Quiesser was chosen, along with one of her students, Steffen Koch, to take part in "Schools on Board", a project of the Canadian University of Manitoba. Twelve international teachers and students took part in the research expedition to the Polar Sea.

The 15 students in Quiesser's "Enrichment Course"in Kiel also benefitted from her experience: she took the students' questions from the course "The Ocean Environment: What is it like to live in the sea?" with her on board the Amundsen. The Enrichment course is offered to talented and interested students in the 6th and 7th grades. The students learn about the adaptability of sea organisms to their ocean enviroment by carrying out experiments and visiting scientific research institutes. The course is a joint project of the "NaT-Working Meeresforschung" (GEOMAR) and the Cluster of Excellence "Future Ocean".

Questions from the Enrichment Course to the Polar Travellers -   Answers from on board

Question: What can you buy in the stores in the Arctic?

Queisser: We didn't find anything in the supermarket there that you couldn't also buy here.

Question: How deep is the water in the Arctic?

Queisser: The Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean in the world. At the deepest point, the Molloy Deep, 150 km north west of Spitzbergen, it is 5607 meters deep...

Question: What types of ice are there in the Arctic?

Queisser: There is frazil ice, pankcake ice and ice floes... When ice floes are pressed together they form pack ice ridges up to eight meters high.

In the Arctic there are also icebergs, which are formed when glaciers calve into the sea. In the area where we are, there aren't any icebergs.

Some ice floes are brown, this is called "dirty ice". The dirty ice comes from sediment that is carried along with the floe or by ice algae that live on the bottom of the iceberg. If an iceberg has run aground it may also be dragging along sediment, which would rise to the surface if the iceberg capsized.

Question: How many types of whales are there in the Arctic?

Queisser: Whales and Dolphins belong to the group Cetacea. There are 22 different types in the Arctic.

Contact

Dr. Joachim Dengg
Institution:GEOMAR | Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel
Phone: +49 431 600-4006E-mail: jdengg@geomar.de