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Out on the ice – science in the Arctic

08 January 2014
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The Polarstern is currently one of the most sophisticated polar research vessels in the world. The ship is equipped for biological, geological, geophysical, glaciological, chemical, oceanographic and meteorological research, and contains nine research laboratories. The ship has a crew of at most 44, and offers work facilities for a further 50 scientists and technicians. Photo: Mar Fernandez, Alfred Wegener Institute
The Polarstern is currently one of the most sophisticated polar research vessels in the world. The ship is equipped for biological, geological, geophysical, glaciological, chemical, oceanographic and meteorological research, and contains nine research laboratories. The ship has a crew of at most 44, and offers work facilities for a further 50 scientists and technicians. Photo: Mar Fernandez, Alfred Wegener Institute

From the DNA of ancient diseases frozen in the permafrost to the relationship between global warming and the scramble to access vast oil deposits under the Arctic - in January Horizon looks at science that is taking researchers out onto the ice.

We hear from Dr Marc von Hobe, coordinator of the EU-funded RECONCILE project, which helped with the first ever detection of a hole in the ozone layer over the Arctic. He argues that more work needs to be done to control greenhouse gas emissions.

Horizon also talks to the scientists aiming to set up a European Arctic observing network in Svalbard, an island halfway between the north of Norway and the North Pole.

 

Increased maritime traffic raises the risks of oil spills in the Arctic. Image Credit - CC0 Public Domain
environment | transport
17 December 2018

How to protect the Arctic as melting ice opens new shipping routes

Early this year, the Eduard Toll set a record: laden with liquefied natural gas, the tanker was the first commercial vessel to cross the Arctic in winter without an icebreaker.

Muostakh Island is part of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf which is the most vulnerable part of the Arctic coastline when it comes to permafrost thaw. Image credit - Prof. Igor Semiletov.
environment
12 December 2018

Arctic permafrost might contain ‘sleeping giant’ of world’s carbon emissions

As temperatures rise in the Arctic, permafrost, or frozen ground, is thawing. As it does, greenhouse gases trapped within it are being released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, leading to previously underestimated problems with ocean acidification and potential mercury poisoning.

Sea ice is affected by water temperature while Greenland responds to atmospheric temperature rises. Image credit - Dr Teodóra Pados
environment
10 December 2018

Why we may be able to save the Greenland ice sheet

Studies of ice melt in the Arctic suggest that the world may have a fighting chance of preventing huge sea level changes that would result from the dramatic collapse of the vast ice sheets that cover Greenland, but that more work is needed to understand the wider effects.

From the lack of methane sinks to the high suicide rates of indigenous populations, Arctic researchers are studying a range of issues. Image credit - NASA, licensed under CC0
environment | open to the world
23 October 2018

What keeps Arctic scientists awake at night?

In a year when Arctic warming rose to global prominence after temperatures hit a sweltering 32˚C inside the Arctic Circle, what are some of the specific issues that keep Arctic scientists awake at night?

Didier Schmitt, Scientific Adviser, European Commission.
opinion | environment | innovation convention
31 January 2014

Arctic: the challenges of opening up the northern route

As the northern route opens, the melting ice will have a significant impact on the transportation of goods around the world, and the consequences are manifold, said Didier Schmitt, a scientific adviser at the European Commission.

Snow covered mountains on Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. Photo: Stefan Hendricks, AWI
environment
30 January 2014

Journey into the Arctic

Global warming could mean cargo ships will be crossing the Arctic to access the Pacific Ocean, avoiding the Panama Canal. © Shutterstock/ Aleksey Stemmer
environment | policy | energy
29 January 2014

As the ice melts, the Arctic opens up to cargo ships and energy firms

The Nordic Orion became the first cargo ship to take the treacherous Northwest Passage from the Pacific Ocean to Europe last year, and now its Danish operators are planning more trips across the Arctic as the sea ice melts.

A large piece of ice collapses off of the edge of the Glacier Perito Moreno in Argentina, South America. Image courtesy of Calyponte, Wikimedia Commons
environment | innovation union | policy
22 January 2014

Cost of climate change in Europe could reach 4 % of GDP

If no new policy measures are adopted to combat global warming, the cost of climate change in Europe could reach almost 4 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the European Union by the end of the century.

While the US saw freezing temperatures in early January 2014, Europe has experienced an unusually wet period with mild temperatures and high winds. An unusual southward movement in the stratospheric vortex is responsible. © Shutterstock/ Bas Meelker
environment
14 January 2014

European temperatures likely to fall due to Arctic vortex as US thaws

The big freeze in the US was part of an Arctic weather system that is being displaced more and more frequently because of global warming, European researchers believe. As it re-centres itself over the pole, it should bring colder, icier conditions back to Europe.