News

On Sunday morning one of the two helicopters of the German research vessel “Polarstern” crashed near the German Antarctic research station Neumayer II. Two people have been killed, three injured.

In the Southern Ocean, large quantities of surface-drifting plankton algae are able to significantly reduce the carbon dioxide content of the surface waters, which can affect the global carbon dioxide cycle. This is one of the results from an Antarctic expedition which has just drawn to a close in Cape Town on February 4, and which was led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, part of the Helmholtz Association.

At 2.20 am local time, the research icebreaker Polarstern reached the landing spot at the edge of the Ekstrom Ice Shelf in the Antarctic. After several days of ice breaking, a newly created navigation channel through the compact sea ice finally allowed access to a suitable docking location for the freighter Naja Arctica. The vessel has been appointed by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, part of the Helmholz Association, to transport the new research station Neumayer III to the Antarctic, and is expected to begin discharge of…

A ten-week expedition to the Lazarev Sea and the eastern part of the Weddell Sea opens this year’s Antarctic research season of the German research vessel Polarstern. Starting November 28, scientists from eight nations will focus much of their work on climate-related research as part of the International Polar Year.

On December 9, 2007, the ice-breaking research vessel Polarstern will celebrate her 25th anniversary of service: since 1982, the world’s most powerful polar research vessel has been venturing to the Arctic and Antarctic on behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, part of the Helmholtz Association. 7600 scientist from 36 nations have gained insights into the polar oceans aboard Polarstern, facilitating our current understanding of the earth as a system. The birthday celebration for Polarstern will take place on November 28 at…

In order to extend alert times and avoid false alarms, a new seafloor pressure recording system has been designed to detect tsunamis shortly after their development in the open ocean. The project is directed by scientists of the working group ‘Marine Observation Systems’ at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, part of the Helmholtz Association.

On October 31, 2007, Prof Dr Jörn Thiede will hand over the directorship of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, part of the Helmholtz Association, to Prof Dr Karin Lochte, a biologist currently with the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel. Thiede will continue his involvement with the Alfred Wegener Institute, especially in his capacity on the planning committee of the European research icebreaker Aurora Borealis.

Large areas of the Arctic sea-ice are only one metre thick this year, equating to an approximate 50 percent thinning as compared to the year 2001. These are the initial results from the latest Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association lead expedition to the North Polar Sea.

The Federal research minister, Dr. Annette Schavan takes a look at the building of the new German Antarctic station Neumayer-Station III and the new research aircraft Polar 5.

The new research station Neumayer Station III of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association is currently under construction by the consortium J.H. Kramer Stahlbau and Kaefer Isoliertechnik in Bremerhaven. Named by the German polar researcher Georg von Neumayer (1826-1909), Neumayer Station III will allow continuing German research in the Antarctic for the next 25 to 30 years.