News

When more than 50,000 scientists, working in the remotest areas of the world unite, it is an important event, that demands attention all over the world. More than 60 nations are joining forces, with research into ice and snow, in order to investigate climate.
On 1 March, a wave of opening ceremonies will take place around the world: from Japan and Australia, through to China, and Europe to Brazil. In Germany, the opening of the International Polar Year on March 1 will be celebrated in Berlin. Not only will the most important research projects be…

10-week Voyage Yields Likely New Species, Insights into Polar Ecology;
Intrigued Scientists Find: Herds of Sea Cucumbers on the Move,
Fields of Colonizing Sea Squirts, Whales Approach Coast;
Deep-Sea Species at Unusually Shallow Depths on Uncapped Seabed
 

An international group of researchers has succeeded in identifying a previously unknown group of algae. As currently reported in the scientific journal Science, the newly discovered algae are found among the smallest members of photosynthetic plankton - the picoplankton (‘Picobiliphytes: A marine picoplanktonic algal group with unknown affinities to other Eukaroytes” Science, Vol. 316’). On account of the minute size of the organisms (no more than a few thousandth of a millimetre) and the appearance of phycobili-proteins, researchers have termed the new…

Ongoing global climate change causes changes in the species composition of marine ecosystems, especially in shallow coastal oceans. This applies also to fish populations. Previous studies demonstrating a link between global warming and declining fish stocks were based entirely on statistical data. However, in order to estimate future changes, it is essential to develop a deeper understanding of the effect of water temperature on the biology of organisms under question. A new investigation, just published in the scientific journal Science, reveals that a…

One of Polarstern’s biggest fish catch in 24 years of research in Antarctic waters. New hope for commercial fisheries? Quite the opposite, a good catch doesn’t necessarily mean that depleted stocks have recovered.

The 27th research campaign of Bremerhaven’s Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research marks the beginning of the summer research season in the Antarctic. The institute collaborates with 20 research institutions and ten logistics organisations from 14 countries. Neumayer Station will serve as the logistical base for extensive measurements using aircraft. An expedition aboard research icebreaker Polarstern is travelling along the Antarctic Peninsula as part of the global ‘Census of Marine Life’, and at the Dallmann Laboratory activities will…

Atmospheric global warming has resulted in significant environmental changes on the Antarctic
Peninsula and throughout Western Antarctica. Glaciers are melting and the Larsen ice shelves are collapsing. An interesting consequence: areas which were previously covered by ice shelves several hundred meters thick are now accessible to researchers!

Even if climate records from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show different patterns climate of Arctic and Antartica are connected directly. Recent investigations on an Antarctic ice core now published in nature indicate a general connection between both hemispheres by a ‘bipolar seesaw’.

The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is acquiring a new research plane of type Basler BT-67. ‘Polar 5’ features improved aeronautical parameters and scientific instrumentation designed for long-lasting utilisation.

Several days ago, the ‘Maria S Merian’ returned from her second Arctic expedition with data confirming trends of Arctic warming.