News

Member of the German Bundestag Ernst Dieter Rossmann, AWI Director Antje Boetius and Karen Wiltshire, Chair of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), welcome tonight the ten new scholarship holders of the Centre of Excellence at the Helmholtz Association in Berlin.

Today representatives of science, authorities and politics come together for the 2nd Dialogue Meeting "Marine Research and Marine Conservation" in Berlin. Among other things, they exchange information about research projects in German coastal waters.

When the summer melting of the Arctic sea ice ends in the middle of September, the minimum ice extent is likely to have decreased to an area of 4.4 (+/- 0.1) million square kilometres, according to researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the University of Bremen.

The site preparation for the Technical Centre starts in mid-September. The new building on Klußmannstraße is part of the AWI campus in the 'Handelshafen' area. Anyone interested can find out more on-site on Sunday, 16 September.

The loss of arctic permafrost deposits by coastal erosion could amplify climate warming via the greenhouse effect. A study using sediment samples from the Sea of Okhotsk on the eastern coast of Russia led by AWI researchers revealed that the loss of Arctic permafrost at the end of the last glacial period led to repeated sudden increases in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.

Pteropods or sea snails, also called sea angels, produce chemical deterrents to ward off predators, and some species of amphipods take advantage of this by carrying pteropods piggyback to gain protection from their voracious predators. There is no recognisable benefit for the pteropod. On the contrary they starve: captured between the amphipod’s legs they are unable to feed. Biologists working with Dr Charlotte Havermans at the Alfred Wegener Institute have investigated this phenomenon as part of a cooperation project with the University of Bremen. In…

AWI director talks about „Ecological aspects of deep sea mining“ at Conference on Progress in Marine Conservation in Stralsund.

The Ambassador visits the AWI today to talk about the developments of the Arctic region. Photo: Volker Rachold (German Arctic Office), Karsten Wurr (AWI), Antje Boetius (AWI), Martin Eyjolfsson (Ambassador), Uwe Nixdorf (AWI), Ruth Bobrich (Trade Officer)

A team of scientists and engineers from AWI and GEOMAR started on an expedition to the Canadian Arctic to investigate thawing permafrost. Read their reports!

AWI director with her talk „Marine life – how to protect and conserve our biodiversity“ at the Offshore Economic Forum on Helgoland island.