News

In the past million years, the high-altitude winds of the southern westerly wind belt, which spans nearly half the globe, didn’t behave as uniformly over the Southern Pacific as previously assumed. Instead, they varied cyclically over periods of ca. 21,000 years. A new study has now confirmed close ties between the climate of the mid and high latitudes and that of the tropics in the South Pacific, which has consequences for the carbon budget of the Pacific Southern Ocean and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The study was prepared by Dr…

A great honour for Prof Antje Boetius: the deep-sea researcher and Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research was selected for the “LeibnizRingHannover 2019”, a prize bestowed by the Hannover Press Club. 

A reconstruction of 25,000 years of South Ocean carbon chemistry, using micro-fossils buried in sediments, shows sub-Antarctic waters have played a key role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Chemical changes measured in micro-fossil shells, as well as sediments, showed that different regions of the Southern Ocean varied in terms of their circulation, chemistry and biological productivity during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. This resulted in regional variations in the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2)…

At this year’s annual meeting, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) will continue its negotiations regarding the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Weddell Sea. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute were instrumental in preparing the application for the European Union (EU), which was submitted in 2016. In addition to the EU and its Member States, Norway has since joined as a co-supporter.

One central task during the first phase of MOSAiC has been completed. Supported by the highly experienced crew and the not less experienced pilots of the MI-8 helicopters, an international team of scientists onboard Akademik Fedorov successfully deployed the so-called Distributed Network. This is the complex system of buoys and measurement instruments that is now drifting in the environs of the central observatory Polarstern in a distance of up to 50 kilometres. 

Stefan Rahmstorf, Antje Boetius and Halldor Björnsson talk about physical and ecological tipping points and the urgent need of climate protection to avoid them.

AWI Director Antje Boetius participated in a panel discussion in the context of the art project WE ARE OCEAN in Berlin on 2 October. Together with Sebastian Unger (IASS Potsdam), she spoke about climate change and sea-level rise.

After only a few days of searching, experts from the MOSAiC expedition have now found a suitable ice floe, where they will set up the research camp for their one-year-long drift through the Arctic Ocean. Consequently, one of the most important milestones in the expedition has been reached ahead of schedule, and before the Polar Night falls. Nevertheless, the search, which involved satellite imagery, two icebreakers, helicopter flights and scouting missions on the surface of the ice, was an enormous challenge – partly because, after the warm summer, there…

On 2 October, AWI Director Prof Antje Boetius officially received the Federal Cross of Merit. At the event, Germany’s Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier commended her commitment to preserving the oceans and combating the on-going destruction of the environment.

From 30th September until 2nd October, the Marine Regions Forum takes place in Berlin. AWI Director Antje Boetius will open the conference with a podium discussion, among others with Klaus Töpfer, on "Achieving healthy oceans - Challenges and opportunities".