Development in the Arctic The slight upward trend following the Arctic minimum continued in early 2024; although the sea-ice extent was below the mean value for the years 1981 – 2010 at the beginning
Relevance of melt ponds In the Arctic summer, the sea ice melts due to rising temperatures and constant sunlight. When it does, meltwater can gather in pools on the surface, known as melt ponds. These
Research aircraft from the Alfred Wegener Institute have been surveying the ice-covered Arctic Ocean for 30 years. The immense effort of the past 52 expeditions has paid off: 40,000 km of measurement
Sea ice cores from the MOSAiC expedition (2019-2020) are one of the treasures that were brought back to Bremerhaven at the end of the year-long Arctic drift in October 2020. Now, a group of scientists
The further sea-ice retreat will chiefly depend on the ocean temperatures and on wind patterns, which can either condense or disperse the sea ice. As the summer draws to a close, the surface of the ce
95Focus ice DriftStory 10
How alike the two pictures are: as AWI sea-ice physicist Dr Thomas Krumpen flies over
the scattered remains of what was once the MOSAiC floe and many of its neighbouring
f
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DriftStory 07
On 30 June 2020, meltwater ponds nearly as long as the
research vessel Polarstern covered the MOSAiC ice floe – though
the snow began melting weeks
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DriftStory 04
Glittering clouds
below the ice
Generally speaking, it’s very easy to explain how Arctic sea ice becomes thicker. You
take an ocean, a
Background Satellite altimeters measure how much the sea-ice surface floats above the water level. This parameter is called freeboard and it is further converted into sea-ice thickness. This calculati
Ever since, atmospheric researchers Dr Dörthe Handorf and Dr Annette Rinke at the AWI in Potsdam have been searching for concrete evidence of the interrelations between the sea ice, polar air currents
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