Arctic Ocean
This September, the Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk to 4.1 million square kilometres (sq km)-the second lowest in the history of satellite measurements. It is exceeded only by the all-time [...] all-time record low of 3.4 million sq km in 2012. "Once again, a massive loss of sea ice in the Arctic," says Prof. Lars Kaleschke from Universität Hamburg's Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability

layers of the ground, oceanic microseisms can spread over many hundreds of kilometres. It is now well researched how strong storms not only generate large waves, but also increased oceanic microseisms activity [...] other way round: what does oceanic microseisms tell us about the nature of the ice over the course of the seasons? To answer these questions, we use data from our ice-going ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) [...] microseismics were also recorded, which we are currently analysing. Map of the Arctic and Antarctic. The red stars mark the oceanic microseisms research projects. (Graphic: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) Contact

Arctic cod is the most abundant fish in the Arctic Ocean. It is an important food source for Arctic marine mammals and plays an important role in the self-sufficiency of the Inuit. An international study [...] now evaluated the most important scientific work on Arctic cod of the past decades. The conclusion: Above all, the already advanced decline in arctic sea ice cover as a result of man-made climate change

of plastic has reached all spheres of the Arctic: large quantities of plastic - transported by rivers, the air and shipping- can now be found in the Arctic Ocean. High concentrations of microplastic can

Biodiversity
Massive sponge gardens thrive on top of seamounts in the Central Arctic Ocean, one of the most oligotrophic seas on Earth. They appear to feed on the remnants of an extinct fauna. Micr [...] Communications . They stress the need for a better understanding of the diversity and uniqueness of Arctic ecosystems in the light of global and local change.

have now analysed. Their most important finding: even a short-term influx of warm water into the Arctic Ocean would suffice to fundamentally impact the local symbiotic communities, from the water’s surface [...] Climate Change
The warming of arctic waters in the wake of climate change is likely to produce radical changes in the marine habitats of the High North. This is indicated by data from long-term observations

forces to improve the capacities for marine-based research in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. In the project “ARICE- Arctic Research Icebreaker Consortium”, they aim at better coordinating the existing polar

reached its destination, will spend the next year drifting through the Arctic Ocean, trapped in the ice. A total of 600 people from 17 countries, who will be supplied by other icebreakers and aircraft [...] MOSAiC Expedition
It could be the largest-scale Arctic research expedition of all time: in September 2019 the German research icebreaker Polarstern will depart from Tromsø, Norway and, once it has reached

Arctic sea ice
Sea ice physicists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), are anticipating that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean this summer may [...] after evaluating current satellite data about the thickness of the ice cover. The data show that the arctic sea ice was already extraordinarily thin in the summer of 2015. Comparably little new ice formed

remote sensing data alone, as the satellite ocean color algorithms are known to perform poorly at polar latitudes even if developed explicitly for the Arctic waters. Gaps in satellite data, which occur [...] for satellite applications. Ocean Science, 9 (2), pp. 431-445. doi: 10.5194/os-9-431-2013 , hdl:10013/epic.41331 Other references: Antoine, D. and A. Morel (1996). Oceanic primary production: I. Adaptation [...] PhD Thesis Alexandra Cherkasheva 2009-2014 Arctic phytoplankton today deserve special attention as they are already living in waters with most prominent climate change effect, which are shifting towards