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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…

In April and May, 2016, a team of international scientists drilled into the site of the asteroid impact, known as the Chicxulub Impact Crater, which occurred 66 million years ago. The crater is buried several hundred meters below the surface in the Yucatán region of México. This joint expedition, organized by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) recovered a nearly complete set of rock cores from 506 to 1335 meters below the modern day seafloor.

More melt water is entering the Artic Ocean from the glaciers due to climbing temperatures. In addition, the rivers are carrying large amounts of sediment from thawing permafrost. How the Arctic Ocean will react to such changes is a very big question, which is concerning scientists around the world. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now published, together with international colleagues, the usage of a new optical method by which it is easier and quicker to identify different water masses.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the AWI are pleased to announce that the APECS International Directorate will be hosted by AWI at its research centre in Potsdam, Germany for five years from February 2017. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between both this week. The staff of the APECS International Directorate at AWI will include the APECS Executive Director, Dr. Gerlis Fugmann, and Heike Midleja as new half-time APECS Administrative Assistant (currently Administrative Assistant for the International Arctic…