News

The meteorological observatory at the Antarctic Neumayer Station III is now officially considered to be a climate observation station by virtue of the fact that meteorologists of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association have been measuring the air temperature in Antarctica on a daily basis for 30 years. One of the results of the long-term research: the air at Neumayer Station has not become warmer over the past three decades.

On 6 January 1912, the annual meeting of the Geological Association in Frankfurt, Germany witnessed the spectacle of one man against the world. On this date, the meteorologist Alfred Wegener, then 31, gave his talk on the formation of oceans and continents, and in the process shook the foundations of accepted doctrine. The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research will celebrate its namesake on the hundredth anniversary of his theory. Together with the Senckenberg Museum, the AWI will host a commemorative colloquium at the historic scene of…

With dog food and a pack of huskies Dr. Veit Helm would not get far on his Antarctic expeditions. Instead, the geophysicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association conducts research on the icy continent from on board an aircraft and successfully completed the first measurement campaign of the new Polar 6 research plane a few days ago. (with photo gallery)

Current Science publication shows: Antarctica was not as climatically isolated as previously thought

HIGHSEA, the innovative classroom instruction project of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, will cooperate with the Carl-von-Ossietzky School Centre in Bremerhaven as of the coming school year.

A new wind turbine for the guesthouse of the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland will be inaugurated today. The quietrevolution qr5 micro wind turbine is going to help cover the power requirements for the so-called Mielck-Haus in Helgoland’s Unterland.

Today researchers from eleven countries will meet in Potsdam to launch a new, four-year EU project. What happens when the vast amounts of carbon in Arctic soils are released to the atmosphere?

Bremerhaven, 2nd November 2011. Prof. Antje Boetius, head of the deep-sea research group at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association and Professor of Geomicrobiology at the University of Bremen has received confirmation of the European Research Council's commitment of funds to the amount of about 3,4 million Euros. The renowned biologist from Bremen will use the funds in the coming five years to explore the deep-sea floor in the Arctic to unravel the role of the largely unknown bacterial communities living…

Today the new polar research aircraft Polar 6 will be presented in Bremerhaven, at the beginning of next week the Basler BT-67 will take off to the Antarctic. Its first job there will be to carry out measurements of the ice crust, which is up to several kilometres thick.

On Friday, 28 October 2011 the research icebreaker Polarstern sets off on its 28th Antarctic expedition. Over 200 scientists and technicians from research institutions in 14 countries will take part in the five expedition legs.