The COVID 19 pandemic may delay the return of UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Chris Marsay from the Arctic icecap. Marsay has been on board the German icebreaker Polarstern for several weeks.

R/V Polarstern
Photo credit: Stephanie Arndt/Alfred Wegener Institute

The ship is deliberately frozen solid in the Arctic ice cap as the centerpiece of a major international research project named Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate or “MOSAiC.”

Marsay had expected to complete his work on the Polarstern this spring and return to UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. However, as outlined in this article from NPR, those plans may change.