Archive of News and Press Releases
Professor Antje Boetius is “University Teacher of the Year”
The prize, which is awarded by the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV), honors AWI director as “an advocate of the oceans and outstanding communicator of science.”
[19. December 2022]
The German Association of University Professors and Lecturers Antje Boetius as an excellent, multiple-award-winning scientist who uses extensive field research to examine the effects of climate change on the oceans and the diversity of life in the deep sea. Thanks to her research, Boetius is “an advocate of the oceans” who urges close international cooperation and is committed to promoting future-proof climate, nature, and environmental protection.
EU-Project
EU initiative "DestinE": “Digital Twin” of the Earth
AWI participates in a major European contract for adaptation to climate change
[10. December 2022]
The “Destination Earth” (DestinE) initiative from the EU Commission aims to create a high-resolution digital model of the Earth to support climate change adaptation policies and decision-making for reducing the impacts of extremes. Numerous European authorities, climate research institutions and supercomputing centers are involved in the project. Alfred Wegener Institute is participating in DestinE with its ocean model FESOM, which efficiently simulates ocean currents and sea ice and can selectively depict individual key regions in a higher resolution.
Polarstern Turns 40
Alfred Wegener Institute Honours Icon of German Polar Research
[08. December 2022]
9 December 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the research icebreaker Polarstern’s commissioning. Built by a consortium combining the shipyards Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and Werft Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, the Alfred Wegener Institute’s flagship has successfully completed more than 130 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic and offered a temporary home for thousands of researchers from Germany and around the globe. In the process, the Polarstern has safely traversed 1.8 million nautical miles. The ship is currently on an expedition in the Southern Ocean.
Greenland Icesheet
Short-lived Ice Streams
Radar scans of the Greenland ice sheet reveal the shutdown and reconfiguration of ice streams in the span of a few thousand years
[05. December 2022]
Major ice streams can shut down, shifting rapid ice transport to other parts of the ice sheet, within a few thousand years. This was determined in reconstructions of two ice streams, based on ice-penetrating radar scans of the Greenland ice sheet, that a team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute have just presented in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Fisheries Agreement for the Central Arctic
First meeting of the parties to the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean
[23. November 2022]
We know little about the fish stocks in the central Arctic Ocean, and what we know about the local ecosystem is insufficient to ensure sustainable management. In response, in 2021 the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean – which includes a moratorium on fishing in the region – entered into force. The first conference of the parties starts in Seoul (South Korea) today.
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