It started with a vision: despite the cold, the ocean at the North Pole couldn’t be completely frozen because of the Gulf Stream, which probably extended that far. This idea, which occurred to the Thuringian cartographer August Petermann (1822–1878), and the two ship expeditions that consequently left for Greenland in 1868 and 1869/70, are regarded as the birth of German polar research. The ships didn’t make it to the North Pole. But the first expedition did manage to reach the pack ice border at the 81st parallel north, and the second discovered Franz Josef Fjord on the east coast of Greenland, one of the largest fjords in the world. About thirty years later, the first German expedition set off for the South Pole. In the summer of 1901, the Gauss, a sailing ship with an auxiliary engine, left Kiel with the aim of penetrating undiscovered Antarctica.
At that time, natural scientists wanted to discover and explore new countries and seas. Nowadays, the main item on the agenda of German scientists working in the polar regions is the climate, especially global warming which is melting the massive ice caps at the poles and causing a rise in sea levels around the globe. “What’s happening there, all of the weather and climate processes that are taking place, is something that concerns all of us,” says Karin Lochte, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, the largest institution for polar research in Germany. In addition to measuring and observing current changes, scientists are also investigating climate variations in the Earth’s recent history. To do this they analyze bore samples taken from glaciers and deep-sea sediments. By comparing present-day data with historical data the scientists are able to generate models for calculating future climate developments. “Another major topic concerns ecological systems,” says the AWI director. “How will flora and fauna react if the ice cap on the sea continues to recede?”
Polar research in the Arctic is focusing not only on the disappearance of glaciers and sea ice but increasingly on the permafrost regions. This is because the upper layers of the glacier-free permafrost ground, which is frozen to a depth of up to 600 metres, are beginning to melt more intensely in the summer due to the higher temperatures. This sets free large amounts of methane, which, like carbon dioxide, is one of the gases that increase the greenhouse effect. For the last twelve years a German-Russian collaboration project has been continuously monitoring this process in the Lena Delta of Siberia, the largest river delta on the Arctic Ocean.
However, in Germany polar research is carried out not only at large research institutions, such as the AWI or the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel, but also at many universities, smaller non-university institutions and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hanover. This institute focuses on the geology of the polar regions, especially the exploration of raw material resources in the Arctic, and the opening of the Arctic Ocean. In the Antarctic its research is concerned with the breakup of the ancient continent Gondwana and the development of the Atlantic Ocean. The work of various institutions and disciplines is coordinated by the German National Committee for SCAR/IASC that includes German representatives of the international organizations SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) and IASC (International Arctic Science Committee). They meet once a year, together with representatives of the sponsors of German polar research. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research provides about 90% of the funds, which amounted to 78.9 million euros in 2010. The remaining 10% are covered by the governments of various German Länder and by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The German Research Foundation (DFG) also plays an important role. It supports polar research, particularly at university institutes, with its own DFG priority programme.
Costly equipment and complex logistics are the basic essentials of research in the remote, cold and inhospitable regions surrounding the North and South Poles. “We’re in a very good position in this respect,” say Karin Lochte. Two research stations in the Arctic and six stations in the Antarctic, including the new Neumayer Station III that was set up on the Ekström Ice Shelf in 2009, are open not only to German polar scientists but also to those of other countries. In addition, there are two research vessels, the research icebreaker Polarstern and the ice shelf research vessel Merian, plus the research plane Polar 5. However, polar research in Germany is not reserved exclusively for the experts. Apart from scientists, laypeople can also become involved. The German Society for Polar Research (DGP), which has more than 500 members, includes experts and interested non-specialists. This society organizes a large international convention every two and a half years, publishes the Polarforschung journal together with the AWI, and supports young scientists.////
