drift | Common News Update

Oct62019 by adminNo Comments

MOSAiC expedition selects ice floe for drift through Arctic Ocean

Science

Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Researchers with the MOSAiC expedition have found an ice floe to anchor the German research icebreaker Polarstern to for a year-long. Late last month, a team of researchers with the Alfred Wegener Institute's Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research set sail from Norway and entered the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. Their journey into the center of the Arctic was aided by the icebreaker Akademik Fedorov, operated by Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. After several days of searching for a suitable ice floe, using both helicopter surveys and satellite images, scientists convened and agreed to attach a floe located at 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east. The floe measures approximately 1.5 by 2 miles. Having settled on a suitable floe,...

Oct52019 by adminNo Comments

Climate change: Polarstern icebreaker begins year-long Arctic drift

Science

German Research Vessel Polarstern has found a location to begin its year-long drift in Arctic sea-ice.The ship, which will head the North Pole's biggest scientific expedition, will settle next to a thick ice floe on the Siberian side of the ocean basin.The precise location is 85 degrees north and 137 degrees east.Hundreds of investigators will use it as a base from which to probe the impacts of climate change at the top of the world."After a brief but intensive search, we've found our home for the months to come," said expedition leader Prof Markus Rex, from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)."It may not be the perfect floe but it's the best one in this part of the Arctic and offers better working conditions than we could have ex...

Sep202019 by adminNo Comments

Climate change: Arctic expedition to drift in sea-ice for a year

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device It's being described as the biggest Arctic science expedition of all time. The German Research Vessel Polarstern is about to head for the far north where it intends to drift in the sea-ice for an entire year. Hundreds of scientists will visit the ship in that time to use it as a base from which to study the climate.The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) project is expected to cost about €130m (£120m/$ 150m).Its scale means it must be an international effort. RV Polarstern will be supported by icebreakers from Russia, Sweden and China.In deep winter, when these vessels can't pierce the floes to reach the German ship, aeroplanes and long-range helicopters w...

Nov12018 by adminNo Comments

Tiny beetle gives clues for continental drift

Science

Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A small, ancient beetle might provide clues to how the Earth's landmass shifted, a study says. Researcher Shuhei Yamamoto believes a beetle trapped in piece of Burmese amber from 99 million years ago is the distant ancestor to insects found on the other side of the world today. He came upon this beetle in 2016, and now he thinks could provide more evidence for the theory of continental drift. "Like koalas and kangaroos today, certain animals that we think lived in Gondwanaland are only found in one part of the world. Although Propiestus went extinct long ago, our finding probably shows some amazing connections between Southern Hemisphere and Myanmar," Yamamoto said. "Our finding fits well with the hypothesis that, unlike today, Myanmar was once located in the Southern Hem...