How Polar Exploration Propels Climate Research To New Levels
Over the past years international teams of scientists have been undertaking fundamental on-the-ground research in the planet’s polar regions to document the changes that are occurring and gain a better understanding of global climate change. A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on Earth’s oceans and frozen regions paints a grim picture of rapid and accelerating losses from the ice sheets in both the Arctic and Antarctic, with severe consequences for vital habitats and repercussions for the world’s entire climate system. Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius is Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. She is a deep-sea and polar researcher and an expert on marine biogeochemistry, biological oceanography, deep-sea biology and marine microbial ecology. Her institute is at the helm of an unprecedented mission involving hundreds of scientists from 19 different countries – the MOSAiC Expedition, which sees the research icebreaker ʻPolarsternʼ drifting through the Arctic ocean to take the closest look ever at the Arctic as the epicentre of global warming. At Falling Walls, Antje will talk about this exceptional endeavour and explain how the wonder of penetrating the unknown has turned into an urgent quest to understand what’s happening in the Arctic and the impact on the health of our planet.