News

An international team of scientists is currently investigating a haze layer that spreads over the Arctic each spring. This layer of air contains aerosols whose expansion in the otherwise clean Arctic atmosphere leads to a level of pollution that usually occurs only over industrial areas. One of the most important questions arising is whether or not this might have direct or indirect effects on the climate.
Aerosols are air-suspended particles that directly influence climate through absorption or reflection of solar radiation. In addition, they can act…

For his scientific contributions to polar research and his commitment towards cooperation with Russia, Professor Jörn Thiede, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Saint-Petersburg State University on May 12, 2004.

In the past six weeks scientists aboard the research vessel “Polarstern“ have been searching for krill in the previously scarcely investigated Lazarev Sea. The expedition ended today in Cape Town. As a food source for whales, seals, penguins and seabirds, krill takes a key role within this ecosystem of the Antarctic. Very little is known about the distribution, biology, population dynamics and physiology of these shrimp-like crustaceans, either from this ocean region or about the time period between the Antarctic autumn and winter. The expedition was to…

In the world's oceans, considerably more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than previously suggested can be transported to the deep sea. This was pointed out in an article authored by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, and the Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche in France in the recent issue of the scientific journal Nature (see below). In their work, the scientists show that water-soluble sugar molecules produced by algae form particles in the process of aggregation. These…

Researchers have been successful in identifying the relationship between a reduction of arctic ozone and climate changes. Current observations show that the arctic ozone layer reacts much more sensitively to climate changes than predicted from earlier model calculations. A study published in “Geophysical Research Letters” (see below) demonstrates that, within the last 40 years, climate conditions in the stratosphere have facilitated the ozone decline in the Arctic. After analysis of ozone measurements from the past 12 years, researchers were able to…

Within the framework of the expedition ‘CryoVex 2004’ the aircraft ‘Polar 4’, operated by the Foundation Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is on a 3 week Arctic trip to conduct ice surveys. The measurements are to be used in preparation for a mission by the European space satellite ‘CryoSat’ which will survey the polar ice caps and sea ice beginning November 2004. The satellite is to determine whether ice recedes or increases in response to global climate change.

An international team of scientists that recently carried out an experiment in the South Atlantic on board RV „Polarstern“ of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research has found that an algal bloom induced by iron fertilisation transported carbon dioxide to the deep ocean. The bloom also stimulated growth of zooplankton grazers such as copepods and krill that form the basis of food chains leading to fish stocks of commercial importance such as sardine and herring but also whales.

Researchers can now access one of the largest diatom databases on the Internet. With a current size of approximately 300,000 preserved samples and 80,000 microscope slide preparations, the collection is invaluable for science. Diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic organisms that occur both in marine and in freshwater environments. They are an important part of the food chain, and represent useful indicators for ecological and climatic change. Their unique feature is a cell wall constructed of silica organized in a characteristic structure. Diatoms are…

"Polarstern” begins new iron fertilization experiment

On January 21, 2004, the "Polarstern", research vessel of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute of Polar and Marine Research, will leave Cape Town for the third stage of the 21st expedition to Antarctica. Forty-nine scientists from nine countries will be aboard to investigate the effects of fertilizing the Southern Ocean on the carbon exchange between air and sea surface. Carbon in the form of carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas, and plays a major role in global climate warming.

Ten years Dallmann Laboratory

On January 19, 2004, the Dallmann Laboratory on King George Island in Antarctica will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Biologists and geoscientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) use this laboratory, which is located on a shallow bay, for investigations of ice-free areas and nearshore shallow waters. This is only possible in few Antarctic localities since most of the coast is covered with thick shelf-ice or glaciers.