The Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) is an international research project aimed at collecting data from the Arctic Ocean for an entire year by letting the research vessel Polarstern drift with the pack ice.
The results will contribute to an increased understanding of the regional and global consequences of the ongoing climate changes in the Arctic. The project starts in September 2019. A total of 600 people from 17 countries will participate in the expedition.
The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat supports five research projects within MOSAiC. The institutions represented are Gothenburg University, Stockholm University, Sweden’s Agricultural University, and Uppsala University.
Participating projects supported by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
Seasonal sea ice – a new source of bromine during polar night
Research Lead: Katarina Abrahamsson, Professor, University of Gothenburg
Why is the deep Arctic Ocean Warming?
Research Lead: Céline Heuzé, Senior Lecturer, University of Gothenburg
Seasonality of metabolic functions in sympagic and pelagic microbiomes in the Central Arctic Ocean, with emphasis on carbon and nitrogen cycling
Research Lead: Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, Professor of Marine Ecology at Stockholm University
Uncovering the largest blind spot on the map of the world’s fish stocks: mesopelagic fish, their dependence on sea ice, and their role in the Central Arctic Ocean food web
Research Lead: Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, Professor of Marine Ecology at Stockholm University
Drivers of anthropogenic changes in carbon storage and ocean acidification in the new Arctic Ocean
Research Lead: Adam Ulfsbo, Researcher, University of Gothenburg
If you want to know more
- MOSAiC web
- MOSAiC daily updates
- MOSAiC blogs
- Follow the expedition on Twitter
- Follow the expedition on Instagram
- Watch a video about the expedition on YouTube
- Press release Alfred-Wegener-Institut 2018-06-27
In media
- In-depth: Understanding the impacts of changing Arctic storms, Carbon Brief, 2020-01-13
- Inside MOSAiC: How a year-long Arctic expedition is helping climate science, Carbon Brief, 2019-11-18
- Scientists are about to spend a year trapped in Arctic ice, National Geographic, 2019-09-17
- Arctic researchers will lock this ship in ice for a year to study the changing polar region, Science 2019-08-21
“To discover a whole new world will be a magical experience”
The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat supports five research projects within the year-long Arctic Expedition MOSAiC. A total of nine researchers from Swedish universities participate and Salar Karam is one of them.
“I leave MOSAiC with the feeling of having completed something big”
Patric Simões Pereira, Postdoctor at University of Gothenburg, is now heading back from the international research expedition MOSAiC where he spent six months studying halogenated organic compounds.
Study greenhouse gases that break down the ozone layer in the Arctic
For almost 19 weeks, research engineer Adela Dumitrascu participated in the world’s largest polar expedition MOSAiC in the Arctic Ocean.
“MOSAiC is an amazing opportunity to test exciting hypotheses”
John Paul Balmonte, researcher in water ecosystems at Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, is currently in quarantine in Germany and soon ready to start his transit to the German research vessel Polarstern and the MOSAiC expedition.