Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.
Never stop exploring . In the entrance area to the bridge of the research icebreaker "Polarstern" hangs a picture that shows the German astronaut Alexander Gerst during his outdoor use at the International Space Station. In the photo he wrote an autograph and a greeting with a silver pen: Whoever continues to seek it will find places that he has not imagined in his wildest dreams.
It is a beautiful motto for a ship, an expedition that is now launching into a place that was previously difficult for researchers to reach like space.
Christoph Seidler / SPIEGEL ONLINE
Alexander Gerst's greeting to the "Polarstern" team
It goes into the area around the North Pole. The special thing about it: A good part of the journey takes place in winter, when it is dark all day long. The ship should freeze in the ice of the Arctic and then drift together with the floes. It is the most expensive polar expedition ever. And it costs almost as much as a small - unmanned - space mission: about 140 million euros.
The aim of the "Mosaic" (Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition is to gain a better understanding of why the Arctic ice melts so dramatically fast. So far, surprisingly little data is available about one of the key locations of the climate crisis. Especially from the winter months with their continuous darkness, there are hardly any measurements and insights.
Couple on the chamber
The project is led by Markus Rex from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Normally the atmospheric physicist lives in Potsdam, but since the early nineties he has been to the Arctic countless times. In the coming months the "Polarstern" will be his home. While the explorers and crew on the ship usually share a room in twos, a chamber, as they say here, Rex enjoys the rare privilege of a single dwelling.
Before leaving for the far north, the scientist is sitting there on a lime-green seating area. He opened a laptop in front of him. On it runs a simulation of the ice drift. It's about where exactly the "Polarstern" should start the most exciting part of their journey and where it could end in the coming year.
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"Mosaic" Expedition: One year in the coldStarting from the Norwegian Tromsø starting from 20. September it first in the Laptewsee off the Sibirischen coast. On this part of the ride is still the Russian icebreaker "Akademik Fedorov". At about 85 degrees north latitude, the crew of the "Polarstern" must then find the one ice floe, where the ship is moored for the coming months.
Christoph Seidler / SPIEGEL ONLINE
Expedition leader Rex with simulations on the possible course of the ship
There are very specific criteria for this plaice. It should be at least 1.5 kilometers long on one side so that it can set up an aircraft landing strip on it. And by the end of summer next year, it will have to be at least 1.5 meters thick so that researchers can set up several camps on the ice to work in the coming months.
The problem is that the ice of the Arctic is not only shrinking in size (this year is expected to reach at least the second worst value since launching the satellite recordings), it is also getting thinner. "It could take a long time to find suitable conditions," says Rex. But researchers have little time to do so in their target area. From 25 October, it is also pitch dark throughout the day.
Once the plaice is found, the machines of the "Polarstern" only run for the supply of electricity and heat. Where it goes with the ice for the ship depends on winds and ocean currents. The simulation on Rex's computer shows possible paths through the polar region. The so-called Transpolardrift will bring the ship with about seven kilometers per day to the west. On the monitor of the laptop, a red dot dances further and further to the left. But where the journey leads along, whether it actually goes over the North Pole, how the crew wants it, where the ice releases the ship, all this will decide in the end.
Daily operating costs of 200,000 euros
But what does it take for such an elaborate expedition, in which alone the daily operating costs are 200,000 euros? "Throughout the winter months we have so far no observations of the complex climatic processes in the Arctic," says Rex. And then he describes how, for example, the ocean gives off heat to the atmosphere in the dark months "like a huge underfloor heating system": the water under the ice is about minus two degrees cold, the air above it minus 30 degrees. Without the heat from below, it would probably be ten degrees less.
In autumn and winter, large amounts of energy are transported from the ocean to the atmosphere. But that needs to be measured accurately - also to provide better data for computer models of climate research. The region is a "white spot" in this regard, says Rex.
So how does heat circulate between sea, ice and atmosphere? Does the ocean release CO2 in winter? How do the Arctic Clouds arise and what role do they play in the weather? Is life in the ice completely in hibernation? These are just some of the questions researchers want to answer on the "Mosaic" expedition. They will also be assisted by data from around a dozen fully automatic measuring stations, which will be dropped off at the start of the expedition at a distance of up to 40 kilometers. They will later be flown regularly with the two helicopters of the "Polarstern". The special aircraft "Polar 5" and "Polar 6" of the Alfred Wegener Institute support the expedition.
