University Teaching
Within the framework of joint professorship appointments with the University of Potsdam and the collaboration with the University of Heidelberg senior scientists of the section Permafrost Research are actively involved in teaching at these universities. We currently offer lectures, seminars, and field courses for Master and Bachelor level students. Usually, classes are conducted in English.
Educational goals
The students have in-depth knowledge of the principles of formation and property of permafrost and can reflect as well as analyze them.
Students will be able to describe the landscape development of permafrost regions and develop scenarios of how permafrost has changed in the past and may change in the future.
Students will know the methods and techniques used to study permafrost characteristics and dynamics at a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales.
Students will be able to engage in specific as well as multidisciplinary discussions in this area.
Students will be able to provide constructive feedback on technical presentations and discussions.
Students are able to evaluate, prepare and present scientific publications.
Teaching content
The module provides an insight into the formation, structure and change of permafrost landscapes. Basic knowledge of the material and substance turnover during thawing and freezing of permafrost soils is provided. The relationship between water, energy, and material balances and the emission or uptake of greenhouse gases is another focus. Typical landscape forms and their changes are worked out with remote sensing methods.
University of Potsdam
This course is meant to provide future practitioners with a holistic understanding of coastal change and its implications. It is geared towards students in several fields taught at the university, including geoscience, remote sensing and geoecology.
HU Berlin
What role do the polar regions play in the Earth system? In this in-depth module, we want to explore the landscapes, ecosystems, habitats and climates beyond the Arctic Circle. In a varied programme consisting of lecture-style introductions
practical exercises, short lectures and presentations by students, we will get to the bottom of the cold facts.
- The climate and global warming in the Arctic and Antarctic
- The glaciers, ice shelves and sea ice
- The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Greenland and sea level in the 21st and 22nd centuries
- Permafrost in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and its significance for the global climate
- Cultural and social change of the indigenous population in the Arctic
- Shipping and raw material utilisation in the Arctic
- The ecosystems of the polar regions
HU Berlin
WiSe 2020/21
Writing is central to scientific communication and academic work. This course will introduce you to writing and reviewing scientific articles and theses. We will use a mixture of lectures, individual and group work, and article discussions to understand the DOs and DON'Ts in scientific writing. Foremost, you will learn strategies that are common to both thesis and paper writing, including (i) how to plan, organise and structure your article/thesis, (ii) how to research relevant literature, (iii) how to write different parts of articles/theses, (iv) how to plan and integrate visual items, (v) how to evaluate articles/theses of your peers, (vi) how to identify and avoid plagiarism, and (vii) how to cite. Additionally, we will discuss certain aspects that are specific to writing scientific articles, for example journal aims and scopes, editorial processes, cover letters, and author responses. In the end, you should be able to communicate your scientific results in a structured and appealing way, be it for your thesis, academia, or public and private sectors.
University of Potsdam
Master-Modul in Earth Sciences / Remote GEW-OBS04
Prof. Dr. Guido Grosse, Dr. Ingmar Nitze, Tabea Rettelbach
Educational goals
The students understand the remotely detectable properties and dynamics of permafrost regions. They have in-depth knowledge of permafrost-relevant data processing methods. They are able to independently carry out an image processing project and present the results.
Module contents
In this module, we will focus on terrestrial regions of the Arctic that are not glaciated but affected by permafrost - about one quarter of the northern hemisphere landmass is part of the permafrost zone and thus a huge diversity of landforms, land cover, processes, and dynamics are encountered that are partially or fully driven by freezing and thawing processes on various spatial and temporal scales. These regions are vast, far away, logistically challenging, and data-sparse - Remote sensing therefore often provides the tools of choice for many analyses needed to better understand how permafrost regions change in a rapdily warming Arctic and what the local to global feedbacks are.
Learn about Arctic Climate Change, Cryosphere, and Permafrost; Permafrost landscapes, disturbances, trends; Northern land cover and vegetation; Permafrost terrain and landforms; Thaw subsidence and frost heave; Permafrost coastal dynamics; and Thermokarst lake dynamics. Learn to use cool data and techniques for characterizing and quantifying landscape dynamics in a rapidly changing Arctic: We will will cover high resolution airborne data, high and medium resolution satellite imagery, LiDAR, Big Data approaches with Google Earth Engine, hyperspectral data, and an overview into many other methods. The module will consist of lectures, hands-on exercises in the PC pool, and work on a specific semester project you will be able to select at the beginning.
Field Observation in Climatology and Hydrology
HU Berlin
Master “Global Change Geography”
The lecture comprises topics of climatological and micro-meteorological and hydrological field methods. Central are the energy and mass exchange between atmosphere and ground, the theory of eddy-covariance measurement systems, runoff measurements, exchange between surface and ground water, and glaciological field methods.
Field work is on proglacial and periglacial grounds and on the glacier "Fürkelenferner". Alpine experience is not required.
Climate modelling and data analysis
HU Berlin
Master “Global Change Geography”
We will introduce dynamical and statistical climate models on the global and regional scale. The physical principles of these models will be explained with emphasis on land surface schemes from urban environments to tundra landscapes. Students will apply these models. To this end, we will train the usage of all required aspects of an hight performance computing environment.
Another focus point is the analysis of climate model and climate model ensemble output. Research questions will be discussed and required tools will be explained.
Field course Physical Geography
University of Potsdam
The study project is aimed at students with an interest in in-depth and problem-oriented work in the field of quantitative physical geography. For this purpose, the Harz, especially the Upper Harz, is considered with regard to its climate and its hydrology in winter, especially with regard to snow in the landscape.
The obligatory off-road days in the Oberharz include an intensive exploration of the region (with a focus on snow hydrological and terrain climatological issues) and a short visit to the DWD Bergobservatorium am Brocken. During the whole time, meteorological and hydrological measurements and the recording of snow cover parameters will be carried out independently, which will then be incorporated into a geo-information system to be developed in the course and used for various modelling purposes.
Snow Hydrology and Terrain Climate
PhD and Postdoc Positions
Depending on external funding availability we are also offering PhD or Postdoc positions in our section. These positions will be posted at the official AWI Jobs webpage.
Furthermore, there are options to conduct an own research project in our Permafrost Research section related to our core research themes with stipends from various funding agencies. Currently, several PhD students have stipends and conduct their research projects as guests within our section.
Master Thesis Projects and Student Internships
The section Permafrost Research regularly offers opportunities for students to get involved in ongoing research projects with a Master Thesis or an internship. The possible themes are related to our main research fields and range from sedimentology, biogeochemistry and stable isotope chemistry, physical geography and remote sensing, to paleoecology and genetics.
If you are interested in a Master thesis project in one of our main research fields you are welcome to send an email application to the responsible senior scientist. The application should contain a cover letter, a CV, relevant certificates, a list of courses attended during the studies, and your computer skills (software and programming languages). You also should state the envisaged starting point for the thesis project.
Applications for internships in the Permafrost Section should be addressed to Melanie Reinhardt.
Apprenticeship as Chemical Laboratory Assistant
Next call for applications will be opened end of 2023
Are you interested in an exciting apprenticeship in Potsdam and Berlin emphasizing polar research in the Arctic and Antarctic? Then, you are at the right place!
Together with the bbz Chemie Berlin and the OSZ Lise-Meitner Berlin, the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam offers a three-and-a-half-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant recognized by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). The language of the apprenticeship will be in German.
More information is available on the
and
Further information (only in German language) is available at:
https://www.awi.de/arbeiten-lernen/auszubildende/ausbildungsberufe/chemielaborant/in.html