After nearly a decade of preparation, the Drafting Sea Ice Observation Stations of Arctic Program (MOSAiC) voyage departed on the evening of September 20, Norwegian local time, and began a year-long comprehensive scientific survey of the Arctic. The program is led by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), with more than 600 scientists and engineers from 19 countries participating. Many polar icebreakers will provide support for this voyage, including China’s new icebreaker “Xuelong 2”.
      The voyage is expected to start in September 2019 and end in October 2020, totaling 13 months and 6 legs of voyage. Associate Researcher He Hailun and Assistant Researcher Ren Jian from SIO will fully participate in the first leg of the voyage, plan to return to Tromso, Norway by the Russian icebreaker “Kapitan Dranitsyn” in early January 2020. Dr. Lin Long and Assistant Researcher Bai Youcheng participate in the deployment mission in the front section of the first leg, and will return by the Russian icebreaker “Fedorov” at the end of October 2019. Assistant Researcher Zhuang Yanpei will participate in the fourth leg of the voyage and is scheduled to depart in April 2020.
      In this voyage, the German Arctic scientific expedition vessel “Polarstern” will be frozen in the sea ice of the central Arctic Ocean for a whole year, as a temporary scientific research station, to collect the comprehensive annual data and information on the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean and ecology of the Arctic, to further understand the Arctic spheres and their interactions, thereby enhancing understanding of the importance of the Arctic to global climate change. According to many years of data, the “Polarstern” will drift with the sea ice, gradually moving from the vicinity of the North Pole to the Atlantic Ocean.