The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole, Terrestrial North Pole or 90th Parallel North, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole.
USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) is the United States' largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker as well as the US Coast Guard's largest vessel. She is classified as a medium icebreaker by the Coast Guard. She is homeported in Seattle, Washington, and was commissioned in 1999. On 6 September 2001 Healy visited the North Pole for the first time. The second visit occurred on 12 September 2005. On 5 September 2015, Healy became the first unaccompanied United States surface vessel to reach the North Pole, and Healy's fourth Pole visit happened on 30 September 2022.
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.
Oden is a large Swedish icebreaker, built in 1988 for the Swedish Maritime Administration. It is named after the Norse god Odin. First built to clear a passage through the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia for cargo ships, it was later modified to serve as a research vessel. Equipped with its own helicopter and manned by 15 crew members it has ample capacity to carry laboratory equipment and 80 passengers, functioning independently in harsh Polar ice packs of the Arctic and Antarctic seas. It was the first non-nuclear surface vessel to reach the North Pole, together with the German research icebreaker Polarstern. It has participated in several scientific expeditions in Arctic and Antarctica.
Kapitan Dranitsyn is a Russian icebreaker, built in Finland for the former Soviet Union. Since October 1995 she has been used as a research vessel by AARI. She also offers excursions in the Arctic Ocean north of Russia.
A research vessel is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated vessel. Due to the demanding nature of the work, research vessels may be constructed around an icebreaker hull, allowing them to operate in polar waters.
RV Akademik Fedorov is a Russian scientific diesel-electric research vessel, the flagship of the Russian polar research fleet. It was built in Rauma, Finland for the Soviet Union and completed on 8 September 1987. It started operations on 24 October 1987, in the USSR. The ship was named after a Soviet polar explorer, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Evgeny Fyodorov, who worked on the first Soviet manned drifting ice station North Pole-1.
Taymyr was an icebreaking steamer of 1,200 tons built for the Russian Imperial Navy at Saint Petersburg in 1909. It was named after the Taymyr Peninsula.
Polar Class (PC) refers to the ice class assigned to a ship by a classification society based on the Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). Seven Polar Classes are defined in the rules, ranging from PC 1 for year-round operation in all polar waters to PC 7 for summer and autumn operation in thin first-year ice.
Karin Lochte is a German oceanographer, researcher, and climate change specialist. She was director of German Polar Research Alfred Wegener Institute from 2007 to 2017 as well as chairman of the management committee of Jacobs University Bremen.
Wegener Canyon is a submarine canyon named for Alfred Wegener. It is located between Kap Norvegia and the Explora Escarpment as a feature for sediment transport at the Antarctic continental margin. The Canyon was mapped during various expeditions of the German research vessel RV Polarstern with a swath sonar system. The name was proposed by Hans Werner Schenke, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany. Name approved 7/89.
Polarstern Canyon is an undersea canyon named for the German research vessel Polarstern, which took part in 22 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic (1982–1995). Name proposed by Dr. Heinrich Hinze, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany. Name approved 6/97.
Akademik Tryoshnikov is a Russian scientific diesel-electric research vessel, the flagship of the Russian polar research fleet.
RV Kronprins Haakon is a Norwegian icebreaking polar research vessel owned by the Norwegian Polar Institute. The shiptime use is divided between the main users, the University of Tromsø (50%), Norwegian Polar Institute (30%) and Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (20%). She was built at Fincantieri shipyard in Genova, Italy, and delivered in 2018.
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).
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.
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.
Filchner Station was a German research station in the Antarctic. Administered by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, it was established in February 1982 on the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf. The first station in Antarctica to be mounted on jacks, the structure was raised each year to allow for the increase in height of the shelf by snowfall. It was also relocated around 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) southwards each year to account for drift of the ice shelf. In October 1998, Filchner Station was stranded on iceberg A-38 when it broke away from the ice shelf. Research operations were cancelled and an emergency salvage operation was carried out that removed the majority of the station by February 1999.
Dirck Gerritsz Laboratory is a Dutch Antarctic research facility on Adelaide Island near Rothera Research Station. It is operated by the Netherlands Polar Programme of the Dutch Research Council and British Antarctic Survey and was opened on 27 January 2013.
Matthew David Shupe is an American mathematician, chemist, meteorologist and climatologogist.
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