A group of organisators and participants of the transit cruise of the so-called Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) visited the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar dnd Marine Research (AWI) last Saturday. The guests subsequently started for their expedition with the research vessel Akademik Treshnikov from Bremerhaven towards Cape Town.
AWI director Prof. Dr. Karin Lochte welcomed the students and organisors at the institute. She presented the international MOSAiC project, amongst other things, in a talk, which attracted much interest. Following another lecture on the international student programme POMOR, there was a guided tour through the AWI. Afterwards AWI delegates were invited to visit the Russian research vessel.
The Akademik Treshnikov left Bremerhaven with destination Cape Town, South Africa then. 50 international students and 15 scientists are on board the ship, talking part in the so-called ACE Maritime University. ACE means Antarctic Circumnavigation Expeditionand is an initiative of the Swiss Polar Institute, which has only recently been established. You can find further information here: http://polar.epfl.ch/page-131984-en.html