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In Uruguay, the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has begun negotiations on a global plastics agreement, including in the marine environment. The first part of the INC to develop an international legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution is taking place in Punta del Este until December 2. AWI scientist Melanie Bergmann is also attending as part of the German delegation.

"Highly Cited Researchers in 2022": The company "Clarivate" has honored AWI scientists Hans-Otto Pörtner, Sebastian Primpke and Gunnar Gerdts as highly cited scientists. The list recognizes individuals at universities, research institutes and commercial organizations who have demonstrated a disproportionate level of significant and broad influence in their field or fields of research. More information.

With the retreat of ice sheets during the transition from the last glacial period to the current interglacial, massive amounts of old organic material were released and found their way into the ocean. The material stemmed e.g. from oil shale, a type of rock containing substantial organic material, which was left behind as finely ground “glacial meal” by melting glaciers, was exposed to the atmosphere, and ultimately transported out to ocean, rapidly oxidising during the process. As our planet warmed after the last glacial, the release of old carbonaceous…

We know little about the fish stocks in the central Arctic Ocean, and what we know about the local ecosystem is insufficient to ensure sustainable management. In response, in June 2021 the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean – which includes a moratorium on fishing in the region – entered into force. The European Union and nine other countries signed the Agreement. From 23 to 25 November 2022, the first conference of the parties will take place in Seoul (South Korea). Dr Hauke Flores from the Alfred Wegener…

Every year, the cross-shelf transport of carbon-rich particles from the Barents and Kara Seas could bind up to 3.6 million metric tons of CO2 in the Arctic deep sea for millennia. In this region alone, a previously unknown transport route uses the biological carbon pump and ocean currents to absorb atmospheric CO2 on the scale of Iceland’s total annual emissions, as researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute and partner institutes report in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.

AWI geophysicist Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben receives the ECORD Award 2022 as well as with Ulla Röhl from the MARUM for her outstanding contribution and longstanding commitment to scientific ocean drilling and the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).

For the third time in four years, students of the HIGHSEA program were awarded with the Dr. Hans Riegel Award. The award ceremony took place on November 2, 2022, at the University of Bremen. The students received prize money of a total of 1000 euros as well as a lot of praise and great recognition for their outstanding work.

Honored again: "A Year in the Ice: The Arctic Drift," the documentary on the MOSAiC expedition has won the British Grierson Award in the category "Best Science Documentary." The jury's decision read, "We were genuinely blown away by the ambition, expertise and logistical undertaking of this epic production."

In 2022, global fossil CO2 emissions will reach 36.6 billion metric tons of CO2, which is slightly above the pre-pandemic level. Together with emissions from land use, amounting to 3.9 billion metric tons, total emissions will reach 40.6 billion tons, which is slightly below the highest level, from 2019 (40.9 billion tons). These are the outcomes of a report just released by the Global Carbon Project, which the Alfred Wegener Institute helped to prepare.

To what extent does polymetallic nodule mining impact the ecosystem in the deep sea? This is what the MiningImpact expedition SO295 with the research vessel SONNE is investigating for the next two months in the exploration contract areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the North Pacific. During the collection of polymetallic nodules, the bio-active layer of the seabed is removed and the sediments suspended during the mining operation blanket also large areas in the vicinity. The aim of the current research cruise is to determine the extent of the…