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During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~21,000 years ago), the Laurentide ice sheet covered large parts of North America – reaching an ice thickness of more than 3 km, before it finally melted at the end of the ice age. To date, there have been few detailed studies of the evolution of the North American ice sheet into the LGM. In a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have used a newly developed climate-ice model to draw conclusions about…

The role of clouds and warm air masses from the open ocean for the rapid warming of the Arctic is at the heart of a recent Alfred Wegener Institute project on Svalbard. The researchers are applying a new perspective and tracking how individual air masses cool above the sea ice, form clouds, and lose moisture through precipitation. To do so, they’re using specially designed weather balloons capable of continually measuring the temperature and humidity within a given air mass.

Sport junkie or couch potato? Always on time or often late? The animal kingdom, too, is home to a range of personalities, each with its own lifestyle. In a study just released in the journal PLOS Biology, a team led by Sören Häfker and Kristin Tessmar-Raible from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the University of Vienna report on a surprising discovery: even simple marine polychaete worms shape their day-to-day lives on the basis of highly individual rhythms. This diversity is of interest not just for…

AWI Director Antje Boetius gave a speech at the event "Sailing into the future for the Ocean Decade" on the importance of scientific data collected by racing boats for science. The event took place during the Ocean Decade Week in Barcelona and was organized by The Ocean Race & IOC UNESCO. The innovation platform SOOP (Shaping an Ocean Of Possibilities for science-industry collaboration), in which the AWI is also involved, was also presented.

Microplastic particles can be found in the most remote ocean regions on earth. In Antarctica, pollution levels are even higher than previously assumed. This is one finding of a recent study by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Basel. 

The council formed by national science academies of the EU Member States, Norway, Switzerland and United Kingdom calls for the EU Nature Restoration Law and urges EU Member States to contribute to the preservation of nature, climate and sustainable agriculture. In a statement, the science academies call on those intending to vote against or abstain from the law to reconsider their position based on the best available scientific evidence and champion the law. More information.

"Delivering the science we need for the ocean we want" - this is the motto of the first Ocean Decade conference: Three years after the start of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), the Ocean Decade community will meet in Barcelona from April 10-12 to set joint priorities for the future of the Decade. As a member of the German Ocean Decade Committee, AWI Director Antje Boetius will also be attending the conference and presenting the Antarctica InSync project together with AWI scientist Stefanie Arndt.

The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) has honored Markus Rex, Matthew Shupe and Klaus Dethloff with the Award for Service 2024. They received the award for the planning and execution of the MOSAiC expedition, which provided crucial insights into Arctic systems and a better understanding of climate change. According to the IASC, their work is unparalleled in its contribution to Arctic science and international cooperation.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets. An international research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have now used sediments taken from the South Pacific to reconstruct the flow speed in the last 5.3 million years. Their data show that during glacial periods, the current slowed; during interglacials, it accelerated. Consequently, if the current…

Dr Jenna Balaguer with her dissertation on the role of micronutrients for phytoplankton growth in the Antarctic and Dr Jonas Preine with his dissertation on the development of the marine volcanic field in the southern Aegean have been awarded the Annette Barthelt Prize 2024. The award is associated with a research grant of 6000 euros funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and was presented on Friday at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.