• New equipment for the AWI - "Gardener"

    towards Spitsbergen, to use newly developed equipment in the Arctic Ocean. Autonomous instruments on the seabed, in the water column and in the air will complement the long-term measurements of the deep-sea research [...] RV Polarstern starts the Arctic season
    Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) are setting out with the research vessel Polarstern towards [...] research group. In this way researchers can analyse the climatic changes in the Arctic and their impact on the fauna in the future with higher temporal and spatial resolution.

  • New tools and concepts to observe the changing Arctic Ocean

    observation of ice, ocean and seafloor processes in the Central Arctic. A main aim is to observe and analyse the changes in the sea ice cover, and its causes and consequences for ocean and life.

  • News from the CSD

    scheduled tasks were done and that the arctic winter 2017/2018 can come… Max Schwanitz, September 2017 _________________________ Stopover of our time-travel into the future ocean to investigate the growth of cold-water [...] complementary expedition in the frame of our time-travel into the future ocean with conditions predicted by the recent IPCC report for the oceans at the end of the century. It was the last trip within the third-part [...] was relatively good, expectations were cautiously optimistic. However, as is often the case in the Arctic, circumstances took a different path. Upon arrival, the team was welcomed with thick clouds and strong

  • Nicole Biebow

    The polar regions are a key driving force for the Earth's climate and oceans. With the Alfred Wegener Institute's research in the Arctic and Antarctic, we contribute to the understanding of the global climate [...] relating to the Arctic and Antarctic and is designated by the European Union as a central element of its joint polar research strategy. Another important EU project is ARICE, the Arctic Research Icebreaker [...] Icebreaker Consortium. Within its framework, international coordination of ship-based research in the Arctic is being expanded. ARICE will also give scientists from different countries access to a number of

  • North pole soon to be ice free in summer

    Climate Research
    The Arctic Ocean in summer will very likely be ice free before 2050, at least temporally. The efficacy of climate-protection measures will determine how often and for how long. These

  • Nutrient Chemistry of the Arctic Ocean

    AWI scientist Sinhué Torres-Valdés observed the nutrient chemistry of the Arctic Ocean on an expedition as part of the PEANUTS project (Primary production driven by Escalating Arctic NUTrient fluxeS). The SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography led the expedition in 2018. The results have now been published in a paper in the journal Nature Communications. The PEANUTS project is funded by the Changing Arctic Ocean Program (CAO).

  • Oasis of life in the ice-covered central Arctic

    the ice of the Arctic, unknown habitats conceal an unexpected variety of living beings. On October 23rd, 46 scientists are expected to return to the home port in Bremerhaven from an Arctic expedition with [...] with the research vessel Polarstern. Over the past six weeks, they had explored life in ice, ocean and seabed with new robots and camera systems.

  • Ocean Warming and Thawing Permafrost Reduce the Arctic Ocean's Biological Carbon Storage and CO2 Uptake

    The Arctic experiences some of the most rapid climate changes on the planet, resulting in significant sea-ice melt. This transformation exposed the Arctic Ocean to increasing sunlight, driving a 56% rise [...] nutrients and carbon into the Arctic Ocean, delivered from rivers and coastal erosion. While it might seem logical that these additional nutrients would enhance the ocean’s biological carbon pump, - boosting [...] ecosystem impoverishment are undermining the pump’s efficiency, challenging assumptions about the Arctic’s ability to store carbon in a warming world.

  • Ocean biogeochemical modelling

    develops, runs and analyses global ocean biogeochemistry models, with a special interest in the polar regions. A special focus is on feedbacks between climate change and the ocean carbon cycle. The group hosts [...] (see Research ). We contribute to and coordinate the ocean carbon sink estimate in the Global Carbon Budget , particularly the ensemble of Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Models that includes FESOM-REcoM." [...] feedbacks in the carbon cycle and in the marine ecosystem, with a special interest in the Arctic and the Southern Oceans. Surface chloropyll a concentration in an eddy-resolving simulation (1 km horizontal

  • Ocean eddies could explain Antarctic sea-ice paradox

    have now shown, the ocean may weaken warming around Antarctica and delay sea-ice retreat. Given that many models are not capable of accurately reflecting this factor and the role of ocean eddies, the study [...] Climate Research
    Despite global warming and the sea-ice loss in the Arctic, the Antarctic sea-ice extent has remained largely unchanged since 1979. However, existing climate model-based simulations