News

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) have managed to explain the origin of unusually warm water masses in the Arctic. Ocean currents simulated by a computer model explain measurements made during the nineties which indicated unexpected warming but also, in some places, unexpectedly low temperatures. As a result, the circulation of water masses through this section of the world ocean is better understood. The model does not only reproduce data from the past two decades, it can also be used to make predictions. The publication of these…

East Antarctic glacier is stable
On Friday, 14 March 2003, at nine o'clock in the morning, the two Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) polar aircrafts will arrive back in Bremerhaven Luneort. Scientists measured the ice thickness in the Antarctic glaciers, to work out whether the ice thickness was increasing or decreasing in these areas. From data obtained in the previous season (2001/2002), AWI researchers calculated that the glacier, Jutulstraumen, approximately 120,000 square kilometers in size, belonging to the east Antarctic, had a constant mass. „This…

The “Polarstern” leaves for winterexperiments in the Arctic

On 28th february at 12 p.m. “Polarstern”, the research vessel of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI), will set sail again. The 19th Arctic expedition has an unusual mission: In order to study the processes of ice production during the arctic winter, the “Polarstern” is heading for ice-free regions. Most of the arctic ice is formed in these so-called polynyas , even thought they are only a very small part of the total ocean area.

AWI publication in ‘Nature’
In February 2003, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) published new results concerning the structure and material properties of diatoms in the journal "Nature". These single-celled marine algae are responsible for the majority of oxygen and biomass production in the oceans. Since their discovery around 170 years ago they have been admired for their beauty and diversity. It has now been shown that their fantastical shapes have an ecological purpose.

On Sunday 16th February at about midday, the Alfred Wegener Institutes’ (AWI) research ship, the “Polarstern” arrived back in Bremerhaven. The twentieth antarctic expedition ended a day earlier than planned. A major task of the three and a half month long journey was the supply of the research stations “Kohnen” and “Neumayer”. On the second part of the cruise, on the 9th December 2002, the scientists and crew celebrated the twentieth birthday of the ice-breaker. A scientific highlight of this trip was the discovery of a unexpected biologically rich area…

Ice Core-Drilling in Antarctic thousand meters deep now
At Kohnen-Station of Alfred-Wegener-Institut for Polar and Marine Research scientists unearthed an ice core from a depth of one thousand meters on 22nd january 2003. This ice is about 20,000 years old and contains information about the last glacial maximum. To date this, an ash layer produced by a prehistoric volcano 14,000 years ago, has been helpful. It was found in a depth of 802 meters, and was also found and dated at the Japanese Station Dome Fuji. Thus it could work as a milestone. The 24…

Understanding the causes of changing precipitation and humidity levels in the Earth's past is important for understanding how future changes in the Earth's hydroclimate might affect it. A research team involving the Alfred Wegener Institute has now for the first time analyzed around 50,000 years of hydroclimate in the mid-latitudes of the south-east Pacific using marine sediment cores. The most important result: natural fluctuations in the Earth's orbital parameters have a decisive influence. The study was recently published in the scientific journal…