News

Beginning of an international measurement campaign in the Antarctic
On 14th June an international measurement campaign, lead by scientists
from the Alfred Wegener Institute's Potsdam research centre, will begin
in the Antarctic, with the aim of uncovering the still unclear processes
of ozone destruction during the Antarctic twilight. Nine measurement
stations in the Antarctic, including the German Neumayer Station run by
AWI, will release hundreds of weather balloons over the course of four
months, providing a precise picture of when, where and…

Professor Jorn Thiede, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for
Polar and Marine Research, was elected as a foreign member of the
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) at a general assembly held on May 22nd.

Climate researchers meet in Potsdam
On 2nd and 3rd of June, 2003, climate experts from Europe and
the USA will meet together at the Alfred Wegener Institute's Potsdam
centre for a workshop on comparing current computer models of the
Arctic.

Marine Scientists go to ground in the deep-sea
On the 22nd of May, Polarstern, the research ice-breaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), departs Bremerhaven on a twelve week deep-sea expedition in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic. A team of altogether 150 scientists, engineers and technicians will study geological, biological, chemical and oceanographic processes during three separate cruise legs. The research cruise is being organised by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the French Ifremer (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation…

Sea ice scientists lead by the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Sciences (AWI) are presently investigating the accuracy of the environmental satellite “Envisat” and the upcoming ice-satellite “CryoSat” for sea ice measurements in the Arctic. For this purpose, the German research icebreaker “Polarstern”, during its ARK XIX cruise, is currently frozen into the pack, 900 km from the North Pole, with air temperatures down to –30°C.

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) have managed to explain the origin of unusually warm water masses in the Arctic. Ocean currents simulated by a computer model explain measurements made during the nineties which indicated unexpected warming but also, in some places, unexpectedly low temperatures. As a result, the circulation of water masses through this section of the world ocean is better understood. The model does not only reproduce data from the past two decades, it can also be used to make predictions. The publication of these…

East Antarctic glacier is stable
On Friday, 14 March 2003, at nine o'clock in the morning, the two Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) polar aircrafts will arrive back in Bremerhaven Luneort. Scientists measured the ice thickness in the Antarctic glaciers, to work out whether the ice thickness was increasing or decreasing in these areas. From data obtained in the previous season (2001/2002), AWI researchers calculated that the glacier, Jutulstraumen, approximately 120,000 square kilometers in size, belonging to the east Antarctic, had a constant mass. „This…

The “Polarstern” leaves for winterexperiments in the Arctic

On 28th february at 12 p.m. “Polarstern”, the research vessel of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI), will set sail again. The 19th Arctic expedition has an unusual mission: In order to study the processes of ice production during the arctic winter, the “Polarstern” is heading for ice-free regions. Most of the arctic ice is formed in these so-called polynyas , even thought they are only a very small part of the total ocean area.

AWI publication in ‘Nature’
In February 2003, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) published new results concerning the structure and material properties of diatoms in the journal "Nature". These single-celled marine algae are responsible for the majority of oxygen and biomass production in the oceans. Since their discovery around 170 years ago they have been admired for their beauty and diversity. It has now been shown that their fantastical shapes have an ecological purpose.

On Sunday 16th February at about midday, the Alfred Wegener Institutes’ (AWI) research ship, the “Polarstern” arrived back in Bremerhaven. The twentieth antarctic expedition ended a day earlier than planned. A major task of the three and a half month long journey was the supply of the research stations “Kohnen” and “Neumayer”. On the second part of the cruise, on the 9th December 2002, the scientists and crew celebrated the twentieth birthday of the ice-breaker. A scientific highlight of this trip was the discovery of a unexpected biologically rich area…