For this year’s Halloween, we bring you an image from space of Siberia’s Batagaika Crater – dubbed the Gateway to Hell.www.esa.int
#Earth #NorthPole #Polartern #MOSAIC #Oceanography #ClimateChangeThe expedition - MOSAiC Expedition
https://mosaic-expedition.org/expedition/
127 years ago, the Norwegian researcher and explorer Fridtjof Nansen set sail on the first ever drift expedition with his wooden sailing ship Fram. But there has never been an expedition like the one now planned: for the first time, the MOSAiC project takes a modern research icebreaker laden with scientific instruments close to the North Pole in winter.
The name MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) mirrors the complexity and diversity of this expedition.
MOSAiC is the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic exploring the Arctic climate system. The project with a total budget exceeding 140 Million € has been designed by an international consortium of leading polar research institutions, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
The Transpolar Drift web
Figure 1: Not only the science behind MOSAiC is a huge endeavour that needs the expertise of multiple nations and scientific disciplines, but also the logistics face unparalleled challenges.
The backbone of MOSAiC is the year-round operation of RV Polarstern, drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the years 2019 to 2020. During the set-up phase, RV Polarstern entered the Siberian sector of the Arctic in the thin sea ice conditions of late summer.
A distributed regional network of observational sites has been set up on the sea ice in an area of up to ~40 km distance from RV Polarstern. The ship and the surrounding network are now drifting with the natural ice drift across the polar cap towards the Atlantic, while the sea ice thickens during winter (red dotted line in Figure 1).
Large scale research facilities addressing key aspects of the coupled Arctic climate system have been set up on board of RV Polarstern and on the sea ice next to it, in the so-called ice camp.
The distributed regional network further around the central observatory is comprised of autonomous and remotely-operated sensors, characterizing the heterogeneity of key processes in an area representing a typical grid box of modern climate models and providing invaluable data for the development of parametrizations for sub-grid-scale processes in climate models.
- Understanding the consequences of Arctic climate change
MOSAiC will contribute to a quantum leap in our understanding of the coupled Arctic climate system and its representation in global climate models.
The focus of MOSAiC lies on direct in-situ observations of the climate processes that couple the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem.
The German research aircrafts Polar 5 and Polar 6 will be operated to complement the measurements at the central MOSAiC site. A landing strip will be built especially for these research planes and for resupply flights in spring 2020.
Research and supply cruises by icebreakers from MOSAiC partners will provide support for the AWI research vessel Polarstern. They will further extend the geographical coverage of the observations and will link the measurements to the larger scales of the Arctic climate system and explore global feedbacks.
In addition, helicopters will be employed. Fuel depots for long-range helicopters have been set up on Bolshevik Island to broaden the spectrum of response options to potential emergency situations during the expedition.
On 19 August 2020, the world’s largest and longest polar research expedition – known as MOSAiC – reached the North Pole after making an unplanned detour owing to lighter-than-usual sea ice conditions. The expedition is now entering its final stage, during which researchers will study the last piece of the Arctic puzzle: the growth of new sea ice marking the end of the summer season.www.esa.int
Expedition teilt gruselige Fotos vom Nordpol#SchlechteNachrichten #BadNews
Loses und schwaches Eis mit vielen Schmelzteichen, teilweise offenem Wasser und ohne Anzeichen von mehrjährigem Eis. Die kraftvollen Fotos von der MOSAiC-Expedition, die am 19. August den Nordpol erreichte, zeigen die dramatischen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels.
Expedition shares scary photos from the North Pole
Loose and weak ice with lots of melt ponds, partly open water, and no signs of multiyear ice. The powerful photos from the MOSAiC expedition reaching the North Pole on August 19 show the dramatic impact of climate changes.
Loose and weak ice with lots of melt ponds, partly open water, and no signs of multiyear ice. The powerful photos from the MOSAiC expedition reaching the North Pole on August 19 show the dramatic impact of climate changes.thebarentsobserver.com
In two years’ time, the next Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite will be launched to join its two siblings in orbit around Earth. With engineers busy building Sentinel-1C, they have recently tested the mechanism that opens its 12 m-long radar antenna.www.esa.int
Satellite images have revealed that there are nearly 20% more emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica than previously thought. Scientists, at the British Antarctic Survey, have used satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to track penguin guano, or penguin poo, to monitor the presence of thousands of penguins.www.esa.int
The coronavirus pandemic has brought the tourism and travel industry to a near-standstill, with nationwide lockdowns significantly impacting the aviation and maritime industry worldwide. Satellite images, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, show parked aircraft and anchored vessels in times of COVID-19.www.esa.int
This image, captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2, takes us over part of Channel Country – a pastural region located mostly in southwest Queensland, Australia.www.esa.int
Images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission show the extent of the Arctic Circle oil spillwww.esa.int
Russian space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin once ridiculed the lack of a U.S. manned flight programme, saying it might as well "deliver its astronauts to the ISS by using a trampoline".(c) Photo: MK
Six years later Elon Musk and NASA had the last laugh.
"The trampoline is working," quipped the 48-year-old U.S. entrepreneur at a post-flight news conference alongside NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Both men laughed. "It's an inside joke," Musk added.
On Saturday, his SpaceX made history by becoming the first commercial company to send humans into orbit.
The U.S. feat and Musk's joke set Russian social media alight, with wits ridiculing Rogozin, and the Russian space chief's name began trending on Twitter.
"How do you like this, Dmitry Rogozin?" one critic prodded.
Russia still prides itself on sending the first human into orbit in 1961 and other achievements of the Soviet-era space programme.
Rogozin has remained conspicuously silent but his spokesman was forced to react.
"We don't really understand the hysteria sparked by the successful launch of a Crew Dragon spacecraft," spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko said on Twitter.
"What should have happened a long time ago happened," he added.
While cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Roscosmos executive director for crewed space programmes, saluted the US achievement in a brief video address, not everyone was in such a gracious mood.
Alexey Pushkov, a member of the upper house of parliament, declared Saturday's flight was not a big deal.
"This is a flight to the International Space Station, not to Mars," he said on messaging app Telegram.
He pronounced it time to stop ferrying Americans to the orbiting lab.
"Russia needs spaces for its own young cosmonauts."
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/31/trampoline-is-working-musk-taunts-russia-a70433
After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet. But its benefits mask enormous dangers to the planet, to human health – and to culture itselfwww.theguardian.com