The 27th research campaign of Bremerhaven's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research marks the beginning of the summer research season in the Antarctic. The institute collaborates with 20 research institutions and ten logistics organisations from 14 countries. Neumayer Station will serve as the logistical base for extensive measurements using aircraft. An expedition aboard research icebreaker Polarstern is travelling along the Antarctic Peninsula as part of the global 'Census of Marine Life', and at the Dallmann Laboratory activities will be focussing on Antarctic habitats as they undergo climate change. The Antarctic summer lasts from November to April. Many projects will be an overture to the International Polar Year 2007/2008.
Science and Logistics: Neumayer Station
The Alfred Wegener Institute's research station Neumayer (7039S, 0815W) is occupied year round and represents the centre of German Antarctic research. During the current season, a total of 42 scientific and technical staff will be working at the station. Personnel and cargo are being air-freighted and coordinated jointly within DROMLAN (Dronning Maud Land Air Network), an international network of eleven research institutes. In mid December, the new over-wintering crew of the Alfred Wegener Institute arrived at Neumayer Station. This year, the group consists of four women and five men who will be responsible for station maintenance and ongoing long-term collection of meteorological, geophysical and air chemistry data.
Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML)
As part of the global research project 'Census of Marine Life' (CoML), an expedition aboard the research icebreaker Polarstern is currently investigating an oceanic region alongside the Antarctic Peninsula which, for the first time, has become accessible to science after a large section of the Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed in 2002. Within the project, a total of 47 scientists from twelve co
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Contact: Dr. Angelika Dummermuth
Angelika.Dummermuth@awi.de
49-471-483-11742
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
21-Dec-2006