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As part of the UN Decade for Ocean Science, the "Polar Symposium: from Arctic to Antarctic" will take place in Monaco from 24-25 February. Leading scientists from all over the world will take part in the event to discuss the rapid changes in the polar regions and their implications for the global climate. AWI Director Antje Boetius will give a keynote speech on 24 February at 9.30 am and participate in the panel "Understanding polar changes" at 11.30 am. Further information and livestream  

Roughly 35 million years ago, Earth cooled rapidly. At roughly the same time, the Drake Passage formed between South America and the Antarctic, paving the way for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Thanks to these two factors, Antarctica was soon completely covered in ice. As a study from the Alfred Wegener Institute now shows, this massive glaciation was delayed in at least one region. This new piece of the puzzle concerning the early history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could help to predict its unstable future. The study was just released in the…

Single individuals of Atlantic cod and squid occur much further north than previously expected. Scientists participating in the international MOSAiC expedition with research icebreaker Polarstern have found fish and squid in deep water in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The results from Stockholm University, the Alfred Wegener Institute and colleagues in the European Fisheries Inventory in the Central Arctic Ocean (EFICA) Consortium are published today  in the scientific journal Science Advances.

Construction will soon begin on Helgoland’s next attraction: in spring, work will begin on the BLUEHOUSE HELGOLAND. From 2024, visitors can expect a unique exhibition covering everything from the history of the North Sea to the future of marine research. At the heart of the exhibition is an 80,000-litre aquarium showcasing Helgoland’s underwater world. The project has received ca. 20 million euros of funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the State of Schleswig-Holstein and the Municipality of Helgoland. The exhibition was designed…

What was the climate like thousands or even millions of years ago? The deep ice in Antarctica could provide answers: It contains information about temperature development and the composition of the atmosphere of the past. An international research team aims to decode this information in the Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice project, with a drill core containing climate data from the last 1.5 million years. At the end of January, the project team successfully completed the first campaign and lifted the first cores. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute were…

Over the past twenty years, glaciers in northern Canada and on Spitsbergen have lost a total of 44 billion metric tons of ice a year. To date, the melting in these regions has been influenced by powerful westerly winds. A team of international researchers, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, has now determined that both regions are characterised by increased, alternating inflows of cold air from the north and warm air from the south. Due to the ongoing global warming, these fluctuating air currents could also have long-term consequences for the weather…

On 5 February the international expedition Endurance22 set course for the Antarctic in hopes of finding Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915. The researchers on board include experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI).

This is the title of the summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Brest from 9 to 11 February. Concrete measures for the preservation of the oceans will be discussed here on an international level. In addition to several AWI researchers, the Institute's Director Antje Boetius is also involved in the diverse programme. Taking the role as representative of international science, she will present the summit's messages to the participating heads of state at the end of the summit. Further informationen

Massive sponge gardens thrive on top of seamounts in the Central Arctic Ocean, one of the most oligotrophic seas on Earth. They appear to feed on the remnants of an extinct fauna. Microorganisms support the sponges in exploiting this fluffy material as a source of food and energy. Scientists from Bremen, Bremerhaven and Kiel and their international partners discovered this unique hotspot of life during a POLARSTERN expedition and now report their findings in the journal Nature Communications. They stress the need for a better understanding of the…

A study released by WWF Germany and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) highlights the serious scale of the global plastic crisis and summarises the current state of knowledge concerning the effects of plastic pollution on marine species and ecosystems. In the days leading up to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the study, which is the most comprehensive meta-analysis on the issue to date, stresses that a binding global treaty is required in order to stop the irreversible pollution of the world’s oceans before ecological thresholds are…