North Pole Dawn

Research programme during the expedition

This expedition, led by Arved Fuchs, offers a unique oportunity for the closer research of sea ice. Therefore, an extensive research progamme is planned for the duration of the overwinterring period of the expedition.

Background

The sea ice in the Arctic regions has receded faster in the past years than calculations of climatic development had predicted (compare illustration). The ice recession could, in just a few decades, lead to a situation where the North Polar Sea is completely free of ice during the summer months. Ice would then form in the winter, only to almost totally melt again regularly in the summer. While in the past years the sea ice in the Arctic often grew over a period of a few years, in the future mainly so-called “one-year-old” ice will predominate. It is this ice that will be examined and studied with unique accuracy over a longer period of time during the planned expedition. Normally, such an observation programme would only be possible under a high logistic effort and would cost a few million euros. The planned overwintering offers to scientists a unique opportunity.

Planned Measuring Programme

uring the winter months a huge number of measuring instruments will be installed in the area around the ship. These instruments will make it possible to better observe the growth and melting processes of the sea ice.

The following measurements are planned in particular:

-  measurement of  temperature in the sea ice, the ocean and the air
-   measurement of the salt content in the sea ice and the ocean
-   measurement of the weather conditions
-  measurement of the harmful substances in the ocean and in the air, in order to examine the transport of such substances from the industrial nations to the Arctic regions
-   measurements of the thickness of the ice

In order to carry out these measurements, measuring instruments will, for the first time, be in use which will be installed in the open waters prior to the overwintering and will then be closed in by the growing sea ice. Therefore, with the help of these measuring instruments, it will be possible, for the first time, to precisely examine the physical formation of very thin, newly formed sea ice.

Goals

The goal of this measuring programme is to gain better knowledge and understanding of the growth and melting processes, especially of thin sea ice. The knowledge won from these measurements will then be used to improve existing climate models. This will then enable an exact prediction of the future development of sea ice in the next world climate report.

Dr. Dirk Notz
head of the research group “Sea Ice in the Earth’s System”, Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology