News

The time left to reach the climate goals of the Paris Agreement is running out fast. This is the conclusion of the latest Global Carbon Budget, which is published annually by the Global Carbon Project (GCP). The GCP is an association of international scientists with a large German contingent, including amongst others LMU geographers Julia Pongratz and Clemens Schwingshackl, who are part of the core writing team, and AWI scientist Judith Hauck. According to the report, global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use will amount to 36.8 billion metric…

Biologin Anna Natalie Meyer vom AWI ist eine der ersten Preisträger:innen des Preises „Wissen der Vielen“ für Citizen Science. Der Preis wurde 2023 zum ersten Mal ausgeschrieben und ehrt herausragende wissenschaftliche Leistungen. Er wurde am 29. November auf dem Forum Citizen Science in Freiburg im Breisgau verliehen. Anna Natalie Mayer erhielt den 3. Preis für ihren Beitrag über die Untersuchung von Plastikmüll an arktischen Stränden auf Spitzbergen, den sie zusammen mit Birgit Lutz und Melanie Bergmann veröffentlicht hat. Ein wichtiger Teil des…

AWI Director Antje Boetius took part in the "Arctic Dialogue" in Ottawa: The German and French Embassies in Canada organized an intensive dialogue on the challenges of the Arctic as part of "Beyond the Ice: A deep dive into the ecological and geopolitical challenges of the Arctic". Possibilities for cooperation in an evolving landscape were discussed.

Yesterday evening, the research vessel Polarstern set off from Cape Town for a special region: Two expeditions in East Antarctica will focus on the history of the instability of the ice sheet there and its interactions with ocean circulation. On the first leg, which will last around two months and be led by GEOMAR, the main focus will be on oceanographic, geoscientific and biological work; the second leg will be led by Kiel University and will have a geoscientific focus, with researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute involved in both expeditions. The…

The Collaborative Research Centre “Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes and Feedback Mechanism (AC)³”, which is headed by meteorologist Professor Manfred Wendisch from Leipzig University, is to enter its third funding phase. This was announced today (24 November 2023) by the German Research Foundation (DFG). From January 2024, the research network, which also includes the Universities of Bremen and Cologne, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the Leibniz Institute for…

As part of the ongoing cooperation, the AWI and the Netherlands Polar Program held a joint Arctic workshop at AWI Bremerhaven on November 16th. The aim of this workshop was to identify and discuss ongoing and potential scientific collaborations between Dutch and AWI scientists in the Arctic. About 30 scientists from ten different Dutch research institutions attended the meeting and discussed with AWI scientists collaborative projects in this region.

“Two degrees is too high”. The State of the Cryosphere report 2023 has been released, presenting findings on the impacts of 2°C global warming with a focus on the ice and permafrost regions of our planet. The report aims to reach politicians and policymakers for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The message: Limiting global warming to 2°C is not enough. Multiple AWI scientists contributed to the report which was published on November 16 by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI). To the report.

Dwindling beaches on the Tunisian island of Djerba are the focus of a week-long workshop taking place at the Alfred Wegener Institute on Helgoland from 14 November. As part of the "Oceanographic and Ecological Data for Nature-based coastal protection" (ORIENTATE) project jointly applied for with the Tunisian University of Sfax, 15 students and representatives of youth and tourism organisations from Tunisia will meet with their German colleagues. They are exchanging scientific methods and discussing solutions that work with nature and not against it in…

Invasive species like the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis), introduced roughly 100 years ago, pose a threat to native ecosystems and can do enormous ecological and economic harm. In its latest report, released just a few weeks ago, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) once again highlighted the lack of internationally coordinated strategies to combat invasive species. The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and Dresden University of Technology (TUD), together with partners from Belgium, France…

As part of the Berlin Science Week, the German Arctic Office at the AWI and the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin have organized a seminar on 9 November in Potsdam to provide insights into the current German-Norwegian scientific cooperation in Arctic research. The results from recent Arctic expeditions and plans for future exploration were presented and discussed. Among the presenting institutions were the Norwegian Polar Institute, The Arctic University of Norway, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and the AWI.