The Polar Regions – The End of the Eternal Ice

PR81525

HAMBURG and KIEL, Germany, Nov. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The new 'World Ocean Review 6', published by mare in cooperation with the

German Marine Research Consortium and the Future Ocean Network in Kiel, focuses

on the dramatic climate-induced changes in the Arctic and Antarctic and their

far-reaching consequences for humans and the environment

The polar regions play an exceptional role in the Earth's climate system. The

almost endless snow and ice surfaces of the Arctic and Antarctic act like a

gigantic mirror and radiate up to 90 percent of incident sunlight back into

space. Because of this, they not only slow down the warming of the Earth, but

also create large temperature differences between the cold polar regions and

the warm tropics. This disparity, in turn, drives the global wind and ocean

currents and contributes significantly to the fact that the heat stored in the

sea and in the atmosphere is distributed over large areas of the globe and that

people, animals and plants find reliable living conditions everywhere in the

world. What happens in the remote polar regions is therefore of concern to each

and every one of us. Numerous demonstrations not only by climate activists and

worldwide Fridays for Future protests in recent months have impressively

pointed out that such reliable living conditions are not self-evident but can

only be understood as the result of a forward-looking, intergenerational and

environmentally conscious policy.

The sixth volume of the publication 'World Ocean Review' (WOR), published with

the support of the International Ocean Institute (IOI), is therefore entitled

'The Arctic and Antarctic – extreme, climatically crucial and in crisis'. It is

edited by climate and polar researchers from the German Marine Research

Consortium (KDM), the Future Ocean research network in Kiel and the magazine

mare, who are responsible for the overall concept and preparing the scientific

contents in a way that is comprehensible to the public. As a bundling of the

expertise of German marine research, the new issue is dedicated to these two

extreme and highly contrasting regions of the Earth. The issue provides

profound information on their origin and significance for life on Earth, as

well as on the observed climatic changes and their dramatic consequences, some

of which extend far beyond the borders of the polar regions.

"Until a few years ago, the Arctic and Antarctic realms were destinations of

historical expeditions such as those of Scott or Amundsen and home to polar

bears or penguins," says Nikolaus Gelpke, editor of 'WOR', founder of the

magazine mare and board member of the International Ocean Institute (IOI).

"Since the new IPCC special report 'Ocean and Cryosphere in Climate Change',

however, we have known about the outstanding importance of the polar regions

for our climate future. The observed changes are symbols for the consequences

of our industrial development, the melting of the formerly eternal ice stands

for the loss of control of our actions. Our 'WOR', as an excellent complement

to the IPCC special report, can hopefully help to deepen our understanding of

cause-and-effect relationships."

The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the world and is

now showing a whole new face. Last summer alone, the world witnessed the

widespread burning of dried out tundra areas in Alaska and Siberia, the melting

of the Greenlandic ice sheet on its surface during a heat wave, and the

shrinking of the Arctic Ocean's sea ice cover to the second smallest residual

area since satellite measurements began. In the Antarctic, heat comes mainly

from the sea. Warm currents increasingly penetrate under the floating ice

tongues of West and East Antarctica and melt these so-called ice shelves from

below. As a result, not only do more icebergs calve, the glaciers now also

transport more ice from the interior of Antarctica to the sea, so that their

contribution to global sea-level rise increases and the ice sheets of West and

East Antarctica thin out overall.

But what consequences do these and other climatic changes have for the highly

adapted flora and fauna of the Arctic and Antarctic? What are the chances of

survival for polar bears, walruses, polar cod, krill and all other sea dwellers

who depend on sea ice for their foraging and breeding? How does the vegetation

change on land? 'WOR 6' explains the unique adaptation strategies of polar

flora and fauna and the extent to which polar species are likely to be able to

adapt to rising air and water temperatures, dwindling food sources and

migratory competitors.

But where glaciers and sea ice are disappearing, people also gain access to

previously hidden resources and raw material deposits. The Arctic states in

particular therefore see climate change as an opportunity to develop their

northern territories economically. One focus is on the expansion of tourist

infrastructures such as airports and berths for cruise ships, because the

worldwide demand for trips to the polar regions is increasing – grotesquely,

above all, because many nature lovers and adventure tourists have come to the

conclusion that now is the last chance to see the ice landscapes of the Arctic

and Antarctic with their own eyes. At the same time, mining and oil companies

are currently investing large sums in the exploration and extraction of raw

material deposits in the Arctic, above all in Russia. 'WOR 6' shows which

expectations are attached to this industrialization, which risks and dangers go

along with it and which protection precautions are taken.

"The developments in the polar regions illustrate one of the challenges for

ocean research to develop solutions across disciplines. The coming decade of

marine sciences for sustainable development, which aims to combine, increase

and make available knowledge in order to enable clever development paths in

human-ocean relations, gives us hope," says Prof. Dr. Nele Matz-Lück,

spokesperson for the Future Ocean Network in Kiel and maritime law expert at

the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at Kiel University.

Germany is one of the leading polar research nations in the world and operates

research stations, observatories and long-term measurement series in both the

Arctic and Antarctic. At the time of WOR publication, the ground-breaking

international Arctic expedition MOSAiC on the German polar research vessel

Polarstern is also in full swing. The icebreaker will be frozen in the sea ice

and drift through the central Arctic for about a year. In the meantime,

researchers from 17 nations are collecting urgently needed data on the

interactions between atmosphere, ice, ocean and polar ecosystem.

"Polar research is climate research at the pulse of time, and once again German

polar, marine and coastal research is proving to be a signpost in the

international context," says Prof. Dr. Ulrich Bathmann, Director of the

Leibnitz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) and Chairman of the

German Marine Research Consortium.

The 'World Ocean Review 6' was presented on 7th November 2019 at the

Schleswig-Holstein representation in Berlin during an evening event with guests

from politics, business, science, media and education.

Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com)

Background

maribus gGmbH was founded in 2008 by mare publisher Nikolaus Gelpke. It serves

as a non-profit organisation for the purpose of sensitising the public to

marine science and contributing to more effective marine conservation. To date,

about 170,000 printed copies of the 'WOR' in German and English have been

ordered and distributed worldwide, in addition to countless online downloads.

'WOR 6' is being published with a total circulation of 20,000 copies. The

publication is not sold, but given away for free. There is no profit-making

intent. It is available at www.worldoceanreview.com. At the same time as the

printed edition, the entire publication will also be published online. In

addition to the German version, an English edition will also be available

shortly.

'World Ocean Review 6 – The Arctic and Antarctic – extreme, climatically

crucial and in crisis', edited by maribus gGmbH, Hamburg 2019, 332 pages, with

numerous graphics and photographs, paperback.

Links

www.worldoceanreview.com

www.mare.de

www.deutsche-meeresforschung.de

www.futureocean.org

Contacts

maribus gGmbH

Bettina Wittich

Press and Public

Phone: +49-40-368076-22

E-mail: wittich@maribus.com  

Friederike Balzereit

Kiel University

Kiel Marine Science (KMS) /

Future Ocean Network

Public Relations

Phone: +49-431-880-3032

E-mail: fbalzereit@uv.uni-kiel.de

SOURCE: maribus gGmbH