 |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | RV Polarstern |
| Operator: | Alfred Wegener Institute |
| Port of Registry: |  Bremerhaven, Germany |
| Route: | Arctic and Antarctica |
| Builder: | Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft at Kiel and the Nobiskrug at Rendsburg |
| Laid down: | 22 February 1981 |
| Completed: | 1 December 1982 |
| Identification: | IMO Number 8013132 Call sign: DBLK |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Icebreaker research vessel |
| Displacement: | 17,300 Tonnes |
| Length: | 117.91 metres (386 ft 10 in) |
| Beam: | 25.07 metres (82 ft 3 in) |
| Draught: | 11.21 metres (36 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power: | 4 engines, 14,000 kW (20,000 bhp) |
| Speed: | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 44 maximum |
RV Polarstern (meaning pole star) is a German research icebreaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven. The Polarstern was commissioned in 1982 and is mainly used for research in the Arctic and Antarctica.
Polarstern was built by the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft at Kiel and the Nobiskrug at Rendsburg. The ship has a length of 118 metres (387 feet).
Polarstern is a double-hulled icebreaker. It is operational at temperatures as low as -50°C. (-58°F) Polarstern can break through ice 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) thick at a speed of 5 knots. Thicker ice must be broken by ramming.
On March 2, 2008, one of the vessel's helicopters crashed on a routine flight to the Antarctic Neumayer II base. The German pilot and a Dutch researcher were killed, three other passengers injured.[1][2]
On October 17, 2008, Polarstern, as the first research ship ever traveled through both the Northeast Passage and the Northwest Passage in one cruise and thus circumnavigated the North Pole.[3]
In popular culture, Polarstern is also the name of the first track of Eisbrecher's (German for Icebreaker) first album, Eisbrecher. Throughout the track, narrations are given specifying the dimensions and specifications of an enormous ship, blowing the measurements of the real icebreaker out of proportion (e.g.: length of 236 metres).
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: PFS Polarstern |
- Official site
- Current position of the Polarstern
- Secrets of the seas: Jurassic shrimp, hairy crabs and giant microbes, news article featuring The Polarstern
References
- ^ "awi.de - sad times (ANT-XXIV/3 Weekly report No. 3)". http://www.awi.de/en/infrastructure/ships/polarstern/weekly_reports/all_expeditions/ant_xxiv/ant_xxiv3/9_march_2008/. Retrieved on 2008-03-30.
- ^ "Pooljaar.nl - The crash in retrospect (article in Dutch)". http://pooljaar.nl/ijzer/2008/03/13/terugblik-op-de-crash/. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ "idw-online.de - Research around the North Pole". http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news284090. Retrieved on 2008-10-20.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
