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Icebreaker Returns From A-Year-Long Expedition to North Pole

VOA News

   An icebreakerbelonging toGermany'sAlfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
   returned to GermanyMondaywithwhat the scientists on boardsayisproofof a
   dying Arctic Ocean and warnings of ice-free summers, afteramore
   thanyearlongexpeditionthat included time attheNorth Pole.

   Expedition leader Markus Rex said the teamcollecteda wealth of data
   that willbe used toimprove scientificmodels of global warmingtopredict
   climate changein thedecadesto come,especially in the Arctic, where
   changes have comefaster thanelsewhere on Earth.

   Rex,an atmospheric scientist atAWIfor Polar and Ocean Research that
   organized the expedition,said that scientistswitnessedfirsthandthe
   dramatic effects of global warming on ice in theArctic
   Circle,considered "the epicenter of climate change."

   The RVPolarsternarrivedin theNorth Seaport of Bremerhaven,389 daysafter
   it set off on its mission.

   More than 300 scientists from 20 countries, including the United
   States, Britain, France, Russia and Chinaparticipatedin the
   $177-million expedition.

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