Frederik paulsen biography sample

The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), the first project run by the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI), will set sail this evening from South Africa. The Akademik Treshnikov is a Russian research vessel that has been chartered for this expedition. It will carry nearly 60 researchers around the southernmost continent on a data-gathering voyage in a bold initiative to improve our understanding of the impact of climate change in the Southern Ocean. A new chair – the Ingvar Kamprad Chair of Extreme Environments – will also be made official today.

The time has come. The Akademik Treshnikov will leave the port of Cape Town, South Africa today on the three-month Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE). The imposing Russian research ship will carry over people: some 60 researchers from 30 different countries and about the same number of crew members. In addition to circumnavigating Antarctica, they will visit around twelve subantarctic islands.

This is the first project put together by the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI). It was Frederik Paulsen, a businessman and major philanthropist, who came up with the idea. He is also providing the ACE expedition with logistical backing, drawing on his extensive experience in Arctic exploration. Additional support is being provided by Presence Switzerland, a unit of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The idea behind the ACE expedition is to measure and quantify the impact of environmental changes and pollution in the Southern Ocean. This region plays a key role in climate regulation: currents of icy water deep in the ocean travel from the poles toward the equator, while warm water and air move across the ocean's surface towards the cold regions. The earth's climate can thus be compared to a huge heat engine. This process of heat transfer between polar and tropical regions is also an important component of the carbon cycle and a key factor in the oceans' ability to store CO2.

"The poles are essential for climate ba

Later in , Paulsen intends to explore the Pantanal. “I’ve always dreamt of visiting,” he says. “It’s known as the ‘other Amazon of Brazil’ and is located on the eastern part of the Andes. It’s an extraordinary place, where many of the rivers that flow into the Río de la Plata originate. There’s a lot of development set to take place there, so now feels like an opportune time to visit before it’s too late.” The wetland, he says, is under threat from both infrastructure development and untreated waste pollution, both of which will destabilise the regional ecosystem that is currently considered a sanctuary of biodiversity. 

There are also plans in the autumn for Paulsen and his team to take part in a joint scientific cruise around the jewels of the Russian Arctic, the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya. “We also have a mission around Greenland with the Swiss Polar Institute,” Paulsen says. “That was booked in for but was cancelled. After that, we might cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon in September. Then it’s back to Antarctica for an exploration of the coast.

“There are many places in Antarctica where I haven’t been,” he adds, despite the fact that he’s visited annually for the past 15 years. “The Antarctic mountain chain is one of the last places on Earth where there are stretches of land that have never been visited, mountains that have never been climbed. That would be paradise for me. Another place that I think is under-explored is northern Canada. Going down the Saint Lawrence River, for instance, is something I would love to do. Life is too short.” 

This article first appeared in the Summer issue of LUX Magazine, in the third in a series of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management/LUX supplements about our ocean and its importance to both the environmental and economic wellbeing of the planet.