Polar Scientists Come To Terms With An Arctic Region That Will Soon Be Unrecognizable
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"It still feels impressive and positive and fascinating to be here and be able to witness this change," said Mauro Hermann, a doctoral student at ETH Zurich. "So it's something big. I would call it ... majestic. But, yeah, in a frightening way."
Hermann is one of the lucky few who's seen the top of the world — and who may visit it again some day. For the past five weeks, he was on board the Russian research vessel the Akademik Fedorov as it cruised through the central Arctic. The ship was assisting a major international research mission known as the MOSAiC Expedition, focused on the complexities of the Arctic climate system.
For Hermann, it was impossible not to consider the consequences of climate change while sailing through one of the most rapidly changing regions of the world. "I was thinking about it at least every day," he said. He wasn't the only one. "This trip, it was more a sad feeling," said Nathan Kurtz, a MOSAiC participant and NASA researcher studying sea ice thickness. "Because I'd seen the ice so many times, but I haven't seen it in freeze-up like this, and I just saw how thin it was. And I was like, wow, this is a big deal."
Kurtz has visited the Arctic sea ice about 10 times since his first trip in 2012. Thinking about climate change helps keep him motivated in his work, he said. But actually seeing the ice, especially as part of a major expedition like MOSAiC, is a stark reminder of how quickly the world is changing. "People talk about these cruises like MOSAiC, they're once in a generation, and it's like, well, the next generation — this ice, it's not going to be around like this," Kurtz said. "And so then I had the thought, too, I was like, if my kids ever came up here, they could never see this. When they're my age, they probably won't ever be able to see this."
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https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1061411229
