News

Polar researcher and deep-sea biologist Antje Boetius will head the Alfred Wegener Institute, which she has coordinated since November 2017, for another five years. In her first term as Director, she has made essential contributions to strong international networking and increasing the visibility of German polar and marine research, overseen the largest expedition in the institute’s history, and paved the way for the construction of the new Polarstern II. Despite the numerous crises currently facing our world, her plans for the years to come remain…

Canada's Acadia University in Nova Scotia awarded Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner an honorary Doctor of Science on October 7, 2022, for his scholary leadership in researching the impacts of climate change. In his convocation message, he cites this and the loss of biodiversity as the greatest challenges of our time. We extend our congratulations on this outstanding award! 

Climate on land appears to be much more variable than currently simulated in climate models. The reason for this is the oceanic influence, which shapes the fluctuations in land temperature on long time scales. This is the conclusion suggested by a new study published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam used thousands of pollen records to create for the first time a map of the strength of regional temperature fluctuations over the last 8000 years. The consequence: In addition to…

Today, German Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger christened the Alfred Wegener Institute’s new research vessel Uthörn at the Fassmer shipyards in Berne. The new ship, measuring 35 metres long and with a price tag of ca. 15 million euros, will be the first seaworthy German ship powered by environmentally friendly, low-emissions methanol, setting new standards for sustainability in German shipping. After a two-year construction phase, the cutter is scheduled for a handover to the AWI this December. Over 200 guests from the…

What happens in the vast permafrost regions of the Arctic when the atmosphere heats up? The question still drives climate researchers because the frozen ground contains large amounts of carbon, which can be converted by microbes into the greenhouse gases methane and CO2. If the gases are released, this could accelerate global warming even more. Now, AWI researcher Julia Boike, together with colleagues from the GFZ and University of Hamburg, has published results from an almost twenty-year series of observations in Siberia. To the original press release.

Challenges and opportunities for science in society: This is the motto of the "Sustainability Series" of the Royal Irish Academy in Ireland. AWI Vice Director and Head of AWI Sites Sylt and Helgoland, Karen Wiltshire, will give a keynote lecture on "Coastal Seas in the Fast Lane of Climate Change: Resilience and Adaptation for a Sustainable Future" at the event on October 27, starting at 6:30 pm.

Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America - the continents not only organize the world, they also stand for the diversity of nature and culture on Earth. But how did our planet actually become the way it is? ZDF is showing the six-part series “Unsere Kontinente” that explores this question to mark the 40th anniversary of the documentary series “Terra X”. Prof. Antje Boetius, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, gives an overview of Australia and Oceania.

This year's meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) starts next week in Hobart, Australia. Among other things, the Commission sets fishing quotas for the Southern Ocean fisheries, including those for Antarctic krill. The journal Science dedicates an editorial by Bettina Meyer, biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, and her colleague So Kawaguchi from the Australian Antarctic Division to this topic in the current issue.

On 26 September, the operators of Nord Stream reported multiple gas leaks in the underwater pipeline. After consulting with the University of Göteborg and the responsible authorities, and after just three days of preparation, a Swedish and German research group led by Katarina Abrahamson departed on a five-day expedition to the site of the leak on board the research vessel Skagerak. Ellen Damm, Samuel Sellmaier and Volkmar Assmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute were on board to determine how much of the methane released was still in the waters of the…

Studie zeigt: Künftige Emissionen der Permafrostregion sind erheblich und müssen bei den globalen Klimazielen berücksichtigt werden