MSI Seminar

Autonomous and robotic observations of the Arctic sea ice and the associated ecosystem

Christian Katlein

Alfred Wegener Institute

To better observe the ongoing changes in the polar climate- and ice-associated ecosystem, the Alfred-Wegener-Institute is developing new technologies for ice-tethered observations in the framework of the Helmholtz initiative “FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring (FRAM)”. This includes the development and regular deployment of a new versatile remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for interdisciplinary observations under sea ice as well as the development of autonomous drifting observatories enabling the continuous monitoring of various physical and biogeochemical parameters in the sea ice and upper ocean. These platforms allow us to assess current changes, such as increasing light transmission through sea-ice, changing primary production and the polar carbon pump.