23 June 2020
In the Arctic, the melting season is now well underway. The sea-ice extent is currently below two standard deviations from the long-term average and below the trend in 2019. The air temperature at 925 hPa was unusually high over nearly all of the Arctic Ocean, with variations of up to 7 °C over the central Arctic Ocean and western Russia. In some parts of Siberia, the temperatures were 10 °C above the long-term average. In the Antarctic, the trend reversal seen in the past few months continues. After unusually low sea-ice extents in May 2017, 2018 and 2019, this year a more average ice concentration in comparison to the long-term average has established itself. Read more here…

17 June 2020
Professor Torsten Kanzow, an oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, departed from Tromsø, Norway, on board the Kapitan Dranitsyn, on 27 January, to assume his duties as leader for the third leg of the MOSAiC expedition. Despite a storm and the adverse ice conditions, he and his team reached the MOSAiC almost as planned. They left the floe on 16 May and reached the sea-ice edge on Tuesday, 2 June. Now Torsten Kanzow is on board the research vessel Maria S. Merian, heading back to Bremerhaven from Svalbard. Read more here...

10 June 2020
The RV Polarstern is now making her way back to the MOSAiC floe. Just how long this will take depends on more than just how thick the ice is. In the following interview with meereisportal.de, Captain Thomas Wunderlich and Cargo Officer Felix Kentges talk about their experiences with icebreaking and explain why open leads in the ice, as well as the snow on the floes, are important aspects. Read more here…