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At depths of more than 4,000 meters, cold, dense water masses from the Southern Ocean flow northwards into the large ocean basins, such as the Atlantic. This Antarctic bottom water drives deep-sea currents all over the world and circulates water masses to transport oxygen far down into the depths. An international research team, including the Alfred Wegener Institute, has now discovered that ocean currents have weakened by around twelve per cent due to the Antarctic bottom water. The study is published in Nature Geoscience.

The Ambassador of Chile, Magdalena Atria, visited the AWI on 17 April 2024 to attend the kick-off meeting of the new EU project POLARIN, in which the Chilean Antarctic Institute INACH is involved as a partner. She was welcomed by AWI Vice Director Uwe Nixdorf and AWI scientists. After a guided tour through the AWI building D, the participants talked about the long-standing collaboration and the various joint research projects.

In climate research, medicine, or the exploration of new materials for the energy transition, huge amounts of data are being generated. However, their full potential can only be realized if scientists can analyze ever-larger amounts of data. A new generation of AI foundation models is now poised to tackle a range of major challenges in science. The Alfred Wegener Institute is involved in two of the four pilot projects funded by the Helmholtz Association, one in a leading role. Helmholtz is funding the projects and the necessary infrastructure with around…

AWI Director Antje Boetius, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and her French counterpart Sylvie Retailleau are currently visiting the German-French research base AWIPEV in Ny-Ålesund for three days together with the Norwegian State Secretary Sindre Lysø. "We are here in a region that has warmed six times faster than the global average over the last 40 years," says Antje Boetius. "Despite these worrying findings, I am always inspired by the hope that the scientists show."

During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~21,000 years ago), the Laurentide ice sheet covered large parts of North America – reaching an ice thickness of more than 3 km, before it finally melted at the end of the ice age. To date, there have been few detailed studies of the evolution of the North American ice sheet into the LGM. In a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have used a newly developed climate-ice model to draw conclusions about…

The role of clouds and warm air masses from the open ocean for the rapid warming of the Arctic is at the heart of a recent Alfred Wegener Institute project on Svalbard. The researchers are applying a new perspective and tracking how individual air masses cool above the sea ice, form clouds, and lose moisture through precipitation. To do so, they’re using specially designed weather balloons capable of continually measuring the temperature and humidity within a given air mass.

Sport junkie or couch potato? Always on time or often late? The animal kingdom, too, is home to a range of personalities, each with its own lifestyle. In a study just released in the journal PLOS Biology, a team led by Sören Häfker and Kristin Tessmar-Raible from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the University of Vienna report on a surprising discovery: even simple marine polychaete worms shape their day-to-day lives on the basis of highly individual rhythms. This diversity is of interest not just for…

AWI Director Antje Boetius gave a speech at the event "Sailing into the future for the Ocean Decade" on the importance of scientific data collected by racing boats for science. The event took place during the Ocean Decade Week in Barcelona and was organized by The Ocean Race & IOC UNESCO. The innovation platform SOOP (Shaping an Ocean Of Possibilities for science-industry collaboration), in which the AWI is also involved, was also presented.

Microplastic particles can be found in the most remote ocean regions on earth. In Antarctica, pollution levels are even higher than previously assumed. This is one finding of a recent study by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Basel. 

The council formed by national science academies of the EU Member States, Norway, Switzerland and United Kingdom calls for the EU Nature Restoration Law and urges EU Member States to contribute to the preservation of nature, climate and sustainable agriculture. In a statement, the science academies call on those intending to vote against or abstain from the law to reconsider their position based on the best available scientific evidence and champion the law. More information.