Update

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What Are They Doing?

Photo Courtesy of Mosaic
Photo Courtesy of Mosaic
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) will be the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic exploring the Arctic climate system. The project has been designed by an international consortium of leading polar research institutions, under the umbrella of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) and the University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES).

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, bio-geochemistry and ecosystem. MOSAiC observations will be specifically designed to characterize the important processes within the atmosphere-ice-ocean system that impact the sea-ice mass and energy budgets. These include heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes in the atmosphere and ocean, water vapor, clouds and aerosols, biogeochemical cycles in the ocean and ice, and many others. The MOSAiC project has it's own website here.

Where Are They?

Photo Courtesy of Mosaic
Photo Courtesy of Mosaic
In September 2019 the German research icebreaker Polarstern will depart from Tromsø, Norway and, once it has reached its destination, will spend the next year drifting through the Arctic Ocean, trapped in the ice.

Graphic showing the location of the ship.
Graphic of ship location.

Expedition by the numbers (from MOSAiC website).
An infographic about the MOSAiC expedition.

Latest Journals

After over a year in the Arctic Ocean, the R/V Polarstern returned to the Port of Bremerhaven, Germany yesterday, October 12, 2020. (Well sort of yesterday, time zones are confusing!) To celebrate the return of the Polarstern, you can watch a brief welcome back video from the Alfred Wegner…
Migratory birds fly over Homer, Alaska. Photo courtesy Nina Faust, Kachemak Crane Watch (2020) Here in Homer, Alaska signs of fall are all around us. Leaves are changing color, fireweed and cottonwood seeds are in the air, the temperature is dropping, and we hear the calls of sandhill cranes,…
After leaving the 'ice fortress' on July 29 the Polarstern motored slowly through the surrounding ice. Over the next few days, researchers and expedition crew from the Polarstern recovered equipment from the Distributed Network surrounding the floe that had been home to the expedition for 300 days…
An Update from MOSAiC The icebreaker Polarstern, nearby ice camp, and an atmospheric research balloon viewed from a helicopter. In early July, the ice floe was already riddled with many melt ponds which foreshadowed the break up that took place at the end of the month. Photo courtesy Lianna Nixon…
Dates
-
Location
Ship-based, Arctic Ocean
Project Funded Title
MOSAiC International Arctic Drift Expedition
Katie Gavenus - Environmental Educator
Environmental Educator
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies

Katie Aspen Gavenus grew up in the not-quite-Arctic town of Homer, Alaska. She is an environmental educator and program director for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. She recently completed a master's program in science education through IslandWood and the University of Washington and is committed to making science education - and education more broadly - locally relevant, culturally sustaining, inspiring, and empowering. She believes science education should be a collaborative effort between learners, educators, researchers, knowledge-bearers, and community members.

She enjoys learning, kayaking, picking berries, hiking, catching salmon, playing soccer, growing food and tide pooling. She makes good soup and is perfecting a yeasty-biscuity bread recipe. Her favorite type of plankton is ctenophores/comb jellies and she has a tiny scar from being bitten by an intertidal worm.

Anne Gold - Director, Education and Outreach Program
Director, Education and Outreach Program
CIRES

Anne is the Director of CIRES Education & Outreach at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she focuses on science education for educators, students and the general public around climate and general geoscience education. She is interested in understanding and studying effective ways of teaching and learning and is dedicated to grounding her education work in solid research and evaluation. She is a climate scientist by training with a doctoral degree in Paleoclimatology from the University of Regensburg in Germany.

MOSAiC Resources

As a contribution to the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP)-endorsed Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) ice drift campaign, the International Coordination Office for Polar Prediction (ICO) has launched a series of podcasts entitled The IcePod. The IcePod is the official podcast of the YOPP initiative to improve weather and sea-ice forecast in the Arctic and

Overview

Learn more about seasonal migrations of species around the world. These multidisciplinary hands-on activities focusing on art, observation, movement, and adventure. Resources can be used in formal and informal learning environments. All activities are designed to be possible as at-home/distanced activities.

Objectives

* Learners will understand the diverse forms of seasonal migration of animals. * Learners will make connections

Informal Education Product
Arctic Antarctic
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On Monday, October 12, 2020, the German Research Vessel Polarstern sailed back into its homeport after completing a remarkable expedition to the Arctic Ocean. This day marked the end of the fieldwork portion of the 2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition in which hundreds of scientists from around the world spent a year in the Arctic gathering important climate datasets. Now a Virtual

Video
Arctic
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Overview

Learn more about the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere through these multidisciplinary hands-on activities focusing on art, observation, outdoor engineering, movement, and adventure. Resources can be used in formal and informal learning environments.

Objectives

* Learners will understand the astronomical phenomenon of solstice. * Learners identify the differences in how solstice impacts their local, sub-arctic

Informal Education Product
Arctic
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The PolarTREC Field Experience

PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program that pairs US educators with researchers for field science experiences in the Arctic and Antarctic. For people like me, it is exciting to note that the program is now open to informal science educators as well as formal K-12 teachers. PolarTREC is managed by the Arctic

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Arctic
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Live event on 14 October 2019 with PolarTREC educator Katie Gavenus aboard the Russian R/V Federov as part of the MOSAiC Expedition. Katie spoke with and answered questions from students at Brevig Mission school in Alaska.

Event
Arctic
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Article from local Homer, Alaska station KBBI about Katie Gavenus' upcoming expedition aboard the RV Polarstern for the MOSAiC Expedition.

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