The Polar Regions - The End of the Eternal Ice

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

Hamburg and Kiel, Germany (ots/PRNewswire) - 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

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