Markus Rex.

"We could see broad stretches of open water reaching nearly to the Pole, surrounded by ice that was riddled with holes produced by massive melting," Rex said.

His sobering conclusion: "The Arctic ice is disappearing at a dramatic rate."

– 'Magical moment' –

The researchers' observations have been backed up by US satellite images showing that in 2020, sea ice in the Arctic reached its second-lowest summer minimum on record, after 2012.

The Polarstern mission, dubbed MOSAIC, spent 389 days collecting data on the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice and ecosystems to help assess the impact of climate change on the region and the world.

To carry out the research, four observational sites were set up on the sea ice in a radius of up to 40 kilometres around the ship.

The researchers collected water samples from beneath the ice during the polar night to study plant plankton and bacteria and better understand how the marine ecosystem functions under extreme conditions.

The 140-million-euro ($165 million) expedition is also bringing back to shore more than 1,000 ice samples.

With the odyssey drawing to a close, work will begin in earnest on analysing the samples and data retrieved or recorded on site.

The analysis process will take up to two years, with the aim of developing models to help predict what heatwaves, heavy rains or storms could look like in 20, 50 or 100 years' time.

"To build climate models, we need in situ observations," Radiance Calmer, a researcher at the University of Colorado who was on board the Polarstern from June to September, told AFP.

The team used drones to measure temperature, humidity, pressure and wind speeds to create a picture of conditions in the region that will be "very useful for establishing a climate model", Calmer said.

Recounting her experience on the mission, the researcher said being able to walk across the ice and experience those conditions first-hand was a "magical" moment.

"If you concentrate, you can feel it moving," she said.

"It's important to take the time to observe, not just focus on your work."

– 20 polar bears –

Since the ship departed from Tromso, Norway, on September 20, 2019, the crew have seen long months of complete darkness, temperatures as low as -39.5 Celsius (-39.1 Fahrenheit) — and around 20 polar bears.

The mission was almost derailed by the coronavirus pandemic in the spring, with the crew stranded at the North Pole for two months as borders slammed shut.

A multinational team of scientists was due to fly in as part of a scheduled relay to relieve those who had already spent several months on the ice, but the plan had to be redrawn when flights were cancelled across the world as governments scrambled to halt contagion of the coronavirus.

During the course of the expedition, several hundred researchers from 20 countries spent time on board the German ship as it travelled with the ice along a wind-driven route known as the transpolar drift.

The voyage was a huge logistical challenge, not least when it came to feeding the crew — during the first three months, the ship's cargo included 14,000 eggs, 2,000 litres of milk and 200 kilogrammes of rutabaga.

The ship's cook, Sven Schneider, did not underestimate the importance of his role in the mission.

"It was my job to maintain the morale of 100 people living in total darkness," he said in an interview with German weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

Top News / World+Biz

Arctic / ICE

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Project delays: The Sinohydro style 
    Project delays: The Sinohydro style 
  • Photo: TBS
    37,000 BO account holders sell all shares in 11 days
  • Photo: Reuters
    Monkeypox: Govt puts ports on alert 

MOST VIEWED

  • Environment protection laws are not enforced properly: Experts
    Environment protection laws are not enforced properly: Experts
  • Once a raging river and source of livelihood for hundreds of people in the Noagaon city, the River Tulshiganga is dead at present. The photo was taken from Adam Durgapur village recently. Photo: TBS
    Tulsiganga: The demise of a river
  • President Hamid urges global efforts to combat climate change
    President Hamid urges global efforts to combat climate change
  • FILE PHOTO: A bleaching coral is seen in the place where abandoned fishing nets covered it in a reef at the protected area of Ko Losin, Thailand
    Oceans are hotter, higher and more acidic, climate report warns
  • Smoke rises from the Duvha coal-based power station owned by state power utility Eskom, in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, 18 February, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
    Pollution killing 9 million people a year, Africa hardest hit: Study
  • Picture: Mohammad Minhaz Uddin/TBS
    Chattogram heading for carbon catastrophe: Report

Related News

  • US immigration enforcement targets more serious offenders as overall arrests plummet
  • Under the hood: A guide to car engine types
  • UN validates 38C Arctic heat from 2020 as record high
  • DMP arrests 77 for selling, consuming drugs in city
  • Drug kingpin among 2 held with record 5kg crystal meth in Dhaka

Features

The Buffalo shooter targeted Black people, linking mass migration with environmental degradation and other eco-fascist ideas. Photo: Reuters

Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right

12h | Panorama
Green-backed Heron on a tilting stalk. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Green-backed Heron: Nothing but a prayer to catch a fish  

15h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

‘High logistics cost weakens Bangladesh’s competitiveness’

17h | Panorama
Every morning is a new beginning for all

Seashore

17h | In Focus

More Videos from TBS

Wheat prices double in India

Wheat prices double in India

6h | Videos
Is Washington-Moscow agreement possible?

Is Washington-Moscow agreement possible?

7h | Videos
Pigeon exhibition for the first time in Gazipur

Pigeon exhibition for the first time in Gazipur

11h | Videos
Photo: TBS

US Congress to hold first public UFO panel

13h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Habitat

The United House: Living and working inside nature

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab