Past Arctic climate secrets to be revealed during i2B “Into The Blue” Arctic Ocean Expedition 2025

From 16th August to 19th September 2025, the Norwegian research vessel R/V Kronprins Haakon will be sailing into the Arctic Ocean for an expedition organised and funded through the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant “i2B – Into The Blue”. The i2B Arctic Ocean Expedition team consisting of 25 scientists will collect new geological archives that will shed light on Arctic climate during past ‘warmer-than-present-day’ conditions (interglacial periods). These archives are crucial to understand the impact of a “blue” (free of seasonal sea-ice) Arctic Ocean during key interglacial periods, ca. 130,000 and 400,000 years ago. Follow the i2B Arctic Ocean Expedition: https://arcg.is/0favaf0

What are the global impacts of an ice-free Arctic? How will the Arctic develop with increasing climate warming? What does an ice-free Arctic mean for our environment and our society? These are the key questions that the i2B project will address over the coming years, using cutting-edge research, geological records, and numerical models. i2B brings together researchers from UiT The Arctic University of Norway, AWI - The Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (Germany), NORCE Climate and Environment in Bergen (Norway), and UiB University of Bergen (Norway).

 

Why It Matters

The impact of global warming on the Arctic has long preoccupied researchers, because the concrete impacts on the region and our entire planet have so far been unclear. Summer ice melt starts earlier and lasts longer each year, with future projections showing sea-ice-free summers before 2050. These trends raise broader climate challenges in the Arctic such as marine heatwaves, Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean, ecosystem shifts, altered weather patterns, ice-albedo feedbacks, methane release, and this on top of new geopolitical dynamics in an ice-free Arctic.  

What the i2B Arctic Ocean Expedition Will Do

Collect high-resolution sediment cores at multiple sites to reconstruct temperature, sea ice conditions, oceanography and the ecosystem during warm past interglacial periods, ca. 130,000 and 400,000 years ago Compare these data with modern observations to test how the Arctic transitioned to a “blue ocean” state in warmer climates. Examine whether the past serves as a window into our future – are we at the brink of a new tipping point?

 

Expedition Team

Expedition leaders/co-chief scientists: Jochen Knies and Stijn De Schepper  25 scientists from nine different countries

 

Links & Further Reading

Into the Blue: An ERC Synergy Grant Resolving Past Arctic Greenhouse Climate States (Published in Challenges): https://doi.org/10.3390/challe16030036 The changing nature of future Arctic marine heatwaves and its potential impacts on the ecosystem (Published in Nature Climate Change): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02224-7 Seasonal sea ice characterized the glacial Arctic-Atlantic gateway over the past 750,000 years (Science Advances):  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu7681 Press release: Frozen, but not sealed: Arctic Ocean remained open to life during ice ages: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1089766 END