Science – A polar researcher complains about dangerous changes in the oceans

Sunset over the sea (archive) via DTS News Agency

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Berlin (DTS News Agency) – Antje Boetius, polar researcher and head of the Alfred Wegener Institute, considers the increasing changes in the oceans devastating. “There is a whole list of atrocities,” she told the Watson news portal. She talked about toxic algae blooms, ocean over-fertilization and acidification, fish deaths, lack of oxygen, and coral bleaching.

On their last voyage with the research vessel Polarstern even the ice appeared dead. Instead of forming as usual, ice did not form on the coast of the Siberian Arctic, but rather in the high seas off Canada. “Sea ice is sea water that freezes,” Boetius said. “Then small particles like sediment and algae get trapped on the coast — and when the sun shines on it, the algae starts to grow under the ice.”

Because the sea ice was not in contact with the coast last year, particles were missing. “This explains why the algae carpets on the underside of the sea ice disappeared, so the ice was so uninhabited, it looked dead.” This could have other consequences, Boetius said: “Algae shortages of course affect not only the ice, but also have consequences for the food web from the surface to the deep sea and for the animals that actually eat these algae.”

Despite all the terrible news, the polar explorer does not look to the future with fear: “Knowledge and understanding help me, even if it is not good news. But there is definitely that too,” she says. Rather, they will be burdened by wars that they cannot explain. Boetius Sagte außerdem: “was Mir Auch Hilft: Durch Die Forschung Auch Zeithorizon Von Tausenden, Hundrttausenden, Millionen von Jahren Zu Betrachten, was Wir Erdsystenforscher Ja Machen. Er Blick Auf Die LangFristign Prozesse Hilft, Die Menschliche Existenz Nicht So IM Zentrum von Allem Zu Look.”

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