Overview
- The German icebreaker docked in Bremerhaven on Friday after 183 days in Antarctic waters.
- Researchers reported large areas with little sea ice, much thinner or missing snow on the ice, and signs of top-down melt from sun and warmer air, which weakens the ocean’s protective ice cover.
- The team measured ice thickness by aircraft over about 4,400 kilometers and spent 35 days working through pack ice to gather ice, water and biological samples.
- The crew confirmed a previously uncharted island in the Weddell Sea measuring roughly 130 meters by 50 meters with a rock peak about 16 meters above sea level.
- AWI says the returned datasets will now be analyzed to explain recent summer ice declines in Antarctica, a slide seen since 2017.