Together with AWI researchers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Norway Ban Ki-moon launched a radio-sonde. He was impressed by the balloon and the technical possibilities. In front of the glacier he called for action against the climate change.
On Wednesday UN-General Secretary Ban Ki-moon visited the Franco-German Arctic research base AWIPEV in Spitsbergen, Norway. He caught up on the latest development of climate change. In front of the Blomstrandbreen glacier he called for action against the climate change. The international community has to „take action now“, Ban said. „I am just close to 250 metres to the glacier. It looks magnificient. But at the same time, I am alarmed that there are so many cracks that will soon break. They are melting very rapidly, and I fully agree with what scientists have been projecting.“ Ban has already visited the glacier six years ago. „We have to keep global temperature rise below two degrees as soon as possible.“
Together with the AWI researchers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Norway, Borge Brende, Ban launched a radio-sonde which measures the temperature, the air pressure and other important atmospheric climate parameters. He had been impressed by the balloon, says Kathrin Lang, the station leader of the AWI research base. At the end of the visit Ban wanted also to see how the data is transferred real-time to international meteorological networks.