Student training on Polarstern’s transit to the Antarctic

When the Polarstern casts off this Sunday evening, there will be plenty of first-time expedition participants on board: the transit route to the Antarctic is frequently used for student training. At sea, the students and doctoral candidates will learn how to use echosounders, which are part of the research icebreaker’s standard equipment. The devices survey the ocean floor, providing an important basis for selecting sample-gathering sites and helping those at the helm navigate in unfamiliar waters. But during the transit, the focus will be on another aspect: the route is a familiar one, which means the students can compare their own datasets with those from past years. Departing from Bremerhaven at roughly 8 pm, the journey will take them past Rotterdam, through the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay to Las Palmas. Though the trainees’ journey will end in the Canary Islands, the Polarstern will continue on toward Walvis Bay (Namibia), where she is expected to arrive shortly before Christmas.

After a crew transfer and bunkering fuel and provisions, the ship is scheduled to depart on a two-and-a-half-month expedition to the Antarctic Weddell Sea, starting on Christmas Eve. In mid-January, the Polarstern will travel to Atka Bay to resupply the German Antarctic research basis Neumayer Station III. The scientific focus of the expedition is on continuing the long-term time series of the Hybrid Antarctic Float Observation System (HAFOS). In this regard, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research has been gathering data on the hydrography, nutrients, oxygen and carbon system in the Weddell Sea region since the 1980s to analyse developments in connection with climate change. In mid-March 2025, the Antarctic expedition will draw to a close in Port Stanley, where, after another crew transfer, the Polarstern will begin her return voyage to Bremerhaven.