The Alfred Wegener Institute carries out research in the Arctic and Antarctic as well as in the high and mid latitude oceans. The institute coordinates German polar research and makes available to national and international science important infrastructure, e.g. the research ice breaker “Polarstern” and research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Marine species of the month in the International Year of Biodiversity
The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, in order to foster awareness that the welfare of mankind depends on the conservation of biodiversity, on preventing the loss of diversity and to demonstrate achievements in the protection of biodiversity. In this context, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research intends to introduce a "Marine species of the Month" during 2010, as proxy for different and specific research topics of the Institute. The "species of the Month" will epitomize various aspects of climate change and its impact on the ocean as a habitat, as is seen for example in the decrease of sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, or the warming and acidification of the oceans. Other topics addressed will be related to changes in species composition in our coastal waters, e.g. the invasion of new species into the North Sea and the consequences.
Latest Press Releases
20. August 2010: Is the ice in the Arctic Ocean getting thinner and thinner? Research aircraft Polar 5 measures thickness of sea ice north of Greenland
The extent of the sea ice in the Arctic will reach its annual minimum in September. Forecasts indicate that it will not be as low as in 2007, the year of the smallest area covered by sea ice since satellites started recording such data. Nevertheless, sea ice physicists at the Alfred Wegener Institute are concerned about the long-term equilibrium in the Arctic Ocean. They have indications that the mass of sea ice is dwindling because its thickness is declining.Around a third to half of the freshwater export from the Arctic Ocean takes place in this way – a major drive factor in the global ocean current system.
Is the ice in the Arctic Ocean getting thinner and thinner?
30. July 2010: NEEM Deep Ice Core Drilling Project in Greenland Reaches Bedrock – Conclusions on Climate Conditions and Sea Level Rise in Geological Past Expected
Bedrock has been reached Tuesday July 27 2010 at the deep ice core drilling site NEEM on the Greenland Ice Sheet at the depth 2537.36 m. The Eemian is the last interglacial period, when climate was warmer than today, and sea level 5 meters higher, and is our best analogue for future climate. Scientists from 14 nations participated in NEEM, the most international ice core effort to date. After five years of work, ice from the warm interglacial Eemian period, 130.000 to 115.000 years before present and even older ice has been recovered. The last 2 m of ice above the bedrock contains rocks and other material that has not seen sunlight for hundreds of thousands of years.
NEEM Deep Ice Core Drilling Project in Greenland Reaches Bedrock
26. July 2010: Highlight of the Polarstern expedition: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle of the Alfred Wegener Institute dives under the Arctic ice for the first time
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association for the first time sent its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) on an under-ice mission at about 79° North.
14. July 2010: 30 years of Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research - Ice, sea and climate – research to understand our Earth better
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association will be thirty years old on 15 July. Through its innovative scientific and excellent research infrastructure the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) has developed into one of the world’s leading internationally recognised centres for climate research on both polar regions and the oceans.
30 years of Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
