MOSAIC MISSION

July 5, 2019

Scientists from 17 nations will take part in the year-long MOSAIC mission as they anchor the RV Polarstern ship to a large piece of Arctic sea ice to study climate change.

About:

Full Name: The MOSAiC mission stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.
Mission objective: Studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world.
Key highlights of proposed mission:
- In a couple of months, the German icebreaker ship RV Polarstern will set out for the Arctic packed with supplies and scientific equipment for a year-long mission.
- They will anchor the ship to a large piece of sea ice and allow the water to freeze around them, effectively trapping themselves in the vast sheet of white that forms over the North Pole each winter.
- They will build temporary winter research camps on the ice, allowing them to perform tests that wouldn’t be possible at other times of the year or by satellite sensing.
Participants: Scientists from 17 nations will take part in the year-long mission. The mission has received funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.