Dear sea ice fans!

An exciting and at the same time challenging year is coming to an end, which was further marked in all respects by the effects of the worldwide Corona pandemic. Be it in everyday life, in our working or private lives, in media reporting or in everyday research. All activities continue to be influenced by the dangers and threats posed by the COVID19 virus.

It has become more evident than ever how important sound and scientifically validated knowledge and facts are in our everyday lives and how this basis determines our actions and decision-making processes. This also applies to the important issue of climate change, in addition to the fight against the Corona pandemic. With the publication of the IPPC's 6th World Climate Report, the Constitutional Court's ruling on the German government's climate law, the negotiations at the G7 summit or even the COP26 in Glasgow, it has become very clear: the measures to curb the climate crisis must be more concrete and also implemented in our everyday lives if we still want to achieve the climate goals of Paris!

With meereisportal.de, we have continued this year keeping you comprehensively up to date and informed on the topic of sea ice development and climate change in the Polar Regions. Fortunately, the year 2021 was not marked by renewed negative records in the Arctic or Antarctic, but the ongoing changes in the Arctic and their influence on the entire climate system are becoming increasingly noticeable even in our latitudes through severe extreme events.

Therefore, we are deeply concerned continuing to inform you with interesting contributions in the coming year, to present new data products to you or to report on new scientific publications. meereisportal.de is to be given a new look in the coming year. This will enable us to meet the requirements of a central modern information and data platform, thus fulfilling and improving the information offered as a decision-making aid for different target groups. For it is only through knowledge that we can change our actions in order to limit climate change as far as possible to a level that remains controllable despite the great efforts that need to be made.

We wish you all a peaceful Christmas, above all health, and a good start for a happy new year 2022.

Your meereisportal.de team