In July of 2019 a group oceanographers left the harbor of St. John’s in Canada to examine how much sea water leaves the fjords in Greenland and enters into the East Greenland Current (EGC). The EGC is part of the global thermohaline circulation, a change in its constitution could have severe effects on the global water circulation including the Gulf Stream that brings a moderate climate to Europe.

This reportage shows the life on board of the research vessel while focussing on the isolation while being on sea and far away from home for weeks.

An ice radar shows icebergs and iceflows around the ship. Besides the size of the floes it allows tracks their location.
A view on the stormy sea near Iceland. After days of severe storm and high waves the weather finally calmed down, leaving the crew exhausted.
The scientists on board share rooms during the expedition. After weeks on board, privacy becomes something very rare and valuable.
The engine room is the mechanically beating heart of the ship.
Fog is a very common phenomenon in the arctic when warm surface water meets cool air on the ocean surface.
A young scientist looks at the ice floes passing by. While the region seems hostile to all forms of life there is a surprising amount of wildlife.
An iceberg close to Scorseby Sund. Navigating in regions with icebergs can be very dangerous as big icebergs like this one tend to tip and to cause massive waves in the surroundings.
A scientist watches the sampling probe as it is being lowered into the water. The probe is the central scientific piece of equipment of the expedition. It allows scientists to take water samples from different water depths.
The sea around the ship is rising up at wind speed 9. Still, the crew is taking samples. The engines allow the ship to stay on one coordinate with a precision of half a meter.
Insa Rapp in an improvised clean room on board of the Maria S. Merian.
The CTD control room is the most important room for the scientists. From this computer the sampling probe is controlled. The screen shows collected data in real time.
A hose for liquid nitrogen. Some of the samples taken can be analyzed on board. If this is not possible the filter papers are frozen and shipped to Germany.
The samples in this incubator come from the surface and were treated with trace elements. After a filtration the scientist can detemine how the trace elements stimulated the growth of biomass.
Rike Benz is doing her masters degree in Hamburg. After school she decided to become a tax consultant but left the job after some years to follow her passion and go to sea.
The sampling probe below the surface.
Ralf Schmidt, captain of the RV Maria S. Merian
Besides GPS navigation the crew works a lot with various maps. Routes can be calculated and altered in a much faster way on paper. New ice charts come in every day which also effects the planned route.
The water in these tubes is analyzed in regards of its CFC content which is an indicator for the age of the water.
A scientist while sealing a CFC sample.
The sampling probe can only be used while the ship is standing still. As the ocean is up to 3000 meters deep along the route, sampling can take several hours. The commanding officer has to take care that the ship is not drifting into ice floes in the meantime.
The RV Maria S. Merian seen from the air.

Melting Point

In June of 2019 the danish climate scientist Steffen Olsen twittert a photo from his expedition in northern Greenland. The picture showed his sled dogs running ankle-deep through freshly melted water on an ice sheet. The picture went viral and served as example for the acceleration for the impact of climate change in the arctic, a region that suffers more than others from rising global temperatures. A collapse oft the Greenland ice sheet could lead to a massive rise in global sea levels.

Warmer sea water in the region also leads to the thawing and the erosion of costal glaciers that are melting from the bottom. In July of 2019 a group oceanographers left the harbor of St. John’s in Canada to examine how much sea water leaves the fjords in Greenland and enters into the East Greenland Current (EGC). The EGC is part of the global thermohaline circulation, a change in its constitution could have severe effects on the global water circulation including the Gulf Stream that brings a moderate climate to Europe.

Aim of the research was to follow the EGC along the whole coast of eastern Greenland to determine how much ice is actually melting in the arctic and to give a prediction on how this will impacts global sea levels in the future. The scientists took hundreds of water samples on 170 stations along the way, the analysis will take months.

The crew members, mostly students, chose their careers as oceanographers not because they will earn large amounts of money or recognition. They chose it for the greater cause and to bring scientific evidence of the upcoming climate crisis to the general public.

This reportage shows the life on board of the research vessel while focussing on the isolation while being on sea and far away from home for weeks.