Climate change affects the Arctic particularly fast and heavily. The mean temperature in the High North has increased twice as fast as the global mean during the last decades. The summer sea ice cover decreases: since the beginning of satellite imaging in 1979 by 80,000 square kilometres per year, which corresponds to the area of Austria.

Changes in the climatic conditions facilitate access to the Arctic, which plays an important role in the Earth system. The Arctic is not a closed system far away: low-pressure areas develop here that contribute to weather conditions in Central Europe. Interactions between land, ocean, biosphere, atmosphere and the ice masses affect the climate globally. Last but not least melting glaciers lead to the worldwide sea level rise.

On the following pages you can find current contributions to Arctic science at the Alfred Wegener Institute. They intend to inform about the diverse and interdisciplinary research, which is embedded in national and international networks. You can get further information by directly clicking on the websites of the research vessel Polarstern, the aircraft Polar 5, the Koldewey Station as part of the French-German Research Base AWIPEV on Spitsbergen, the Samoylov Station in Siberian Lena-Delta, and to the deep-sea long-term observatory HAUSGARTEN. The Alfred Wegener Institute operates these large-scale facilities for the scientific community and it also coordinates polar research in Germany.

This website is going to be regularly updated: a repeated visit is worth it!

26. January 2012 press release: New study shows correlation between summer Arctic sea ice cover and winter weather in Central Europe

1. December 2011 press release: Simultaneous ice melt in Antarctic and Arctic

7. November 2011 press release: EU project launch: PAGE21 closes gap in our understanding of the climate system

2. November 2011 press release: High-ranking award for Antje Boetius: Biologist receives grant from the European Research Council to study bacteria of the Arctic seabed

28. October 2011 press release: New aircraft for polar research

26. October 2011 press release: Indications from other end of the world: Scientists reconstruct Greenland’s climate history with the help of Antarctic ice cores

14. October 2011 press release: Russo-German exhibition about polar and marine research

6. October 2011 press release: Young and thin instead of old and bulky: Researchers report on changes in Arctic sea ice after return of research vessel Polarstern

4. October 2011 press release: How did the first Arctic ozone hole form in spring 2011?

31. August 2011 press release: The ice opens the way – climate scientists take part in project on opportunities and risks of Arctic use

22. August 2011 press release: Research Vessel Polarstern at North Pole

10. June 2011 press release: How is the Arctic Ocean changing? – Research vessel Polarstern launches expedition to Arctic Ocean

11. May 2011 press release: Research aircraft Polar 5 returned from spring measurements in the high Arctic

18 April 2011 press release: Arctic coasts on the retreat - International studies describe current state of the Arctic coasts. You can find a direct link to the reports on the right side of this page.

5 April 2011 press release: Record depletion of Arctic ozone layer caused increased UV radiation in Scandinavia

24 March 2011 press release: Large-scale assessment of the Arctic Ocean: significant increase in freshwater content since 1990s

14 March 2011 press release: Arctic on the verge of record ozone loss - Arctic-wide measurements verify rapid depletion in recent days

15 November 2010 press release: German Council of Science and Humanities recommends Building of Polarstern II

4 November 2010 press release: German-Russian Otto Schmidt Laboratory in St. Petersburg funded for another three years

1 November 2010 press release: Federal Ministry of Education and Research finances new polar aircraft for use in the Arctic and Antarctic