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An international research team led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB) has discovered the oldest known marine plant using a novel genetic clock. This 1400-year-old seagrass clone from the Baltic Sea dates back to the Migration Period. The research project is a significant step towards better understanding and protecting marine ecosystems. The study with the results is published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The depths of the Weddell Sea are home to diverse biotic communities consisting of sponges, cold water corals, and countless other organisms. Moreover, as climate change progresses, this ice-ladden region could offer a refuge for ice-dependent algae and fauna, from krill to Weddell seals. In the new EU project WOBEC, the Alfred Wegener Institute, as the coordinator of a consortium of eleven institutions from Europe and the US, will establish the basis for systematic, long-term observations of potential changes in this unique ecosystem. The project, which…

AWI photographer Esther Horvath is honored with the Wayfinder Award: National Geographic announces new “National Geographic Explorers” each year. The award recognizes their local and global work. Winners are recognized for pushing the boundaries of science, conservation, education, technology and storytelling - all to illuminate and protect the wonders of the Earth. More info.

Geoscience researchers at the University of Bremen, together with colleagues from the Alfred Wegener Institute and other international participants, have discovered a vast river system in the Antarctic. Around 34 million years ago, there was no ice in Antarctica, but a temperate climate prevailed. The scientists have now described their findings in the journal Science Advances.

With its geographical location, Canada is an important cooperation partner for Arctic research. This is why Canada's Ambassador John Horgan visited the AWI this week. Together with a delegation from the AWI staff, the ambassador visited the technical centre and signed the guest book. There was also a presentation on the research activities at the AWI and time for discussion. 

For the past 25 years, the Alfred Wegener Institute has operated a long-term observatory in the Arctic deep sea: the HAUSGARTEN. Located between Greenland and Svalbard, it is where researchers investigate natural and climate-change-related changes in a polar, marine ecosystem – from the ocean’s surface to the seafloor, 5,500 metres below. Many of the observatory’s stations are located below the sea ice, while its autonomous systems take measurements year-round, i.e., even when left unmanned.

Researchers around the globe are sounding the alarm: ocean temperatures are the warmest ever recorded. In 2023, the North Sea also experienced dramatic record highs, as readings taken by the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Biological Institute Helgoland indicate. As data from the time series “Helgoland Reede” also reveal: it’s not the first year in which the German Bight experienced marine heatwaves. The high temperatures and extreme weather events are a product of climate change and could have substantial impacts on the ecosystem.

Permafrost soils store large quantities of organic carbon and are often portrayed as a critical tipping element in the Earth system, which, once global warming has reached a certain level, suddenly and globally collapses. Yet this image of a ticking timebomb, one that remains relatively quiet until, at a certain level of warming, it goes off, is a controversial one among the research community. Based on the scientific data currently available, the image is deceptive, as an international team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has shown in a recently…

Emperor penguins are an endangered species. Scientists are protecting the largest of all penguins by monitoring their numbers precisely and investigating which factors affect their population. A research team led by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has now developed a new, reliable method at the Alfred Wegener Institute's Neumayer Station III, among others, that can accurately predict the number of breeding pairs and chicks and thus represents an early warning system for the progression of climate change in the Southern Ocean. The…

To protect the unique Antarctic flora and fauna, Germany is committed to a coherent and representative network of protected areas in the Antarctic. Thanks to a German-American initiative – initiated and developed by the German Environment Agency (UBA) and financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) – it has now been possible to expand this network. Seven islands at the north-eastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, the so-called “Danger Islands”, were declared a protected area…