News

In Antarctica internationally leading ice and climate scientists of 14 institutions from ten European countries are looking for the oldest ice on Earth. Goal is to find the place, where in Antarctica the ice core can be drilled which goes furthest back in Earth’s history. Such a core would allow to deciphering past processes in the climate system to improve prognoses for the future. The European Commission funds the project “Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice” (BE-OI) with 2.2 million Euros, which is coordinated by the German Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz…

An EU-financed project investigating ways to improve weather and climate prediction in the face of a rapidly changing Arctic officially started this month. Known as APPLICATE (Advanced Prediction in Polar regions and beyond: modelling, observing system design and LInkages associated with a Changing Arctic climaTE), the €8 million project, financed by the EU HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation programme, involves 16 partners from nine countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and will be carried…

On Saturday, November 12th, the research vessel Polarstern will set off for a one-month expedition towards Cape Town from Bremerhaven. On board there are 25 outstanding young scientists from the marine research, who together with twelve teachers explore the interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere.

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute are developing with experts from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) a new satellite measurement method for the observation from space of the large ice masses of Greenland and the Antarctic. “Tandem-L” is the name of a new satellite radar system, which launched in the year 2022 could provide urgently needed data concerning the shrinkage of the ice sheets in both hemispheres. Concerning the construction of the radar and the launch of the satellite mission of the same name, the Science Council is to advise the…

Federal Research Minister Professor Johanna Wanka visited the University of Oldenburg on Tuesday, focussing on the new Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity. The new institute will bundle and expand the research excellene in this field of the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Oldenburg. AWI Director Prof. Dr. Karin Lochte attended as well.

Sulfur is an essential element of life in the ocean. But so far, researchers know little about the amounts of sulfur and its processes of decomposition. A research team with the participation of the AWI could now conclude a part of the knowledge gap. Their results have now been published in the journal Science.

Under the ice of the Arctic, unknown habitats conceal an unexpected variety of living beings. On October 23rd, 46 scientists are expected to return to the home port in Bremerhaven from an Arctic expedition with the research vessel Polarstern. Over the past six weeks, they had explored life in ice, ocean and seabed with new robots and camera systems.

Researchers from the Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology of the Helmholtz Association and the Max Planck Society discovered microbial communities thriving on the hydrocarbon butane without the help of molecular oxygen. The microbial consortia, obtained from hydrothermally heated sediments in Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, use unprecedented biochemistry to feed on butane.

The European Union has submitted a proposal, prepared by Germany, to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) for a marine protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic Weddell Sea. AWI scientists have compiled and analysed the scientific data on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Marine ecosystems provide us with food and raw materials, they have an impact on air quality and global climate, they break down harmful substances and serve as places of recreation and tourism. The functioning of these ecosystems – and thus also the basis for human well-being – depends on the biological diversity of the oceans. The way climate change and human influences change marine biodiversity will in future be examined by scientists in a new institute: as was recently decided by the senate of the Helmholtz Association, the Helmholtz Institute for…