Looking for an Exotic Cruise – How About One Over the North Pole?

February 21, 2017 – If you like cruising, and have been almost everywhere, then the MOSAiC project announcement yesterday is one for you. A group of researchers is planning to sail the RV Polarstern, a 120-meter (just under 400 feet) ship across the North Pole beginning in 2019. The possible planned route will begin in the East Siberian Sea with the ship becoming trapped in sea ice. The anticipated movement of the ice will take the Polarstern 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) across the Arctic before releasing it. The voyage is expected to begin in 2019 and last more than a year.

Why are scientists doing this?

Climatologists want to get a better handle on what is happening with Arctic sea ice. Satellite observations are showing a faster melt than what climate models are projecting. An expedition in the ice will produce the kind of data to improve the climate models.

States Professor Markus Rex, the lead MOSAiC scientist, “there is a potential that in a few decades the Arctic will be ice-free in summer. That would be a different world and we need to know about that in advance.”

MOSAiC is an acronym for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate. The project budget is $67 million U.S. The European Union, United States, Russia and China are all participants.

Once trapped in the ice, the researchers intend to set up camps on the frozen ocean surface as much as 20 to 30 kilometers (12 to 18 miles) away from the ship, taking water, air, and ice samples. Runways on the sea ice will allow for resupply air missions to reach the ship and crew.

The proposed route can be seen on the map below.

For passengers on the Polarstern the biggest challenge may be surviving the midwinter continuous darkness. Only the hardiest of voyagers need apply for a berth on this ship. But what a story you’ll tell once the voyage ends.

Related articles across the web

• Something is very, very wrong with the Arctic climate