News

Over the past few days ozone-depleted air masses extended from the north pole to southern Scandinavia leading to higher than normal levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation during sunny days in southern Finland. These air masses will move east over the next few days, covering parts of Russia and perhaps extend as far south as the Chinese/Russian border.

The freshwater content of the upper Arctic Ocean has increased by about 20 percent since the 1990s. This corresponds to a rise of approx. 8,400 cubic kilometres and has the same magnitude as the volume of freshwater annually exported on average from this marine region in liquid or frozen form.

Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth’s surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Climate researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) expand a prevalent theory regarding the development of ice ages. In the current issue of the journal “Nature” three physicists from AWI’s working group “Dynamics of the Palaeoclimate” present new calculations on the connection between natural insolation and long-term changes in global climate activity.

Listen live on the Internet to what’s going on under the Antarctic sea-ice. The Alfred Wegener Institute’s PALAOA underwater acoustic observatory has made this possible for over five years. The acoustic observatory has been continuously recording sounds under the ice near Neumayer Station since 28 December 2005. It provides the world’s longest time series of civilian acoustic measurements, enabling researchers to study the presence and behaviour of animals under the Antarctic ice. This has led to many new findings on the distribution and behaviour of…

He came, saw and acted promptly: Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was so impressed by the work of scientists in the Siberian permafrost region during his visit to the Samoylov Station at the end of August that he wants to actively support the German-Russian cooperation in the Lena Delta initiated many years ago.

The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research welcomes the recommendation of the Council of Science and Humanities to build a new research icebreaker, Polarstern II.

Artificially accelerated weathering of the mineral olivine may increasingly remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and counteract ocean acidification.

Successful German-Russian cooperation will be continued: Prof. Karin Lochte, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in the Helmholtz Association, and Prof. Ivan Frolov, Director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), signed an agreement for continuation of the Otto Schmidt Laboratory for Polar and Marine Research (OSL) for another three years. Signature of the agreement took place at the end of October at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences IfM-Geomar in Kiel where the Scientific Advisory Board…

The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is financing a new aircraft for research purposes: “Polar 6” will reinforce the scientific and logistic operations of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in the polar regions starting autumn 2011.