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European Research Council awards grant to Potsdam-based AWI researcher

How is the global climate connected to regional variations in temperature and precipitation? And what is the possible range of future climate variations? To help find answers to these questions, Dr Thomas Laepple will receive 1.5 million euros over the next five years from the European Research Council (ERC) to support his Young Investigators Group SPACE. Together with a five-member team, the climate researcher from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam will work to combine modern observational data…
[Translate to English:] Arbeiten an Deck
Press releases

Polarstern sets sail for the Antarctic

On Wednesday 20 December 2017, the research vessel Polarstern set sail south from Bremerhaven. After a stop in Cape Town, it will deliver supplies to the Neumayer Station III, and the researchers will subsequently gather vital data at the Filchner-Rønne Ice Shelf in the southern part of the Weddell Sea, which is permanently covered by sea ice, in order to examine the melt rates of the Antarctic glaciers. From March 2018, biologists will investigate marine life around the Antarctic Peninsula. Oceanographic studies will be carried out on the return trip to…
Röntgenhologramm einer Schale der Kieselalge Actinoptychus senarius mit einem Durchmesser von nur 0,1 Millimetern. Die 5000fache Vergrößerung zeigt feinste Details der Struktur.
Online news

Novel lenses enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution

In cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute scientists at DESY, a Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association, have developed novel lenses that enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution in the nanometre regime.
Short news

Special Issue: Prediction of Arctic change

A special issue in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences presents new research efforts towards a predictive understanding of Arctic climate change and its linkage with Eurasian mid-latitude climate and weather.
[Translate to English:] Wie können die Ozeane als Nahrungsquelle nachhaltig genutzt werden? Das europäische Konsortium SAPEA hat dazu jetzt ein Gutachten vorgelegt.
Online news

Business as usual would not be sustainable

How can the oceans help satisfy the global demond for food. This question has been examined in the first Evidence Review Report by SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) titled Food from the Oceans.
Kuestenerosion auf der russischen Permafrostinsel Muostakh
Press releases

Retreating permafrost coasts threaten the fragile Arctic environment

Permafrost makes up a quarter of the landmass in the Northern Hemisphere. Climate change means that Arctic coasts are thawing and eroding at an ever greater pace, releasing additional greenhouse gases. A large EU project, coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is now exploring the consequences for the global climate and for the people living in the Arctic. But that’s not all: working together with residents of the Arctic region, the researchers will also co-design strategies for the future in…
Europäische Auster
Online news

International Oyster Alliance

At an international workshop, nature conservation authorities and organisations, scientists and oyster farmers have founded a European network. Their goal is to reintroduce and restore stocks of the now rare and highly endangered native European oyster.
Online news

The end of the African Humid Period

Researchers from several European institutions found that northern high-latitude cooling played a role in triggering the rapid termination of the African Humid Period 5500 years ago.
Karin Lochte und Antje Boetius
Press releases

Change of Leadership at the Alfred Wegener Institute

On 1 November 2017 Prof Antje Boetius will assume leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). She will succeed Prof Karin Lochte, who has led the Institute for the past ten years.
Heincke-Expedition HE-408
Online news

A strong case for limiting climate change

In November 2017, the German research network on ocean acidification BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification) reaches its conclusion after eight years of extensive interdisciplinary scientific activity. Experiments and analyses carried out by more than 250 scientists from 20 German institutions clearly indicate that ocean acidification and warming, along with other environmental stressors, impair life in the ocean and compromise important ecosystem services it provides to humankind. A brochure summarises major outcomes of the project for…