Archive of News and Press Releases

Due to global warming, temperatures in the Arctic are climbing rapidly. As a result, the treeline for Siberian larch forests is steadily advancing to the north, gradually supplanting the broad expanses of tundra which are home to a unique mix of flora and fauna. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now prepared a computer simulation of how these woods could spread in the future, at the tundra’s expense. Their conclusion: only consistent climate protection measures will allow roughly 30 percent of the Siberian tundra to survive to…

Since the Antarctic Treaty entered into force in 1961, representatives of the participating nations have met regularly for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). The 44th ATCM, from 23 May till 2 June 2022, is being hosted by Germany in Berlin. Matters on the agenda include topical questions relating to Antarctica and further developments on the coldest continent on our planet. The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) presents the exhibition "Experience Antarctica" at ATCM. This shows the delegates of…

Prof Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute: “We were extremely pleased and relieved to pick up on the signals from the political community that the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag has opted to provide funding for the procurement of the Polarstern II. Thanks to this wonderful news from the Adjustment Session on the Federal Budget for 2022, we have come a major step closer to acquiring a modern, high-performance and sustainable successor to our research icebreaker Polarstern." 

The idea of growing sargassum in huge algae farms is one of five projects that the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation is funding in the coming year. The aim is to find new solutions that make the long-term storage of large amounts of CO2 sustainable and economical.

According to estimates, by 2040 the level of plastic pollution could reach 80 million metric tons per year. Plastic particles have now been detected in virtually all spheres of the environment, e.g. in water bodies, the soil and the air. Via ocean currents and rivers, the tiny plastic particles can even reach the Arctic, Antarctic or ocean depths. A new overview study has now shown that wind, too, can transport these particles great distances – and much faster than water can: in the atmosphere, they can travel from their point of origin to the most…