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Gruppenfoto
02. July 2025
Short news

FH Münster students visiting the AWI

Accompanied by neuroscientist Maren Urner, a group of students from the „Sustainable Transformation Design“ degree programme at FH Münster visited the AWI. Their agenda was filled with lectures on sustainability, science and science communication. Topics included, for example, the connection between the climate crisis and the food system as well as the potential that the sea offers for sustainable nutrition. Another highlight of the programme was a tour of the Centre of Aquaculture Research.
[Translate to English:] Buoy Installation
02. July 2025
Press release

Journey through space and time

On Wednesday, 2 July 2025, the Polarstern will set sail from Tromsø, Norway, embarking on an expedition to the Arctic Ocean. Over the next two months, an international research team will analyse the feedback effects between global warming and sea ice retreat in the Arctic Ocean. The investigations will focus on the differences in the melting of various sea ice types – representing the Arctic of the past decades, the present and the future. A parallel airborne campaign will complement the measurements and, at the outset of the expedition, the Polarstern…
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Winning photo of the North Sea Photo Awards in the category “North Sea Places”
27. June 2025
Short news

Double win for CLANCY at the North Sea Conference

Die AWI-Wissenschaftler Oliver Hauck und Björn Suckow nahmen an der North Sea Conference 2025 in Oldenburg teil und wurden dort gleich doppelt ausgezeichnet. Beim North Sea Video & Photo Contest erreichten ihre Beiträge den ersten Platz in zwei Kategorien: Ein Foto von AWI-Fotografin Esther Horvath siegte in der Kategorie „North Sea Places“. Das von Heide Matz und Carlotta Labitzke produzierte Video gewann in der Kategorie „Free for All“. Die Beiträge zeigen die Arbeit des CLANCY-Projekts zur Eindämmung der invasiven Chinesischen Wollhandkrabbe.
Group photo
26. June 2025
Short news

Delegation of the Shanghai Ocean University visits the AWI

The Vice President of the Shanghai Ocean University, Min Jiang, has visited the AWI in Bremerhaven. The delegation was welcomed by AWI Director Maarten Boersma and Christian Bock, head of the section Integrative Ecophysiology and others. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss current projects, scientific collaboration and funding opportunities. The participants were also given an overview of the structures and departments of both institutes. Finally, they visited the NMR laboratory and the AWI's seawater circulation system.
 
S_ºdpolarmeer. Southern Ocean
20. June 2025
Online news

Sea ice plays important role in variability of carbon uptake by Southern Ocean

The global ocean takes up about a quarter of all CO2 that humans emit into the atmosphere. The Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40% of this. However, the amount of CO2 it can uptake varies from year to year. An international research team with the participation of the Alfred Wegener Institute investigated why the uptake varies so much and was able to show that what happens in winter is crucial in explaining this variability in CO2 uptake. The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. 
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Blick über das Meer
19. June 2025
Press release

Little researched current impacting on winter sea ice in the Arctic

In the last few decades, the Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe’s Norwegian Sea into the Arctic Ocean, passing through the Barents Sea and the Fram Strait in the process. However, not all the Atlantic water flowing into the Barents Sea reaches the sea ice. Part of the Atlantic water recirculates, i.e. by changing direction and flowing back into…
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 Wie eine Art ozeanischer Tunnel transportiert Antarktisches Zwischen- und Mode Wasser CO2 direkt aus dem Südlichen Ozean Richtung Norden.
18. June 2025
Online news

"Oceanic tunnel" transported CO2 from Antarctica during the last ice age

During the end of the last ice age huge amounts of CO2 which were formerly stored in the deep ocean upwelled in the Southern Ocean and were released to the atmosphere. This was one of the main causes of global warming at that time. However, it is assumed that not all of the stored carbon was released into the atmosphere, but that parts were directly transported northwards by the so-called Antarctic Intermediate and Mode Water into the East Pacific. So far, however, this has not been clearly proven. Using a combination of sediment core analyses and highly…
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Krill is becoming the focus of fishing more and more, which means that penguins, whales and seals are increasingly encountering ships in the Southern Ocean, competing with them for krill swarms.
16. June 2025
Press release

Krill fishing in the Antarctic: overlaps with consequences

Antarctic krill is a key species in the Antarctic marine ecosystem: it is an important food source for many species, such as whales, seals and penguins. However, the small crustaceans are increasingly becoming the focus of fishing, which can incur significant consequences for the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem. Therefore, concepts that minimize the negative effects of fishing on the krill themselves and on the animals that feed on krill are required urgently. A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Norwegian Institute of Marine…
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Group photo
16. June 2025
Short news

Antarctica Insync at Ocean Conference

At this year's UN Ocean Conference in Nice, AWI scientists Antje Boetius, Nicole Biebow and Alexander Haumann presented the international Antarctic research project “Antarctica Insync” to the scientific community. On board the research vessel Meteor, researchers exchanged ideas on the topic of “Polar Oceans, Climate and Biodiversity: Advancing Synergies and Sustainability of International Science Collaboration!”. In addition to Antarctica Insync, the POLARIN and Tara Polar Drift projects were also presented.
Blck über das Meer
12. June 2025
Online news

What is the state of the AMOC?

An international initiative is investigating whether the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has reached a tipping point and what the consequences would be. AWI researchers are also involved.
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