Arctic expedition continues on its next stage as crew and cargo transitions to another ship.
After weeks of churning slowly through sea ice in the remote Arctic Ocean, a Russian icebreaker carrying scientists, crew and new equipment has reached the German RV Polarstern, which is frozen into drifting sea ice about 100 miles from the geographic North Pole. During the next few days, people will carefully ferry tons of cargo between the two ships and dozens of scientists and crew will switch cabins, some bound for home after months on dark ice, others thrilled to begin a two-month stint serving science on the international Arctic climate mission.
“I am most excited to just spend every day, whenever the weather is favorable, out on the sea ice, conducting our science. Of course I am excited about the science itself, but I am most excited about the fact that we get to do this in such an incredible environment,” said University of Colorado Boulder Ph.D. student Gina Jozef. Jozef is part of a National Science Foundation-funded team making atmospheric measurements over the Arctic Ocean, by drone.
On the MOSAiC expedition, experts from 20 nations are studying the Arctic climate system for an entire year (September 2019-October 2020). MOSAiC science emphasizes the connections among the ocean, ice and atmosphere, and the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) coordinates the mission.
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