Press Releases in 2006
27. December 2006: Polarstern catches five tons of Marbled Antarctic Cod
One of Polarstern’s biggest fish catch in 24 years of research in Antarctic waters. New hope for commercial fisheries? Quite the opposite, a good catch doesn’t necessarily mean that depleted stocks have recovered.
To press release: Polarstern catches five tons of Marbled Antarctic Cod
22. December 2006: Four Arnoux’s Beaked Whales observed from Polarstern expedition
On the 17th of December, Meike Scheidat & Linn Lehnert, the whale scientists on board of Polarstern, made a remarkable cetaceans sighting: Four Arnoux’s Beaked Whales (Berardius arnuxii), observed from the helicopter.
To press release: Four Arnoux’s Beaked Whales observed from Polarstern expedition
20. December 2006: Antarctic research within the International Polar Year IPY 2007/2008
The 27th research campaign of Bremerhaven’s Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research marks the beginning of the summer research season in the Antarctic. The institute collaborates with 20 research institutions and ten logistics organisations from 14 countries. Neumayer Station will serve as the logistical base for extensive measurements using aircraft. An expedition aboard research icebreaker Polarstern is travelling along the Antarctic Peninsula as part of the global ‘Census of Marine Life’, and at the Dallmann Laboratory activities will be focussing on Antarctic habitats as they undergo climate change. The Antarctic summer lasts from November to April. Many projects will be an overture to the International Polar Year 2007/2008.
To press release: Antarctic research within the International Polar Year IPY 2007/2008
24. November 2006: Polarstern to explore uncharted seafloor
Atmospheric global warming has resulted in significant environmental changes on the Antarctic Peninsula and throughout Western Antarctica. Glaciers are melting and the Larsen ice shelves are collapsing. An interesting consequence: areas which were previously covered by ice shelves several hundred meters thick are now accessible to researchers!
Read more about the expedition...
9. November 2006: Ocean current links northern and southern hemisphere in ice age
Even if climate records from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show different patterns climate of Arctic and Antartica are connected directly. Recent investigations on an Antarctic ice core now published in nature indicate a general connection between both hemispheres by a ‘bipolar seesaw’.
Read more about the nature article...
31. October 2006: New aircraft for polar research
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is acquiring a new research plane of type Basler BT-67. ‘Polar 5’ features improved aeronautical parameters and scientific instrumentation designed for long-lasting utilisation.
4. October 2006: Continued warming of the Arctic Ocean - Northernmost position of the new research vessel Maria S Merian
Several days ago, the ‘Maria S Merian’ returned from her second Arctic expedition with data confirming trends of Arctic warming.
19. September 2006: Race against extinction
Are marine organisms able to adapt to ocean acidification? An international group of researchers under leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research demands a stronger consideration of evolutionary adaptations in predictive models. For shell-forming marine algae the scientists compared laboratory experiments with fossil collections.
28. July 2006: Cosmic Dust in Terrestrial Ice
For the last 30,000 years, our planet has been hit by a constant rain of cosmic dust particles. Two scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) at Columbia University in New York and the Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, have reached this conclusion after investigating the amount of the helium isotope 3He in cosmic dust particles preserved in an Antarctic ice core over the last 30,000 years.
17. July 2006: Free access to the plankton data base
PLANKTON*NET is an online data base illustrating plankton organisms both visually and contextually. Originally, the data base was established at the Alfred Wegener Institute to provide a source of information for students participating in courses at the Biological Station Helgoland. Plankton is constituted by free-floating organisms in the water, from bacteria to jelly fish.