Polar researchers refer to a large ice-free area in otherwise frozen seas with the Russian word "polynya".
In the mid-1970s a large ice-free area in the Weddell Sea east of the Antarctic Peninsula was observed by satellites during winter.
US-American scientists have calculated that the Weddell Polynya would probably not occur again because of climate change.
However, in several studies applying the "Kiel Climate Model" and other computer models, the research group in Kiel described the polynya as part of long-term natural variability, which would occur again sooner or later.
Now, 40 years later, the phenomenon shows up again. Its recurrence supports climate model studies by a research group at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, who identified the so-called polynya as part of natural climate variability and explained its causes and effects in several publications in recent years.
