News

Kiel/Bremerhaven/Helgoland. Fresh breeze for the dive centre of the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland: Schleswig-Holstein’s Education and Science Secretary of State Jost de Jager handed today a grant notification of 850.000 Euros for the modernization and expansion of this research and training facility over to the directorate of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association.

The first season of the international drilling project NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling) in north-western Greenland was completed today. A research team, with the participation of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, has drilled an ice core of altogether 1757.87 m length on the Greenland inland ice within 110 days. It is expected to contain data on climate history of about 38.000 years.

Three research institutes from the German federal state Bremen among others have set up an observation ward for the long-term observation of a mud volcano in the Norwegian deep sea. This took place during RV Polarstern’s 24th Arctic expedition from July 10th until August 3rd. The endeavours are part of the project ESONET (European Seas Observatory NETwork), funded by the European Union. Its purposes are to provide information about the dynamics of gas eruptions in the next years and to show the consequences of these eruptions, for example on the…

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute have researched the geology of the seabed in the Labrador Sea on board of the research vessel Maria S. Merian. They have studied the so-called Eirik Drift at the southern tip of Greenland, a structure of several hundred kilometres length formed like a ridge. They discovered a submarine mountain (seamount) at the south-western fringe of their area of investigation that indicates volcanic eruptions during the past few million years.

A new measurement system for the detection of whales is used for the first time on board of the research vessel Polarstern. Whales are usually difficult to spot. Visual sightings by marine mammal observers are therefore usually based on observations of the spout, the condensing and quite warm breathing cloud. It rises, depending on the whale species and wind conditions, between one metre and ten metres over the water surface and remains visible for only a few seconds. A thermal imaging camera specifically optimized for this purpose now uses the heat of…

Diatoms play a key role in the photosynthesis of the oceans and are therefore intensively studied. Together with international colleagues researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have made a new discovery regarding the evolution of diatoms’ photosynthesis. Results are presented in the current issue of the periodical “SCIENCE”.

The German research vessel Polarstern, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, will begin its 24th Arctic expedition on Saturday, June 20th. 119 scientists from seven different nations will research the whole spectrum of current Arctic topics in three journey stages: climate history and current climate development, effects on the ecosystem ranging from bacteria to marine mammals, and also geoscientific questions regarding sediment structure and tectonics of the Arctic. Polarstern is expected…

Climate researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and KlimaCampus of the University of Hamburg participate for the second time in an international scientific competition. Some of the most renowned climate research institutes worldwide fathom possibilities for seasonal prognoses of Arctic sea ice cover by means of different methods and climate models. The declared aim of all participants is to find the best method for reliable prognoses. The German researchers agree upon a continuing negative trend. Another critical…

An international team of researchers from Russia, Germany, the USA and Austria has conducted a deep drilling program in the far northeast of Russia during the last six months to retrieve several hundred meters of lake sediments, impact breccias and permanently frozen soil. These make new insights into the climate history of the Arctic, crater formation of Lake El’gygytgyn and permafrost dynamics possible. A milestone has been reached at the beginning of May with the first results of the drilling campaign. The cores gained will help to answer crucial open…

Am 24. Mai 2009 wird das Forschungsschiff Polarstern mit dem morgendlichen Hochwasser um 3:00 Uhr von seiner 25. Antarktisexpedition in Bremerhaven zurückerwartet. Rund 180 Wissenschaftler aus 16 Ländern haben in den letzten sechseinhalb Monaten den Ozean mit seiner belebten und unbelebten Umwelt sowie seine Wechselwirkungen mit der Atmosphäre erforscht. Die Expedition teilte sich in fünf Fahrtabschnitte, die Besatzungen und Wissenschaftlerteams wechselten bei Hafenaufenthalten in Südafrika und Chile.