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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen

@polarbremen.bsky.social

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#Satellites #Science #SeaIce #ExtremeLatitudes. Remote Sensing of Polar Regions at University of Bremen, Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP). https://seaice.uni-bremen.de

seaice.uni-bremen.de

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Feb 10

Hello world! We'll be sharing insights, updates and visuals from our research about the fascinating world of remote sensing of polar regions right here in this place of Rayleigh scattering (aka Bluesky). Sea ice lovers, satellite enthusiasts, cloud admirers, snow fans, science nerds: let us connect!

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · 6d

It is now official: #WIVERN has been selected as @esa.int Earth Explorer 11 mission! ➡️ www.esa.int/Applications...
We were involved in studying how the 94 GHz radiometer and Doppler radar can be used for sea-ice observations and are therefore very happy and excited that this instrument will fly!

www.esa.int

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · 13d

Greetings from Potsdam! 4 of us were attending the general assembly of the (AC)3 research project www.ac3-tr.de this week. We showed and admired posters about different topics all the way from the #Arctic ocean to high clouds and discussed our cross-cutting activities.

Four people from the working group on a roof terrace under blue sky

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · 19d

Are you interested in the regional differences of melt pond formation and evolution in the Arctic? Or did you ever wonder how these are related to the sea ice surface topography and ice types? Then check out our new paper: tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...

Regional and seasonal evolution of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice

Abstract. Melt ponds on sea ice significantly modify the absorption of solar radiation by the sea ice-ocean system in the Arctic, thereby influencing the energy budget and sea ice mass balance. Conseq...

tc.copernicus.org

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · 21d

Attention locals: This week is maritime week in #Bremen. Saturday and Sunday you can visit the Forschungsmeile (mile of research) at the Weser river where you find us and our little sea ice experiments (for kids and grown-ups!) www.bremen.de/kultur/veran...

Die Maritime Woche 2025 - Feiern an der Weser

Bremen feiert seinen maritimen Charakter!

www.bremen.de

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · 25d

CONTRASTS wraps up after 2 months in the central Arctic aboard RV Polarstern: 61 days at sea, 30+ days on sea ice, terabytes of data, and 3 ice floes revisited across 3 ice regimes. Big thanks to the 43 crew supporting 57 scientists on RV Polarstern. AWI press release: www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Sep 8

As the giant #Antarctic iceberg #A23a is currently breaking apart, we created a video about its dance in the water in the last year, including spinning in a Taylor column! Even though A23a is not sea ice, the microwave signature is similar and it shows up in our data! Can you spot it in the video?

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hi! I’m ARIEL, an L-band microwave radiometer 📡, and this is my little buddy Sebastian (the pulka 🛷). Together, we traveled across 3 Arctic ice stations ❄️ to uncover the invisible (aka microwave) secrets of ever-changing summer sea ice and its thickness on the @awi.de CONTRASTS #expedition 🧊.

Smiling Gunnar standing in fron of radiometer on pulka with Polarstern in the background

Radiometer mounted on pulka in foreground, person taking measurements and research vessel Polarstern in the background.

Radiometer mounted on pulka in front of a beautiful fresh sea ice area.

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Aug 21

Can the color of melt ponds reveal the sea-ice thickness below? 🧊 And can we measure this from #space? 🛰️ On the @awi.de CONTRASTS #expedition, we’re testing this with a 200+ band hyperspectral camera and co-located ice thickness measurements for a large variety of #Arctic ponds.

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Aug 19

One of our master students, Isabel Krüll, had the great opportunity to join a cruise of Le Commandant Charcot to do some research at the North pole. They were able to do 2 ice floe landings with drone flights, ice thickness measurements & buoy deployments and even saw a polar bear with its cub.

two people on the sea ice installing instruments

sea ice floe with people on it with the ship in the back taken from a drone

Isabel on the ice at the North Pole in front of the ship

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 31

Update from the #Arctic from our #CONTRASTS expedition participants: A sunny, peaceful transit day brought a magical sight — a young polar bear 🐻‍❄️ wandering along the edge of an ice floe. It is very fascinating to see such a beautiful creature!

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 21

@meereisportal.bsky.social‬

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 21

#Arctic sea ice is tracking 2012’s record lows-will the trend continue? In the #Antarctic, warm temps slow new-ice growth to near record-lows for June. Meanwhile, US restrictions on #satellite sea-ice data threaten vital climate time series. Find these news here: www.meereisportal.de/en/news-over...

