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The permafrost regions of the Arctic, often referred to as nature’s iceboxes, contain tremendous amounts of carbon, mainly in the form of animal and vegetable matter accumulated in frozen soils over millennia. Yet microorganisms break down this matter as soon as the frozen soil begins to thaw, releasing the harmful greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide. An international team of researchers has now determined that rapid thaw processes have a significant influence on the amount and types of gases released but were not considered in permafrost…

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) today cancelled the Europe-wide call for tenders for the procurement of a new polar research vessel, Polarstern II, for legal reasons. In times of unresolved climate issues, the research mission of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) can only be fulfilled in the long term with a modern icebreaker. This understanding is also shared by the BMBF. Therefore, we will work intensively with the BMBF to find a solution, which also aims to set up a new award…

The Arctic is warming more strongly than any other region on Earth, which leads to serious erosion of coasts where organic matter was frozen in the permafrost for thousands of years. Once eroded material is released into the ocean, microorganisms break down ancient plant remains, releasing sizable quantities of greenhouse gases. Yet, as the latest analyses conducted by AWI experts show, part of the biomass released becomes trapped in deep sinks on the ocean floor off the Arctic coast – where it is protected from microbial decomposition. The outcomes of…

The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting faster today than it did only a few years ago. The reason: it’s not just melting on the surface – but underwater, too. AWI researchers have now found an explanation for the intensive melting on the glacier’s underside, and published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Antje Boetius has led expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic and is a passionate proponent of more climate protection and nature conservation, both in her private life and in various organisations – whether the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, or Scientists for Future. Now Prof Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), has been given a new role: as the next Mercator Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE).

“Nothing will be as costly as choosing not to invest in climate protection!” – so claimed Prof Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), at the New Year’s Reception for the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

The objective of the upcoming expedition of the Research Vessel SONNE in January is a critical location for climate studies in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is the chief scientist for Expedition SO272. Scientists from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen will also be participating.

This week, an international team of researchers determined the final drilling coordinates for the oldest ice core in Antarctica, and began setting up camp on the Antarctic Plateau. When the time came to choose exactly where the drill should be used, the researchers relied on high-resolution data from a newly developed ice radar system, which they had used for the first time earlier this month in the target zone ‘Little Dome C’. In this region, located 40 kilometres to the west of the French-Italian research station ‘Dome Concordia’, the ice covering East…

After exchanging research teams and crewmembers, the greatest expedition to the Central Arctic of all time is now entering the next phase, during which urgently needed research into the Arctic climate system will be conducted. In the following paragraphs, the team from the first leg of the journey, which was dominated by thin sea ice, review the mission so far: despite extremely challenging conditions, they maintained a steady flow of scientific data. The new team will now face the darkest and coldest research phase: the Arctic winter, which has never…

When climate change causes Antarctica’s glaciers to flow out to sea faster, it’s not good news: when this happens, the frozen giants lose more and more ice, which, when it melts, raises the sea level. But how quickly this takes place, and at what scale, doesn’t just depend on rising temperatures; the bed below the ice also plays a critical role. After all, while some types of terrain can slow ice loss, others can accelerate it. Until recently, however, not enough was known about the topography below the ice to gauge these risks. A new map, which experts…