These technologies provide valuable data

Light is important for the surface energy budget and the biological activity in the ice & the upper ocean. Radiation stations determine the fraction of incident light which is reflected by the surface or transmitted through ice & snow.

Megafauna on the sea floor are good indicators of environmental change. The towed high resolution camera system OFOS (Ocean Floor Observing System) is used to index megafauna and plastic litter on the Arctic sea floor.

To observe the sea-ice system from below, this under ice remotely operated vehicle (ROV) combines an off the shelf modules with an extensive sensor suite integrating physical, geochemical and biological observation tools. The interdisciplinary design and the high payload to weight ratio are a novelty in under-ice robotics.

Sinking particles control CO2 transport to the deep ocean. AWI and MARUM researchers developed the BioOptical Platform BOP, which combines a camera system and gel traps to differentiate between particle types, abundances, sizes, and sinking velocities at high temporal resolution.

Due to ice coverage and rough seas, profiling the upper water column in Polar Seas year round is a serious challenge. The AWI winch system SWIPS has special features to meet this challenge and is constructed to measure biological, chemical, and physical parameters in the upper 100-150 m of the Arctic water column.

Include several types of sensors to measure physical properties of the water column, like current velocity, turbulences, pressure, temperature, and salinity.

Passive acoustic recorders are used to locate marine mammals like whales and walruses.

Like a tentacle in snow and ice, a thermistor chain measures air temperature, snow depth, ice thickness, and snow, ice and water  temperature.