Most of the measurements, however, take place on and below the plaice where the ship anchors. For this purpose, various camps are set up on the ice, up to 700 meters away from the ship. There are, for example, "Met City" for the weather observation and "Ocean City" for analyzes in the sea. At further stations, remote-controlled diving robots are exposed in water or measurements of satellites are checked for their precision.
Martin Kunsting / Alfred Wegener Institute
The "Polarstern" moored on an ice floe is the center of the expedition, but it is also measured in many other places in the Arctic.
In the camps, small houses are set down on the ice, where the researchers work during the day. We sleep on the ship. From there to the outstations lead marked ways with flags, parallel power and data cable.
"It will take a few days for the scientific program to begin," says sea ice researcher Marcel Nicolaus, who is responsible for building the small town on the ice. The particular difficulty: "We already have to think about setting up for the following year." Some experiments need fresh surfaces every day for snow analysis. These areas must still be available after many months and must not be fully equipped with other equipment. And if in another few months another research vessel comes to visit the "Polarstern", it needs enough space for anchoring and unloading.
Brand new Chinese icebreaker comes to visit
One of the reasons why the "Polarstern" regularly has to be hit by other icebreakers on their expedition is that the crew on board is regularly replaced. As a result, scientists do not have to say goodbye to their families for quite some time. Above all, more researchers can simply work in the wintry Arctic. In total, around 300 scientists from 19 countries are expected to participate in the mega-project.
Another reason for regular ship visits is the supply of food and fuel. Ice breakers such as the Russian "Admiral Makarov", the Swedish "Oden" and the brand new Chinese "Xue Long 2" come by about every two months. And if something happens in between? Medical emergencies, which can not be treated in the infirmary on board, are flown out with Russian long-range helicopters. For this purpose alone a fuel depot was created on the Bolshevik island off the coast of Siberia.
In the event that one of the ship transports does not get through, there are also two full emergency containers with food on board. Chef on the "Polarstern" is Sven Schnieder, he will be on board for a total of nine months during the expedition. Together with his team, he ensures that the mood stays good - among other things, by freshly baked 250 bread rolls and also cakes every day. There should also be regular barbecues on deck.
Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa
Head chef Sven Schnieder and his team supply each 100 people on board.
Schnieder has already spent a winter on the "Neumayer Station" in the Antarctic and knows what the polar riders need in the 150 days of darkness: And these are not just as many calories as possible. The food must also be varied and prepared with love.
At the start of the expedition, the camps are full: among other things, 14,000 eggs, 1400 liters of milk, a ton of potatoes and 150 glasses of nut nougat cream bunkered the chef and his people. "We're driving a pretty high level here," says Schnieder as he talks in his stainless steel shiny canteen kitchen on the D-deck of the ship. Of course, the crew in the galley also offers offers for vegetarians and vegans.
Historical model - outdated
Once, with the ship drifting across the darkness of the Arctic winter, so far to the north, that there are not even more aurelands to be seen in the sky - there was one who has done this before: the Norwegian adventurer Fridtjof Nansen. Between 1893 and 1896 he was on the legendary "Fram" with his crew, almost to the pole. "Mosaic" expedition leader Rex has read Nansen's memories of this epic journey ("Night and Ice"). He also brought them with him on the expedition, he says. (Read the book in full text here.)
In one passage, Nansen describes how he first discovers the pack ice on the horizon: "This white line has stretched for many thousands of years over this lonely sea and will stretch over it in the millennia to come." However, the summer sea ice will not last so long, that is today, about 125 years later, long clear. Researchers predict that the ice will completely disappear in the summer when the earth warms by two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era by the end of the century. The temperature rise in the Arctic will even be much larger.
"Nansen is already outdated," says Rex. "It makes you wonder."
In summary: For a year, the German research icebreaker "Polarstern" will drift through the high Arctic. In this now starting "Mosaic" expedition, around 300 scientists from 17 countries collect data that does not yet exist in this form. This is because in the dark and cold of winter so far hardly any research in the region was possible. The crew is exchanged several times during the journey.
