Abstract. The 12th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) was held in Whitehorse, Canada, from 16 to 20 June 2024, with the overall theme “Integrating perspectives of permafrost thaw, change, and adaptation”. The conference brought together numerous different permafrost-related research disciplines, allowing for inter- and intra-disciplinary exchange and collaboration. Over 470 permafrost researchers from all over the world gathered in Whitehorse to attend the conference and share their findings, in a place where permafrost is also highly relevant to the local community, environment, and infrastructure. The conference venue was a great place to exchange ideas and a great place for graduate students and early career scientists who want to be actively involved in the permafrost community. Funding from the German Society for Polar Research (DGP) enabled three early career scientists from Germany to attend the conference and benefit from this unique opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, and inspiration, and to expand their network in the scientific community. We would like to emphasize that such funding is extremely valuable for fostering the integration of early career researchers (ECRs) into the global research community.

Abstract. During World War II, the German Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe operated a series of weather stations on Svalbard between 1941 and 1945 to obtain information on synoptic weather situations in the Arctic. These activities also included some of the first automatic weather stations. With a few exceptions, the meteorological observations from these military stations are regarded as lost. Most of these observations could now be retrieved from weather maps of the German Zentrale Wetterdienstgruppe (ZWG) that are preserved in the archives of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). Reports of surface pressure and temperature have been digitized for the military weather stations Bansö in 1941/42, Knospe in 1941/42, Nussbaum in 1942/43, Kreuzritter in 1943/44, and Svartisen in 1943/44 and for automatic weather stations operated on Svalbard. These data can help to close the existing gap in the Svalbard climate record for 1941–1945 and to provide additional observational constraints for future climate reanalysis. These data also provide a new perspective on the history of the German meteorological activities in the Arctic during World War II by showing the impact these observations had on the meteorological analyses. In this sense, this paper also tries to bridge the gap between climate research and history.

Abstract. This paper was initiated by a multidisciplinary Topic Workshop in the frame of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Priority Program 1158 “Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Ice Areas”, and hence it represents only the national view without claiming to be complete but is intended to provide awareness and suggestions for the current discussion on so-called big data in many scientific fields. The importance of the polar regions and their essential role for the Earth system are both undoubtedly recognized. However, dramatic changes in the climate and environment have been observed first in the Arctic and later in Antarctica over the past few decades. While important data have been collected and observation networks have been built in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, this is a relatively data-scarce region due to the challenges of remote data acquisition, expensive labor, and harsh environmental conditions. There are many approaches crossing multiple scientific disciplines to better understand Antarctic processes; to evaluate ongoing climatic and environmental changes and their manifold ecological, physical, chemical, and geological consequences; and to make (improved) predictions. Together, these approaches generate very large, multivariate data sets, which can be broadly classified as “Antarctic big data”. For these large data sets, there is a pressing need for improved data acquisition, curation, integration, service, and application to support fundamental scientific research. Based on deficiencies in crossing disciplines and to attract further interest in big data in Antarctic sciences, this article will (i) describe and evaluate the current status of big data in various Antarctic-related scientific disciplines, (ii) identify current gaps, (iii) and provide solutions to fill these gaps.

Abstract. A lot of things in life need money and so does polar science: money is needed to participate in conferences, undertake fieldwork campaigns or pay for salaries, such as in PhD projects or permanent research positions. To give an overview on the general funding landscape for polar early-career scientists in Germany, APECS Germany (the German National Committee of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, APECS) has started to host a list of grant, fellowship and other funding opportunities at https://apecs-germany.de/funding/ (last access: 15 October 2022). This is visualized in Fig. 1. Once a suitable funding scheme has been found, grant writing requires good preparation, a well-structured and written proposal, and several back-up plans.

Abstract. The Second German Antarctic Expedition (1911–1912) did not have a good start, because Wilhelm Filchner (1877–1957) failed to secure his position as expedition leader. His problems began long before the expedition set sail: he had the support neither of the scientists and officers on board nor of the scientific community in Germany. The enforced choice of the captain, who suffered from syphilis, brought the expedition to the brink of collapsing. In addition, the rivalry between the groups on board the Deutschland, and the usual challenging circumstances any expedition confronts in these regions, led to mutiny at the end of their time in Grytviken, South Georgia. Upon the expedition's return to Germany, “courts of honour” took place to adjudicate on the mutual accusations. This article reviews some of the reasons why this expedition was disaster-prone. The article is based on research from my PhD thesis (Rack, 2010).

Abstract. Gletscher gibt es in Deutschland nur in dem sehr kleinen Alpenanteil und dort nur an wenigen, für die Eismassen günstigen Stellen. Diese Gletscher sind vermutlich keine Relikte der letzten Eiszeit, sondern Reste der kühleren Phasen der letzten Jahrhunderte. Trotzdem ging von diesen verbliebenen Eisreserven seit dem Beginn der touristischen Erschließung der Alpen eine große Faszination aus, da sie teilweise vom Tal aus zu sehen, oder verhältnismäßig leicht zu erreichen waren. Selbst heute noch kann man auf dem nördlichen Schneeferner den einzigen Gletscherskilift in Deutschland erleben, wenngleich auch dort die Gletscherflächen erheblich zurückgegangen sind. Die frühe Aufmerksamkeit führte auch dazu, dass es viele historische Dokumente über diese Gletscher gibt und so zumindest ihre Veränderung seit dem Ende der kleinen Eiszeit gut dokumentiert ist. Heute sind fast alle der bayerischen Gletscher am Rande ihrer Existenz und es ist nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis der deutsche Alpenraum eisfrei wird. Wir versuchen mit diesem Beitrag die Entwicklung der Gletscher seit den ersten Untersuchungen zu dokumentieren.