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On Thursday, 3 August 2023, the research vessel Polarstern is scheduled to set off from Tromsø, Norway, towards the North Pole. For two months, a good fifty scientific expedition participants will explore the Arctic in transition as sea ice extent reaches its annual minimum in September. They will explore the biology, chemistry and physics of sea ice as well as the effects of sea ice retreat on the entire ocean system from the surface to the deep sea. Eleven years ago, Antje Boetius was part of the largest ever sea ice minumum in the Arctic and its…

As part of his summer trip, minister president Daniel Günther visited the Biological Institute Helgoland on Friday, July 21, 2023. After an introduction to research at Helgoland by Dr. Inga Kirstein, Dr. Eva Brodte and other colleagues presented examples from science, science communication and knowledge transfer.

Quantifying the amount of microplastic that appears on beaches and understanding where it came from is difficult. Scientists asked tourists on Arctic cruises to take part in a program of sample collection while visiting Svalbard and used these samples to identify microplastics that probably originated from ships and fishing net.

Dr. Miriam Seifert and Dr. Luisa von Albedyll have been awarded the 2022 Wladimir Köppen Prize for their dissertations. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and has been awarded by the Cluster of Excellence for Climate Research at the University of Hamburg since 2009. It honors outstanding dissertations by young scientists from German-speaking countries.

The publication of a comprehensive dataset on Antarctic bed topography and ice thickness has made a new contribution to the understanding of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Several AWI scientists have contributed to the data release which can be accessed openly through an online portal. More information.

An international group of experts with the participation of the Alfred Wegener Institute receives a grant of $5 million from Google.org for the development of an AI system that can be used to study the thawing of the Arctic permafrost even faster and more effectively.

Senckenberg researchers Serena Abel, formerly a PhD student at AWI, and Angelika Brandt, together with colleagues from the AWI and the Goethe University Frankfurt, have studied microplastics in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. They found between 215 and 1596 microparticles per kg in each of a total of 13 sediment samples from depths of up to 9450 meters - more than previously detected. The study, published in 'Science of The Total Environment', shows that the deep sea is heavily polluted with microplastics and is threatening biodiversity. To the press release

The new AWI coastal research vessel Uthörn has called at her home port Helgoland: The island community ceremoniously welcomed the successor vessel and greeted the ship with joy. The new Uthörn is currently on test and trial cruises in the German Bight before the official handover to the AWI and the scientific community is expected to take place in August.

On a current expedition with the US Research Vessel Atlantis, benthic studies are carried out with the deep-diving submersible Alvin. Felix Janssen, scientist in the HGF-MPG bridging group for deep-sea ecology and technology at the AWI and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (MPI), is joining this expedition at the moment. Led by the former MPI group member Tina Treude, who is now Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), the expedition aims to study seafloor biogeochemistry in oxygen deficient waters of the Santa…

Ensuring global food security for the growing population is an important topic that many researchers are dealing with. As the demand for food and sustainable resources increases, the world's oceans play an increasingly important role in the nutrition, health and well-being of populations. But the production of marine resources can no longer be sustained by ecosystems and natural fisheries production only. The EU project OLAMUR (Offshore Low-trophic Aquaculture in Multi-use Scenario Realisation), which runs from January 2023 to December 2026, aims to help…