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What happens in the vast permafrost regions of the Arctic when the atmosphere heats up? The question still drives climate researchers because the frozen ground contains large amounts of carbon, which can be converted by microbes into the greenhouse gases methane and CO2. If the gases are released, this could accelerate global warming even more. Now, AWI researcher Julia Boike, together with colleagues from the GFZ and University of Hamburg, has published results from an almost twenty-year series of observations in Siberia. To the original press release.

Challenges and opportunities for science in society: This is the motto of the "Sustainability Series" of the Royal Irish Academy in Ireland. AWI Vice Director and Head of AWI Sites Sylt and Helgoland, Karen Wiltshire, will give a keynote lecture on "Coastal Seas in the Fast Lane of Climate Change: Resilience and Adaptation for a Sustainable Future" at the event on October 27, starting at 6:30 pm.

Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America - the continents not only organize the world, they also stand for the diversity of nature and culture on Earth. But how did our planet actually become the way it is? ZDF is showing the six-part series “Unsere Kontinente” that explores this question to mark the 40th anniversary of the documentary series “Terra X”. Prof. Antje Boetius, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, gives an overview of Australia and Oceania.

This year's meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) starts next week in Hobart, Australia. Among other things, the Commission sets fishing quotas for the Southern Ocean fisheries, including those for Antarctic krill. The journal Science dedicates an editorial by Bettina Meyer, biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, and her colleague So Kawaguchi from the Australian Antarctic Division to this topic in the current issue.

On 26 September, the operators of Nord Stream reported multiple gas leaks in the underwater pipeline. After consulting with the University of Göteborg and the responsible authorities, and after just three days of preparation, a Swedish and German research group led by Katarina Abrahamson departed on a five-day expedition to the site of the leak on board the research vessel Skagerak. Ellen Damm, Samuel Sellmaier and Volkmar Assmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute were on board to determine how much of the methane released was still in the waters of the…

Studie zeigt: Künftige Emissionen der Permafrostregion sind erheblich und müssen bei den globalen Klimazielen berücksichtigt werden

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk. The research led by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of East Anglia is now published in PLOS Biology, futher informations can be found in this UAE's press release.

The Alfred Wegener Institute and the MOSAiC research expedition were awarded the Arctic Circle Prize on Saturday, 15 October 2022 in Reykjavik. With the prize, the international organisation Arctic Circle recognises extraordinary contributions to securing a sustainable and prosperous future in the Arctic. This is the third time the prize has been awarded since 2016, previous winners being Ban Ki-moon (then Secretary General of the United Nations) and John Kerry (former US Secretary of State and US Chair of the Arctic Council).

AWI Director Antje Boetius participated in the plenary session Urgent messages from global science leaders at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2022 in Reykjavík yesterday. In the session, she pointed to the need for international action to avoid climate tipping points. The Arctic, she said, is the climate hotspot with global consequences. Scientific observations and assessments of this region are part of the solution. Other panel participants included Roberta Marinelli (NSF) and Dame Jane Francis (BAS). The event was moderated by IASC President Henry Burgess.

As a result of global warming, permafrost regions around the world are thawing now. As they do, climate-relevant greenhouse gases containing carbon (carbon dioxide, methane) and nitrogen (nitrous oxide) can be released from the soil and into the atmosphere. Accordingly, having data on the stored amounts of both elements that are as accurate as possible is essential to making good climate forecasts. Whereas substantial research has been conducted on the carbon reservoirs in permafrost, we still know comparatively little about nitrogen. A team of experts…