"The Arctic winter is 10 degrees warmer than 125 years ago"

The largest scientific expedition in history to the Arctic has docked this Monday in Bremenhaven, in northern Germany after a year of observations and has brought back a discouraging message for humanity.

The German icebreaker Polarstern has spent 389 days at sea and has been able to verify that global warming is progressing without apparent brake, especially in that corner of the planet, the epicenter of climate change, where they have been able to see how the Arctic dies, how the ice sheet it is half as thick as just 40 years ago.

Antje Boetius, polar researcher and director of the German Alfred-Wegener Institute that coordinates the expedition (although she has not traveled) explains in an interview that the current winter is 10 degrees warmer than 125 years ago in the Arctic.

Witnessing the full cycle of thaw has provided the project's 442 researchers with unique insights into the complex interactions of the climate system between the atmosphere, ice and ocean, as well as life in the Arctic.

They now have years to analyze the samples they have collected during a year in which the pandemic at times jeopardized the monumental logistical effort in which 20 countries and 80 institutions have participated and financed mainly by Germany.

Question.

What have been the main findings of the expedition?

Answer.

Scientists have witnessed the change in the Arctic during winter, when almost no one has access to the North Pole and where the ocean has no weather stations, they have been able to make amazing observations.

One of them is that they have concluded that the current winter is 10 degrees warmer than the one Fridtjof Nansen measured 125 years ago.

While globally we are debating our two degree target, some regions like the Arctic are warming much faster, the Arctic winter is much warmer compared to previous decades.

The idea was to collect hundreds of parameters of climate and ecosystem change over a whole year.

In the next few we have a great job ahead of us to analyze the samples.

"The captain has participated in 40 polar expeditions and ensures that the change is so fast, that the place is already very different"

Q.

They have returned with a greater sense of urgency.

A.

Yes. The people of the expedition explain that what they have seen is a new Arctic, which is different from the one we knew.

The captain has participated in 40 polar expeditions and assures that the change is so fast, that the place is already very different, that it is dangerous for ships to cross it because there are ice ridges that form in just hours and reach many meters in height.

There are new dynamics in this new Arctic.

What we have learned from observation is that we are about to lose very important landscapes, forever.

We have to understand that we are pushing nature beyond what is good for our future.

Photographers and filmmakers have also participated in the expedition, to document an Arctic that is evaporating, which will not exist in a few decades.

Q.

Why does that area of ​​the planet heat up so quickly?

A.

Those are the kinds of questions we have asked ourselves.

We look at our planet and ask ourselves basic questions about how it works, what role does the reduction of sea ice play, if for example that is causing extreme droughts by changing the dynamics of the

[the concentrated air currents in the atmosphere].

We need a broader perspective, we don't understand everything from a scientific point of view.

P.

The

has been able to attend all of the cycle of the thaw.

¿Why is it so important?

A.

We have observations that have never been obtained before.

In 2020 we saw one of the fastest melt speeds we have ever seen, but now we have been able to measure what it does to ocean water and how meltwater changes the environment for algae and animals.

We have a general lack of observation of what is happening and it is critical to understand the future of the Arctic and to design protective measures, to see how to protect unique species such as marine mammals, such as the polar bear, what habitat they need and how it is changing. climate change those conditions.

P.

The Arctic is also a kind of reservoir of pollution.

A.

Yes. We have very advanced air filters and during this year we have been collecting the composition of atmospheric dust and when we analyze them we will be able to better understand what is happening.

This winter, the largest ozone hole ever recorded has opened in the Arctic due to extreme weather conditions and it is important to know how that hole opens and closes.

Q.

How has the pandemic affected the expedition?

A.

When we started preparing the expedition years ago, we talked about all the possible risks, what would happen if there was an accident, if there was too much ice ... we drew up a long list of possible risks, but no one foresaw that a pandemic would prevent the exchange of crew or the supply of food and materials.

There have been times when we debated whether to stop the expedition, but in the end we always find solutions thanks to the different countries, the Russian ships helped us, the Canadian planes ... we had an international agreement and we decided to continue with this mission to be able to witness what is happening in the Arctic at this time of dramatic change.

Q.

Do you fear that the pandemic will displace climate change as a priority?

R.

If we look at Europe, we see the political support for the

, how the European Parliament votes in favor of a more determined environmental policy.

Yes, the coronavirus has changed economic dynamics to a point that we do not know, but in Europe we know that climate change is the biggest challenge we have to solve as an international community.

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