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A recent study in the journal Science traces the natural cycles of the Earth's climate over a period of one million years. The international research team analysed sediment core data and looked at past climate changes between ice ages and interglacial periods.

There is a greater variety of hydrothermal systems in the deep sea than previously assumed. This is the result of a recent study lead by MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Bremen. On an expedition with the research icebreaker POLARSTERN, researchers discovered the northernmost hydrothermal field on Earth here – only around 300 kilometers from the North Pole. This discovery suggests that research into hydrothermal activity in the deep sea needs to be rethought. The results were published in…

On Tuesday, 18 February 2025 as part of a specialist appointment, Federal Minister of Research Cem Özdemir visited the thyssenkrupp Marine Systems shipyard in Wismar. There, he was informed about the current state of construction regarding the new research icebreaker Polarstern for the Alfred Wegener Institute. Shortly before Christmas 2024, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, with support from the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag, had approved the award of contract. With Bettina Martin, Minister of Science for the Federal State of…

On February 14, it's “There is no Planet B” all over Germany again. This is because people across the country are taking to the streets in the climate strike to campaign for more climate protection and a sustainable future. Employees at the AWI sites Neumayer Station III in the Antarctic, AWIPEV in the Arctic and the people on Polarstern are also taking part in the climate strike.

AWI Director Antje Boetius will take part in a panel discussion at the “Paris Saclay Summit” on February 12 at 6 pm. The topic: “Can the Arctic still be saved?”. The marine biologist will discuss this topic together with Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, special envoy of the French President for the United Nation Ocean Conference, French Ambassador for the Poles and Oceans. To the livestream.

Like a conveyor belt, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) transports warm water from the tropics northwards at the ocean surface and cold water southwards in the deep sea. Through this heat distribution, it plays a central role in the global climate system. However, increasing global warming as a result of climate change is altering the circulation patterns of the AMOC. In a recent study, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute found that this change has led to asynchronous poleward shifts of the Atlantic subtropical gyre in…

Countless tiny icequakes occur deep inside ice streams, as an international research team has been able to demonstrate for the first time. This allows the flow of the ice streams and the associated change in sea level to be estimated more precisely. The quakes are responsible for the fact that ice streams also move with a continuous stick-slip motion and not only like viscous honey as previously considered. The underlying seismic data from inside the NEGIS ice stream in north-east Greenland was recorded by researchers in a 2,665-metre-deep borehole using…

The Arctic plays a central role in the global climate system, particularly through its function as a carbon sink. However, climate change could disrupt its balance. An international research team headed by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has presented a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the Arctic carbon cycle. The results, which have been published in the scientific journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, provide new and updated numbers and highlight existing uncertainties.

Modern working conditions for marine biodiversity research – that's what the new building of the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at Wechloy Technology Park provides. The facility is an eye-catcher both inside and out.

Der Ozean gehört zu den größten Senken der Erde, um Kohlenstoff aus landbasierten (terrestrischen) Ökosystemen zu speichern. Trotz seiner entscheidenden Rolle im globalen Kohlenstoffkreislauf ist jedoch noch immer nicht klar, woher dieser Kohlenstoff stammt. Forschende des Alfred-Wegener-Instituts haben mit neuartigen Methoden Sedimentkerne aus dem Pazifik untersucht und können anhand von alter Pflanzen-DNA nun zum ersten Mal detaillierte Aussagen über die genaue Herkunft und die Dynamik terrestrischen Kohlenstoffs in Ozeanen machen. Das kann helfen, die…