In the mid-1970s a large ice-free area in the Weddell Sea east of the Antarctic Peninsula was observed by satellites during winter. 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.