Members of the working group are also involved in several national and international projects, which may be summarized in different categories:

Projects of the Deep-Sea Research Group financially supported by the EU Commission aim to study the functioning and dynamic of deep-sea bacterial communities as well as to develop next-generation sensors for in situ measurements and to conduct acidification experiments at the deep seafloor.

In the frame of the „European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures“ (ESFRI), we contribute to the establishment of the legal and governance structure for long-term  deep-water observations, and intend to provide long-term observations to understand effects of the greenhouse gas emissions on the global carbon cycle.

Projects of the Deep-Sea Research Group, financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), intend to assess the influence of sea-ice and ocean dynamics in the Laptev Sea and to investigate the ecological consequences of environmental changes in key regions of the transpolar drift, and to study effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms and their habitats.

Furthermore, the Deep-Sea Research Group leads the Helmholtz infrastructure project FRAM (Frontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring) and is also partner of the Helmholtz alliance ROBEX (Robotic Exploration of Extreme Environments) of the Helmholtz Association (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren, HGF) aiming to identify, develop, and test technologies that will allow the exploration of the deep sea as well as the surface of other planets.

Contact: A. Boetius, T. Soltwedel, I. Schewe, F. Wenzhöfer, A. Purser, F. Janssen