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On February 14, it's “There is no Planet B” all over Germany again. This is because people across the country are taking to the streets in the climate strike to campaign for more climate protection and a sustainable future. Employees at the AWI sites Neumayer Station III in the Antarctic, AWIPEV in the Arctic and the people on Polarstern are also taking part in the climate strike.

AWI Director Antje Boetius will take part in a panel discussion at the “Paris Saclay Summit” on February 12 at 6 pm. The topic: “Can the Arctic still be saved?”. The marine biologist will discuss this topic together with Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, special envoy of the French President for the United Nation Ocean Conference, French Ambassador for the Poles and Oceans. To the livestream.

Like a conveyor belt, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) transports warm water from the tropics northwards at the ocean surface and cold water southwards in the deep sea. Through this heat distribution, it plays a central role in the global climate system. However, increasing global warming as a result of climate change is altering the circulation patterns of the AMOC. In a recent study, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute found that this change has led to asynchronous poleward shifts of the Atlantic subtropical gyre in…

Countless tiny icequakes occur deep inside ice streams, as an international research team has been able to demonstrate for the first time. This allows the flow of the ice streams and the associated change in sea level to be estimated more precisely. The quakes are responsible for the fact that ice streams also move with a continuous stick-slip motion and not only like viscous honey as previously considered. The underlying seismic data from inside the NEGIS ice stream in north-east Greenland was recorded by researchers in a 2,665-metre-deep borehole using…

The Arctic plays a central role in the global climate system, particularly through its function as a carbon sink. However, climate change could disrupt its balance. An international research team headed by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has presented a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the Arctic carbon cycle. The results, which have been published in the scientific journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, provide new and updated numbers and highlight existing uncertainties.

Modern working conditions for marine biodiversity research – that's what the new building of the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at Wechloy Technology Park provides. The facility is an eye-catcher both inside and out.

Der Ozean gehört zu den größten Senken der Erde, um Kohlenstoff aus landbasierten (terrestrischen) Ökosystemen zu speichern. Trotz seiner entscheidenden Rolle im globalen Kohlenstoffkreislauf ist jedoch noch immer nicht klar, woher dieser Kohlenstoff stammt. Forschende des Alfred-Wegener-Instituts haben mit neuartigen Methoden Sedimentkerne aus dem Pazifik untersucht und können anhand von alter Pflanzen-DNA nun zum ersten Mal detaillierte Aussagen über die genaue Herkunft und die Dynamik terrestrischen Kohlenstoffs in Ozeanen machen. Das kann helfen, die…

Global warming is producing a rapid loss of plant species – according to estimates, roughly 600 plant species have died out since 1750 – twice the number of animal species lost. But which species are hit hardest? And how does altered biodiversity actually affect interactions between plants? Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute have tackled these questions and, in two recent studies, presented the answers they found buried in the past: using fragments of plant genetic material (DNA) deposited in lake sediments, they were able to gain new insights…

Shrimp in European supermarkets is almost exclusively sourced from farms outside the EU - often without any proof that it has been farmed in a welfare-compliant way. In the ShrimpWiz project, a consortium led by the Alfred Wegener Institute in cooperation with the company Oceanloop is investigating how indoor shrimp farming can be established in Europe and around the world that guarantees animal welfare and is economically viable for companies. They are using computer vision to automatically examine and care for the animals. 

The thawing of permafrost poses various endangerments to the Arctic environment and the livelihoods of people. An international team examined the social risks for Arctic regions and identified five key risks related to infrastructure, transport and supply, water quality, food security and health. Press release of the University of Vienna