What is it like to overwinter at Neumayer III, Antarctica?

Nellie Wullenweber, an ERSU PhD student based at MPI-GEA in Jena, recently contributed to the seminar series POLARSTUNDE, which is jointly organized by the German Society for Polar Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Polarforschung) and the German National Committee of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS Germany). It regularly features different topics of German polar research, is held in German and aims at both scientists and the general public.

Under the title

"Weather, Clouds, Trace Gases: Atmospheric Research in Winter at the German Antarctic Station Neumayer III"

Nellie, together with two of her overwintering colleagues, shared fascinating insights from her fourteen-month-long stay during the Antarctic winter. During the overwintering she took care of the SPUSO, the air chemistry observatory at Neumayer Station. This long-term observatory has been monitoring the atmosphere above the Ekström Ice Shelf on the Antarctic coast year round since 1982. Today it is part of the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW, https://community.wmo.int/en/activity-areas/gaw) station network and each year an overwinterer is responsible for continuing the long timeseries of measurements, including aerosols and trace gases, with in-situ and remote sensing instruments. Her tasks also included conducting 3-hourly weather observation and launching daily weather ballons together with the station’s meteorologist and overwintering colleague. In their spare time, she and the rest of the team enjoyed the beauty of the vast icy environment, days out on the sea ice on the near-by Atka Bay and visits to the emperor penguin colony breeding there.

“Of course you are isolated for many months, but the incredible sky colors during the polar night and visits to the penguin colony in your free time make up for it.” Nellie said and concluded: “Being so isolated from the rest of the world makes you appreciate thorough expedition preparation and teammates you can rely on.”

Her experience of wintering in Antarctica made her curious. She is now studying Antarctica’s role in a warming climate. “I just started my PhD at the MPI-GEA in Jena in the Department of Integrative Earth System Science. I’ll be using model simulations to understand feedback mechanisms between the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet through ocean circulation and sea level changes. This way I can stay connected to the icy continent I called home for over a year.”

You want to learn more about her stay? Read on at https://blogs.helmholtz.de/atkaxpress/en/2023/04/the-first-impressions/

Find more information on the seminar series at https://apecs-germany.de/polarstunde/. The next seminar is held on April 9, with the topic of polar politics.