È stata la 26esima spedizione del vascello Polarstern (Stella polate)

An undated handout picture provided by the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research on 06 October 2011 shows employees from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) work on the ice in the Artic at the North Pole. In the central Arctic the proportion of old, thick sea ice has declined significantly. Instead, the ice cover now largely consists of thin, one-year-old floes. This is one of the results that scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association brought back from the 26th Arctic expedition of the research vessel Polarstern. (Epa/Stefan Hendriks/Alfred Wegener Institute)