A German research icebreaker has returned home after drifting 3,400km locked in Arctic ice – all part of a study to gain new information about the earth’s climate.

The RV Polarstern is back in Bremerhaven, the end of a voyage known as the ‘Mosaic’ expedition to research the climate system in the central Arctic. She left Tromsø, Norway, on September 20 last year. Mosaic is short for Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.

Orchestrated by Bremerhaven’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), hundreds of scientists from 20 countries took part in the initiative, swapping places over the duration of the voyage. More than 80 research institutes were involved.

Researchers were able to collect data about sea ice, the ocean, ecosystems and biogeochemistry at temperatures as low as minus 42.3o

Celsius. Seven icebreakers and research ships were used to replenish supplies and allow personnel changes.