At the beginning of an expedition

Nearly all of the 45 containers are already on board, two sniffer dogs make sure that no stowaways are hidden among them, the pilot takes over Polarstern’s steering wheel, the ship’s horn sounds a noisy “Good-bye”, and within less than an hour Cape Town’s silhouette has vanished in the mist. The atmosphere on board seems to reflect the gentle swell of the sea, and one can feel the air vibrating as it is filled with great expectations.

First, however, containers filled with boxes, trawls, barrels, floating buoys and submersibles have to be unloaded, and the whole confusing variety of state-of-the-art measuring and monitoring equipment used by polar researchers has to be moved to its “battle stations”, assembled, set up and made ready for action. Up-to date intelligence is everything, and therefore the chief scientist and his “deputy” gather the interdisciplinary scientific party at a meeting each morning, which is also a kind of team building exercise for the expedition. The ship is well known for its capability of simultaneously fulfilling the whole range of different requirements of the 50 enthused researchers.

These scientists introduce themselves at the first meeting after breakfast. It’s tradition that the briefing at 9:30 am starts with the weather forecast because weather and sea-ice conditions have always been crucial factors for the success – or failure –  of expeditions to polar regions, and this fact will not change in the foreseeable future. Less ‘traditional’ is the line-up of the team working in the ship’s meteorological observatory: elderly weather men, who once dominated this work space, are a thing of the past and have been replaced by a young and dynamic female duo.

As soon as the chief scientist presents the most recent sea-ice maps from our study area, the temperature in the conference room, warmed up by the good mood and confidence of the scientists, drops a little. But we have some time in hand before we reach our study area, and last but not least Polarstern is an ICEBREAKING research vessel. We had our first taste of “ice” already; to be precise: a dessert of chocolate-vanilla ice cream, with icing on top.

A safety net will be attached to the helicopter deck to prevent the helicopter from sliding, in case there will be black ice. At the moment, however, the location for the safety net is still occupied by a trawl that is being prepared for the planned research fishery activities. The trawl had been lifted out of two nearby open-top containers by crane. The few men left in Germany, who still know how to handle and operate this complex gear, are luckily all on board Polarstern – and now on the helicopter pad. A sort of tin box has been attached to the huge sea bottom trawl, so that the fish will survive the catch and can be observed and undergo controlled experiments in the containerised sea-water aquarium on board.

The ocean is deep and the sea is dark blue but the sky is not blue anymore. We have passed the high pressure systems and descended into the “Roaring Forties”. And yet Neptune alludes to the power of his trident. Here, where the isobars are coming close together, the sea never stands still. A deflating low pressure cell behind us, another still strengthening low pressure cell in front of us. Polarstern’s master skilfully uses course and speed to steer clear from too much stress for the ship, its furniture, its scientific equipment and its “living cargo” inside. Now, every time when we pass one of the Southern Ocean’s fronts it is getting colder. After just one week the subtropical feeling has been defeated by a wind chill of -12°C. Environment and fauna around the ship point towards the polar conditions ahead of us. The first storm petrels and albatrosses utilise the turbulent air behind the ship for gliding motionless around it. We are very busy with preparations - but still find the time to get to know each other in the ”Zillertal”, to warm-up playing cards for the coolest tournament on Earth, or to participate in a tour through the engine room, the iron stables with 20,000 horsepower, guided by the chief engineer himself.