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From now on, a network of 50 partner institutes will provide access to polar research infrastructures. Over the next five years, the European Union will provide 14.6 million euros in funding for the new POLARIN project (Polar Research Infrastructure Network). Slated to officially launch on 1st March 2024, the project will promote interdisciplinary research that addresses the scientific challenges in both polar regions.

Exceeding 2 °C of global warming compared to the pre-industrial period is likely to result in significantly increased deep water temperatures in the Filchner Trough in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, reports a modelling study lead by researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute and published in Communications Earth & Environment. This warmer water could lead to a significantly increased melting rate of the Filchner Ronne Antarctic ice shelf, resulting in a substantial rise in global sea levels.

The Institut Océanographique de Monaco and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco have each signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the AWI to promote cooperation in polar and marine research. AWI Director Antje Boetius signed the agreements today in Monaco. The aim is to promote common interests in environmental and earth system research. Through cooperation in research, logistics and scientific events, both institutions aim to make the best use of their resources.

The Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier – also known as the 79° North Glacier – on the northeast coast of Greenland flows directly into a fjord, where it forms an 80-kilometre-long tongue of floating ice. Although the tongue hasn’t lost much length during the past several decades, it has grown thinner and thinner. A team from the Alfred Wegener Institute can now tell us why. By applying a computer-based model, they were able to show that warm water from the Atlantic flows into the European North Sea and ultimately into the cavern under the glacier tongue,…

The Arctic is changing rapidly due to climate change. It is not only affected by increasing surface temperatures, but also by warm water from the Atlantic, which is flowing in more and more – changing the structures and functions of the ecosystem as it also leads to species from warmer regions, like jellyfish, arriving in the Arctic. Using DNA metabarcoding, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now been able to prove for the first time that these jellyfish serve as food for amphipods on Svalbard during the polar night and thus play a…

A geological research team found an unusual row of stones almost a kilometre long at the bottom of Mecklenburg Bay during a student excursion in 2021. The site is located around ten kilometres off Rerik in 21 metres of water. Analyses suggest that Ice Age hunters built this structure around 11,000 years ago to hunt reindeer. It is the first time that such a hunting structure has been discovered in the Baltic Sea region, the group, with the participation of the Alfred Wegener Institute, now reports in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National…

Antarctic krill is only slightly contaminated with microplastics and is therefore well suited for monitoring the contamination of the Southern Ocean with microplastics. This is shown by a study in which researchers analysed the stomachs of the widespread shrimp species. In the journal Science of the Total Environment, the team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute warns against false positive results if extraction steps are omitted during sample preparation.

The North East Greenland Ice Stream transports enormous amounts of ice from the heart of the island to the sea and thus also influences global sea levels. An international research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now used a new evaluation method for airborne radar measurements to determine the age of the icy conveyor belt. According to the study, it only extended into the heart of Greenland around 2,000 years ago. The study, which opens up new possibilities for research into ice sheets, was recently published in the scientific journal Nature…

The new research project YESSS - Year-round EcoSystem Study on Svalbard - is focussing on how Arctic warming is changing over the seasons in Svalbard. The team of around 30 scientists observes the life cycles, foraging and overwintering strategies of selected key species all year round and conducts experiments at the AWIPEV station on Svalbard. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the project, which is coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, with 2.7 million euros until the end of 2026.

A new study investigating summer marine heatwaves in the Northeast Pacific Ocean projects that they may become even more intense and longer-lasting than expected by long-term warming. This could have serious implications for marine ecosystems and fishery economics. The study was recently published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).