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POLARIN: Network for polar research infrastructures

Alfred Wegener Institute to coordinate new EU research infrastructure project in the polar regions

[Translate to English:] Wartungs- und Pflegearbeiten am Met Tower
[29. February 2024]  From now on, a network of 50 partner institutes will provide access to polar research infrastructures. Over the next five years, the European Union will provide 14.6 million euros in funding for the new POLARIN project (Polar Research Infrastructure Network). Slated to officially launch on 1 March 2024, the project will promote interdisciplinary research that addresses the scientific challenges in both polar regions.


Greenland's ice-sheet

Warm Atlantic water is melting Greenland’s largest floating ice tongue

AWI researchers simulate ocean circulation below the ice of the 79° North Glacier in northeast Greenland

79° North Glacier
[20. February 2024]  Although the tongue of the 79°North Glacier on the north-east coast of Greenland has hardly become any shorter in recent decades, it has become increasingly thinner. A study team from the Alfred Wegener Institute can now explain why. Using a computer model, they were able to show that warm water from the Atlantic flows into the cavern under the glacier tongue and melts the ice there from below.


Food sources during polar night

The role of jellyfish as a food source in the Arctic winter

AWI research team shows that jellyfish play an important, previously unknown role in the diet of amphipods during the polar night

Während der Polarnacht 2022 wimmelte es im Kongsfjord auf Spitzbergen nur so vor Quallen und Nesseltierchen wie der Aglantha digitale
[14. February 2024]  The Arctic is changing rapidly due to climate change. It is not only affected by increasing surface temperatures, but also by warm water from the Atlantic, which is flowing in more and more – changing the structures and functions of the ecosystem. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now been able to prove for the first time that during the polar night, some amphipods on Svalbard feed on jellyfish that flow to the Arctic alongside warm Atlantic water.


Kick-off for a new polar research project

YESSS to investigate warming in the Arctic during the dark season

Fieldwork in Ny-Ålesund, Spitzbergen
[08. February 2024]  The new research project YESSS - Year-round EcoSystem Study on Svalbard - is focussing on how Arctic warming is changing over the seasons in Svalbard. The team of around 30 scientists observes the life cycles, foraging and overwintering strategies of selected key species all year round and conducts experiments at the AWIPEV station on Svalbard. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the project, which is coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, with 2.7 million euros until the end of 2026.


Research vessel Polarstern visits Australia for the first time

Embassy reception on board at harbour call in Hobart, Tasmania, between two Antarctic expeditions

[Translate to English:] CTD-Einsatz
[01. February 2024]  She has been travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic in the service of research for over 40 years, but there are still areas that are new territory even for the Polarstern: Between two expeditions to East Antarctica, the Alfred Wegener Institute's research icebreaker reached Hobart in Tasmania on 30 January 2024 and will remain there until 6 February. The German Embassy in Australia, together with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the AWI, is inviting representatives from politics, science and society to a celebratory reception on board to mark the first attempt.


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