Ship radar images of the last 14 days

Actual radar-image sequence of RV Polarstern from the last 14 days.
More videos can be found here.

Live stream from on board: The latest radar images of the ship’s surroundings

Every day, here at meereisportal.de we show from now on a video sequence of ship radar images. The RV Polarstern’s marine radar systems will continue to operate throughout the drift phase and images produced by the system are transmitted to Bremerhaven several times a day. The imaging system, which shows Polarstern in the centre of the screen, offers vital information on floe movements, deformation and formation of cracks in the ship’s immediate vicinity.

Radar Systems on the RV Polarstern:

Navigation at sea is facilitated by radar systems. In this regard, RV Polarstern is equipped with several marine radar systems, which are used to identify other ships and obstacles. When moving through pack ice, these systems offer information on the presence of channels or massively deformed pack ice. The radar systems feature rotating antennas that are mounted on the observation deck, above the bridge. The antennas transmit microwave pulses at short intervals, which are reflected back to the radar system by the water or pack ice. This produces an image of the positions of ice floes within a radius of 3 nautical miles (ca. 5,4 km) and their sizes in relation to the ship. This imaging technique remains unaffected by weather or darkness, i.e., it can penetrate rainclouds and fog, and offers an undiminished view at night (you can find more information on marine radar systems here.
An example for a scientific application of a marine radar system to study sea ice deformation can be found here.

Contact person at the AWI: Dr Thomas Krumpen

Contact person at the FMI: Dr Jari Haapala