DAIMON Project
Munitions at the bottom of the Baltic Sea
Should they be monitored, removed or left alone? – researchers provide guidelines and decision-making support
The bottom of the Baltic Sea is home to large quantities of sunken munitions, a legacy of the Second World War – and often very close to shore. Should we simply leave them where they are and accept the risk of their slowly releasing toxic substances, or should we instead remove them, and run the risk of their falling apart – or even exploding? Administrators and politicians face these questions when e.g. there are plans for building a new wind park, or laying an underwater cable. In the course of the international project DAIMON, researchers prepared essential decision-making aids, which were recently presented at the Thünen Institute in Bremerhaven.
Greenland
Cracks herald the calving of a large iceberg from Petermann Glacier
AWI researchers have observed an increased flow speed on the glacier and predict a further acceleration if a calving event occurs
Cracks in the floating ice tongue of Petermann Glacier in the far northwest reaches of Greenland indicate the pending loss of another large iceberg. As glaciologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) report in a new study, the glacier’s flow rate has increased by an average of 10 percent since the calving event in 2012, during which time new cracks have also formed – a quite natural process. However, the experts’ model simulations also show that, if these ice masses truly break off, Petermann Glacier’s flow rate will likely accelerate further and transport more ice out to sea, with corresponding effects on the global sea level. The study was recently released in the “Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth...
Antarctica
Scientific expedition heads to newly exposed Antarctic ecosystem
Scientists to explore life up to now hidden beneath Antarctic ice shelf
An international team of scientists heads to Antarctica this week to investigate a mysterious marine ecosystem that’s been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years.
Antarctic Expeditions
Deep-sea drilling to shed new light on the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
AWI geoscientists lead international IODP expeditions to the Antarctic Ocean
Over the next few months, geophysicists and geologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research will gain unprecedented insights into the climatic history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).
Anniversary
Ten-year anniversary of the Neumayer Station III
The scientific and political community alike stress the importance of German Antarctic research
Since 2009 the Neumayer Station III, located on the Ekström Ice Shelf on the eastern coast of the Weddell Sea, has served as the primary base of operations for German Antarctic research activities. The station crew, together with a delegation from the research and political communities, are now celebrating its ten-year anniversary.
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