News

Can meeting CO2 emission targets and thus limiting global warming prevent Antarctic ice from melting catastrophically? An international research team is preparing to drill into the sediment of the seabed deep beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf to find out.

For its 50th anniversary, the University of Bremen is organizing an online talk series to discuss how the university can help shape the major issues of our time. The next talk will take place on December 14 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. under the title "Quick, save the climate – but how?", with AWI Director Antje Boetius as guest. The event will be broadcasted via livestream. Further information

Under this title, AWI Director Antje Boetius will give a lecture in the new online format "Garden Talk" on December 8 at 8:30 pm. There, she will talk about the life forms under the polar ice and thus about one of the most undiscovered regions on the planet. Afterwards, she will be available to answer questions from all participants. Further information

Over the past decade, interest in using the marine coastal areas as a source of alternative, sustainable food production has grown significantly. A team of experts from 28 countries, including scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) has launched the SeaWheat project as a part of the EU program “COST” to modernise traditional aquatic diet from the coastal seas to make them more sustainable and healthier.

Over the next few decades, anthropogenic climate change and the resultant changes in the global water cycle will produce a significant rise in drought frequency in the Northern Hemisphere. An international team of scientists led by climate researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute arrive at this conclusion in a new study released today in the journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science. The experts analysed climate simulations produced by the latest generation of models for three different emissions-and-development scenarios and investigated the…

The climatic and environmental history of our planet is hidden in the ice: it harbours information on the temperature development and atmospheric composition dating back centuries and even millennia. In the context of the project Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice, an international team of researchers hopes to unlock that information – by retrieving a core sample from the deep ice of the Antarctic, which contains climate data from the past 1.5 million years. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute make up part of the team. Initial drilling is about to begin.

Microplastics are everywhere, even in the most remote places. Where do these tiny pieces of plastic come from? Researchers from the University of Basel and the Alfred Wegener Institute have shown that it takes precise analysis to answer this question.

The aim of the "Seabed 2030" project is to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all. The AWI is an integral part of the Seabed 2030 project. On December 1st from 2 p.m. the "Map the Gaps Symposium" will be organized. Topics such as mapping and data processing technology, deep water exploration and alumni activities are shared and discussed. This year's event is virtually hosted by IOC Africa and all are welcome.  Registration

Today, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) publishes a new impulse paper on planetary health, on which AWI biologist Prof. Hans-Otto Pörtner worked as a member. With this paper, the WBGU wants to initiate a discussion on health and global sustainability. The results and insights gained from it are intended to inspire the preparation of the main report on this topic, which is scheduled for publication in 2023. Further information

In response to climate change, the massive Thwaites Glacier in the West Antarctic is melting faster and faster. If it collapses completely, it could have catastrophic effects on the global sea level and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. As part of a major international collaboration, in the year to come experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) plan to use seismic waves to take a peek underneath the gargantuan glacier and investigate the features of the ground that it flows over. The…