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Of: TT
Published:
February 1 | Photo: Steffen Graupner / Alfred Wegener Institute
The Polarstern research vessel has been traveling in the Arctic Ocean for more than a year. In the image, the icebreaker is near the North Pole. Stock Photography.
For almost a year, the Polarster was trapped in Arctic ice. But now the icebreaker is back in port, after the largest polar expedition in history so far.
– It’s a huge project, says Adam Ulfsbo, who was on board for a few months this spring.
When Polarstern returned to its home port of Bremerhaven early Tuesday morning, the icebreaker had traveled more than 2,500 kilometers since September last year.
Most of the time, however, the ship, completely according to plan, has been frozen and washed adrift with ice in the Arctic Ocean.
This has meant several months in packed darkness, with temperatures as low as -45 degrees, freezing winds and a constant concern for polar bears. And then the corona pandemic.
The Mosaic project, to say the least, has posed challenges, says expedition leader Markus Rex.
– The corona pandemic came close to forcing us to completely halt, but fortunately the expedition was saved, he said at an online news conference in Bremerhaven on Tuesday.
– Therefore, we could now return here after a successful expedition, rather than after a failed expedition six months ago.
Difficult logistics
With him in charge, the Polarstern now has a large number of different samples. Among other things, Adam Ulfsbo, one of the Swedish researchers who has been on board, is looking forward to his samples being finally analyzed.
– It was probably extreme, logistically speaking. But everything has worked well, despite the pandemic and the canceled flights, he tells TT.
– I work mainly with the carbon dioxide system and I have a couple hundred kilos in bottles with samples that will now be analyzed in a laboratory.
“Very strange”
However, Ulfsbo, a researcher at the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, received an additional two months in Polarstern when the covid-19 pandemic struck.
– I left Tromsö at the end of January and returned home in the middle of June. It felt very strange, he says.
– We had not had any restrictions on board. And since all communication is via satellite, you were a bit late when you got home.
During the project, which has been abbreviated Mosaic, hundreds of researchers have been on board in different rounds to study global warming and climate change from a wide range of different aspects.
This is the first time that conditions in the Arctic have been studied with such care, even in winter.
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