On the same course as in the minimum year 2012

The biggest news this month comes from the US: Staffing cuts at the US Department of Defense could jeopardise the most important time series on sea-ice development.

www.meereisportal.de

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 15

Greetings from the CONTRASTS expedition: We already finished our first ice station with 4 successful days of melt pond reflectivity, L-band microwave emissivity + ice thickness measurements. The weather even allowed us to perform airborne 🚁 observations. Now we continue to our 2nd ice station! 🧊 📏

taking measurement with a hyperspectral camera on a tripod

a person taking a measurement with an L-Band radiometer on sea ice

A sled with a device measuring ice thickness via electromagnetic conduction with Polarstern far away in the background

selfie of the three group members on the ice in front of Polarstern

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 9

Today is the day: The 2 final candidates for the @esa.int Earth Explorer 11 mission, WIVERN and CAIRT, are being presented at the public User Consultation Meeting in Prague. Our group is involved in WIVERN. After today, a committee will recommend which of the satellites should be built & launched.

welcome slides of the consultation meeting being presented in a full room of people

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 8

Our group is also involved in atmospheric measurements during the #CONTRASTS expedition, lead by the University of Cologne: follow-polarstern.awi.de/blog/04-07-2... (Does this group have the best acronym? We think yes! 😉 )"

The VAMPIREs are back! – AWI Polarstern

The VAMPIRE team (“Water Vapour, Mixed-Phase Clouds and Sea Ice Emissivity over the Central Arctic Ocean”) began setting up its instruments on the deck of RV Polarstern while still in port in Tromsø. ...

follow-polarstern.awi.de

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 7

We reached the sea ice edge! We're amazed to see the first sea ice during the CONTRASTS expedition and hope to get to our first ice station in the next days. Stay tuned!

image of the bow of the icebreaker "Polarstern" surrounded by sea ice floes

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 3

Today we are boarding RV Polarstern in Tromsø for the two month #CONTRASTS cruise to the #Arctic You can follow us here: www.meereisportal.de/contrasts There is also a live webcam.

The three people from our group standing in front of the research vessel Polarstern

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jul 1

Congratulations to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (#JAXA) for the successful launch of the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle "IBUKI GW" (GOSAT-GW) which also carries the microwave radiometer AMSR3! Fantastic news 🥳! Press release: global.jaxa.jp/press/2025/0...

JAXA | Completion of Critical Operations Phase, Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle "IBUKI GW" (GOSAT-GW)

Get information on the Completion of Critical Operations Phase, Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle "IBUKI GW" (GOSAT-GW). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) per...

global.jaxa.jp

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 26

Today is THE day for all sea ice interested folks at the @esa.int #LPS25: there will be fantastic talks and poster (Session A.09.09)! Do not miss out 😉 !!

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 24

Next week, three group members will board RV Polarstern for the CONTRASTS expedition — a mission to investigate the Arctic sea ice of the past, present, and future. 🌊❄️
Want to learn more about this expedition? Check out the latest article on meereisportal:
www.meereisportal.de/en/news-over...

CONTRASTS: Expedition will explore the melting Arctic sea ice

Polarstern expedition to depart from Tromsø, Norway on 2 July to investigate the Arctic sea ice of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

www.meereisportal.de

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 20

Next week, many of us will be at the @esa.int's Living Planet Symposium #LPS25 in Vienna! You can find us for sure in the #snow session (A.09.11) on Monday and in the #seaice session (A09.09) on Thursday. We are looking forward to this conference and hope to meet some of you there!

poster of the esa living planet symposium 23-27 June in Vienna showing the earth with a grid on it and a satellite observing the earth.

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Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 19

After some time of traveling in South America, our former PhD candidate, now postdoc, Hannah Niehaus has rejoined our group 🤗 While her PhD project was about melt ponds on #Arctic sea ice, she will now be looking into sea ice age and types in both hemispheres within the @esa.int #CCI project #SAGE 🧊

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 6

This week we had our annual group retreat: 3 days in the countryside full off scientific discussions, group retrospectives & bonfires! This is a great change to our daily routines & a great chance to learn something new (whether it's AI tools for our science, chopping wood, or making waffles)!

Group photo of the smiling members of the group on a green meadow with green trees in the background

Remote Sensing of Polar Regions, University of Bremen @polarbremen.bsky.social · Jun 2

Our group tracks #seaice extent. To create time series (see below), we align data from newer satellites with older sources using @nsidc.bsky.social data. It's troubling that maintenance may be halted (eos.org/research-and...).

We hope the value of these datasets is recognized before it’s too late!