Posted on 03/13/2020 4:46:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The consequences of the coronavirus outbreak have affected one of the most remote scientific expeditions on the planet: the research ship Polarstern, which is carrying hundreds of researchers as it drifts in sea ice near the North Pole.
Some scientists have been able to come and go by aircraft, which can land on an ice runway near the ship. But a scientific experiment planned for this month, which would have involved an aircraft taking atmospheric measurements around the ship, was postponed after a team member tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
"One member of a team for scientific flights with our research aircraft tested positive for the virus late last week," said expedition leader Marcus Rex, of Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute, which operates the Polarstern.
The team member tested positive for the virus before joining the expedition and so never traveled to the ship. He and about 20 other members of the aircraft team are now under quarantine at their homes in Germany, Rex said.
The planned aircraft experiment, which would have entailed making measurements of gas concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere, has been postponed until the quarantine is lifted, but the rest of the expedition — dubbed the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate, or MOSAiC — has not been affected.
"The research aircraft operations are a component of MOSAiC, which is quite separate from the rest of the expedition," Rex told Live Science in an email. "Only this component is affected at this point."
Coronavirus precautions
The Polarstern and hundreds of scientists on board are drifting with ice near the North Pole to learn more about the Arctic environment during the polar winter.The Polarstern and hundreds of scientists on board are drifting with ice near the North Pole to learn more about the Arctic environment
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Do polar bears get coronavirus.
There’s ice at the North pole? I thought it was covered with palm trees.
Sounds like fake noose to me too. Butt, we should be getting some snow and ice around Tahoe this weekend.
Cool picture. I always liked night time operations.
How many gallons of fossil fuel is that big boat burning on this voyage?
Drifting?
Maybe they’ll find Santa and the Democrats can all be happy.
“The Love Boat soon will be making another run.
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set your sights on an iceberg
A chance for a new romance with a Walrus.”
What? That’s not the Nathan James!
Sounds better lol
I was wondering if anyone else had watched The Last Ship...
*ping*
How do they know it would have been a disaster?
Because the Left propaganda machine, with a LOT of help from normally sane people, told them it had to be a disaster..
Dang it, didn't you look at the picture! At night it has ice. The palm trees come out when the sun rises.
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