by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC With high ice pressure we continue to be stopped in the ice. The ship cannot make much progress under these conditions and it is just not worth the effort to keep trying at the moment.  So the ship is waiting until somewhat more favorable conditions to… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC After a few days of great progress, making more than 100 miles into the ice, the ship is now stopped. The ice has pressure, which makes for difficult movement. And so instead we must wait. Only about 30 miles to go until our MOSAiC ice floe,… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC Déjà vu. At about 11:30 ship time today Markus and I stood on the P-deck above the bridge on Polarstern and looked out across the approaching sea ice edge. We did the same back in September as Polarstern embarked for the first time into the ice… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC Anchors up, and underway. After a few days of turnover, we are now on our way. We’ve said goodbye to our Leg3 colleagues, after absorbing as much information as possible on their experiences, the state of the instrumentation, and ideas on how to proceed. Then a… Read More

by Radiance Calmer, a CIRES postdoctoral researcher. The Maria S. Merian is currently side by side with the Polarstern. People from Leg 3 and Leg 4 are very busy with the handover, going through the instruments, the location of the materials, the data system, etc. The crew of the Polarstern, the Sonne and the Maria… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC After 5.5 weeks in transit, we are finally onboard of Polarstern. What a long journey it has been just to get to this point…. And our journey is really just beginning as we still must complete this turnover and then cruise up north into the ice… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC All of the ships have assembled and we’ve entered the fjord. It’s truly beautiful; mountains in every direction. Snow capped. Jagged. We’ve had some sunny days here, after many days of overcast and fog. The sun definitely lifts the spirits, and builds the excitement. Now we… Read More

by Radiance Calmer, a CIRES postdoctoral researcher. ‘’So, for tomorrow, we have two presentations. Any other announcements?” In the library of the RV Sonne, Matt is wrapping up our daily meeting. As we wait for the Polarstern in Svalbard, we have time to exchange information about our respective atmospheric measurements for MOSAiC and learn to… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC As we wait here…. For an excruciatingly long time to rendezvous with Polarstern, there has been some moderately good news. The sea-ice melt season has started out at the MOSAiC floe. I wish we were there with the full arsenal of observations and samples. That’s the… Read More

by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC I’m not much of a sailor. This feeling is setting in a little more strongly now as the waves are getting bigger and the ship bounces around more. The waves are not much by most standards, and this ship is actually quite stable with limited roll.… Read More