From 23 August to 31 October 2024, the photo exhibition “Wir können Watt - Küstenforschung im Takt der Gezeiten” will take place in the Rathauspark in Westerland. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and the municipality of Sylt and provides an insight into the daily work of the institute’s scientists on Sylt, who are investigating the ecosystem on their doorstep and exploring the question of how climate change is altering the Wadden Sea and the North Sea in the long term.
![[Translate to English:] AWI-Ausstellung Rathauspark Sylt](/fileadmin/_processed_/4/3/csm_20240822_Outdoor_Ausstellung_Sylt_YvonneSchmidt_001_57a60c2dd9.jpg "A photo exhibition in the town hall park in Westerland on Sylt")
![[Translate to English:] AWI-Ausstellung Rathauspark Sylt](/fileadmin/_processed_/c/b/csm_20240822_Outdoor_Ausstellung_Sylt_YvonneSchmidt_002_d0ebb3b630.jpg "AWI photo exhibition in Westerland on Sylt")
![[Translate to English:] AWI-Ausstellung Rathauspark Sylt](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/b/csm_20240822_Outdoor_Ausstellung_Sylt_YvonneSchmidt_003_4451325e1b.jpg "AWI photo exhibition in Westerland on Sylt")
![[Translate to English:] AWI-Ausstellung Rathauspark Sylt](/fileadmin/_processed_/a/2/csm_20240823_Outdoor_Ausstellung_Sylt_YvonneSchmidt_006_e48cef3806.jpg "AWI photo exhibition in Westerland on Sylt")
![[Translate to English:] Eröffnung Fotoausstellung Westerland](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/c/csm_20240823_Eroeffnung_Fotoausstellung_FlorianKorte_83cace0105.jpg "Opening AWI Photo Exhibition Sylt")
The photos in the exhibition are all by Esther Horvath, whose work has already been published in National Geographic, the New York Times, STERN, the Guardian and TIME Magazine. Since 2015, she has been photographing for the Alfred Wegener Institute in the polar regions and on the coasts in our latitudes to raise public awareness of the changes on our planet. She has received numerous awards for her expedition photography.
A total of twelve large-format portraits are on display, which, with the support of additional photos, depict the experts’ day-to-day work and explain the research as well as its social and political relevance. “We designed the exhibition to share at least part of the diverse research work at the Wadden Sea Station with the public in visual form and to draw attention to the fragile ecosystem on our doorstep,” said Yvonne Schmidt from the Alfred Wegener Institute, expressing her satisfaction with the successful opening. Frauke Wehrhahn from the municipality of Sylt was also delighted with the realisation of this extraordinary project as part of the “New Cultural Wave” in the Town Hall Park: “For us, this important exhibition in the heart of Westerland is a real highlight this summer and we are very grateful to the Alfred Wegener Institute for the uncomplicated cooperation.”
![[Translate to English:] Eröffnung Fotoausstellung Westerland](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/c/csm_20240823_Eroeffnung_Fotoausstellung_FlorianKorte_08b21454e3.jpg "Opening AWI Photo Exhibition Sylt")
After the official welcome by Andreas Dobrzinski, the mayor of Sylt, the new deputy director of the AWI and head of the Wadden Sea Station, Prof Dr Maarten Boersma, will highlight the milestones from 100 years of AWI research on Sylt. As a Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, the Alfred Wegener Institute is mainly active in the cold and temperate regions of our world, but also right on our doorstep. The AWI Wadden Sea Station in List on the island of Sylt is home to the “Coastal Ecology” section, which mainly researches the Wadden Sea ecosystem and the local North Sea, both of which are changing rapidly as a result of global warming.
The Sylt team is particularly concerned with the ecosystems of the Wadden Sea and the North Sea and investigates issues relating to stress factors and natural and man-made changes. The key areas of expertise are long-term ecological research, the development and application of automated measurement systems for short and long-term events in ecosystems, modelling, the study of dynamics on the North Sea coast, and the structure and functioning of food webs.
Specifically, for example, the changes in salt marshes and seagrass meadows, which are largely responsible for coastal protection by filtering pollutants and sediment particles and are also important breeding, feeding and resting areas for migratory and coastal birds, are also being researched. Since 1973, the station has been operating the “Sylt Roads”, a long-term data series that records environmental parameters, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundances, fish data and data on larvae and crustaceans, for example.
Further scientific background as well as explanations of the four major fields of research and the history can be found on the Internet at www.awi.de/ueber-uns/standorte/sylt/100-jahre-wattenmeerstation-sylt.html