RV Polarstern is a German research icebreaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany. Polarstern was built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, was commissioned in 1982, and is mainly used for research in the Arctic and Antarctica. The ship has a length of 118 metres and is a double-hulled icebreaker. She is operational at temperatures as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). Polarstern can break through ice 1.5 m thick at a speed of 5 knots. Thicker ice of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can be broken by ramming.
The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. The official mission of the Association is "solving the grand challenges of science, society and industry". Scientists at Helmholtz therefore focus research on complex systems which affect human life and the environment. The namesake of the association is the German physiologist and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz.
The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. It conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the high and mid latitude oceans. Additional research topics are: North Sea research, marine biological monitoring, and technical marine developments. The institute was founded in 1980 and is named after meteorologist, climatologist, and geologist Alfred Wegener.
Gotthilf Hempel is a German marine biologist and oceanographer.
The Atlantic Data Base for Exchange Processes at the Deep Sea Floor (ADEPD) was a marine research project funded by the EU from 1998 to 2000 as part of MAST III. The project was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Karin Lochte at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde with contributions of ten European partners and one institute from the US.
Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North, abbreviated QUEEN was an international and interdisciplinary research programme in the Arctic.
PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science is a digital data library and a data publisher for earth system science. Data can be georeferenced in time and space.
Antje Boetius is a German marine biologist. She is a professor of geomicrobiology at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, University of Bremen. Boetius received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in March 2009 for her study of sea bed microorganisms that affect the global climate. She is also the director of Germany's polar research hub, the Alfred Wegener Institute.
The Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT) in Bremen is a German institute for research and developments for tropical and subtropical coastal areas and ecosystems.
Rosenthal Seamount is a seamount in the Weddell Sea named for Alfred Rosenthal (1828–1882), a German captain and ship owner. Rosenthal helped to finance and coordinate Eduard Dallmann's Antarctic voyages.
The Deutsches Klima-Konsortium e. V. is located in Berlin, Germany, and represents the leading players of German climate and climate impact research encompassing 26 renowned research organisations. The federation is also an important international partner acting as a guidepost, strategic partner, project partner and information broker.
LOHAFEX was an ocean iron fertilization experiment jointly planned by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India and the Helmholtz Association in Germany. The purpose of the experiment was to see if the iron would cause an algal bloom and trap carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While an algal bloom did result, it was smaller than expected and as most of the algae were consumed by zooplankton instead of sinking to the ocean floor, the amount of carbon dioxide permanently removed from the atmosphere was deemed negligible. The result was thus a setback for plans to use iron fertilization of the oceans to create negative carbon dioxide emissions.
Angelika Brandt is the world leader in Antarctic deep-sea biodiversity and has developed, organised and led several oceanographic expeditions to Antarctica, notably the series of ANDEEP cruises, which have contributed significantly to Antarctica and deep-sea biology. Brandt was the senior scientist of ANDEEP which was devoted entirely to benthic research in the Antarctic abyss.
Bettina Meyer is a German Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on the ecology and physiology of invertebrates in the pelagic zone. She is the head of the ecophysiology of pelagic key species working group at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
Irene R. Schloss is an Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on plankton biology. She is a researcher at the Argentine Antarctic Institute and was a correspondent researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina until July 2017. She became an independent researcher since August 2017 and an associate professor at the University of Quebec.
Anita Gerry Johanna Buma is a Dutch Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ecophysiology of marine microalgae. She was the first Dutch female researcher in Antarctica.
The North South Atlantic Training Transect (NoSoAT) is a program developed by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Strategic Marine Alliance for Research and Training (SMART), and the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) to further the education and practical training of postgraduate students in climate and marine sciences. Each year, about 30 students are selected through a rigorous application process to join a voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany to Cape Town, South Africa aboard the RV Polarstern. The month-long course provides students with relevant lectures and projects, including hands-on training with atmospheric and oceanographic equipment, and instruction on data processing and analysis.
Gerald H. Haug is a German geologic climatologist, prize winner of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and since 2007 he has a professorship at the ETH Zürich in Switzerland. In 2015 he became director of the Climate Geochemistry Department and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and since March 2020, he became the new President of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate expedition was a one-year-long expedition into the Central Arctic. For the first time a modern research icebreaker was able to operate in the direct vicinity of the North Pole year round, including the nearly half year long polar night during winter. In terms of the logistical challenges involved, the total number of participants, the number of participating countries, and the available budget, MOSAiC represents the largest Arctic expedition in history.
