This blog aims to highlight a kaleidoscope of ongoing multi-facetted research activities at or near the Cape Verde Archipelago off West Africa More info
I’m a dreamer. One of those who believe that life makes sense when lived with intensity, emotion and a touch of adrenaline. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to discover the world, travel to unknown places and, above all, do science that could transform realities. When the opportunity arose to embark on […]
Flap! Flap! Coo…. These pigeon noises, perfectly normal in any congested city, are entirely unexpected here. We are sailing through the eastern tropical North Atlantic on the German icebreaker POLARSTERN that is our home for two weeks. Water to the horizon in all directions and then… a pigeon! A quick look to portside solves the […]
Things got serious for us on the morning of 1 April. It was slowly getting light on the Cabo Verdean island of Sao Vicente, the local trade wind from the north-east was pushing waves into the bay of Mindelo as a research vessel turned around the corner after many months of its expedition in the […]
German version below Tales of A Marine Scientist Growing up, I have always been fascinated by the sea- this endless beautiful body of water. People loved to go to the beach for recreation, but I always wanted to see what the sea brought to land-shells, plants, shoes. It was a different kind of love. So, […]
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be part of a research cruise? Ever since I joined the WASCAL master’s program in Climate Change and Marine Sciences, I have earnestly been waiting for the program’s shipboard training component. My expectations prior to the cruise were quite high as I could not wait to immerse […]
>deutsche Fassung siehe weiter unten< It is unbelievable that around Cabo Verde, there exists a large expanse of blue water bigger than a River. The research voyage on the R/V MARIA S. MERIAN began on February 26, 2022 and we are still excited and impressed by the famous big blue ‘water body’ that is called OCEAN. […]
>German version below< The research trip on R/V MARIA S. MERIAN was scheduled to start on the 26th of February, 2022 and we were all excited and couldn’t wait to get started. This cruise being one of the scholarship packages of Climate Change and Marine Sciences under WASCAL motivated most of us and raised our […]
>German version below< It’s kind of crazy that you want to investigate the oceans and have to go to the mountains first. Huh, why is that? I haven’t quite understood it yet myself , but that is what I did.Due to the Corona pandemic, it is unfortunately no longer so easy to explore the ocean […]
(English below) Hier kommt ein Update von der Stemme-Crew. Diesmal aus unserer neuen “Zentrale” auf Fogo! Gestern sind wir mit den wichtigsten Teilen der Ausrüstung von der Insel Sal nach Fogo umgezogen. Da die Fähre wegen der großen Wellen nicht lief, sind wir alle mit dem Flugzeug geflogen. Leider sind einige unserer Geräte nicht angekommen, […]
(English below) Es schneit, es schneit, …. Auf den Kap Verden?! Nein, nicht das, was ihr denkt! Die Rede ist von “marine snow”. Also Schnee im Ozean. Das sind herabsinkende Partikel oder Aggregate biogenen Ursprungs, die unter Wasser wie Schneeflocken aussehen und eine wichtige Rolle im Partikelfluss des Ozeans spielen. Diese Aggregate, beispielsweise aus abgestorbenem […]