Archive of News and Press Releases




Underway in Norwegian Waters

Helmholtz Young Investigator Group ARctic JELlies investigates the role and distribution of jellyfish in Atlantic and Arctic regions

Group photo of the scientific crew of the expedition.
[21. September 2022]  On 9 August 2022, eleven researchers from seven countries left Bremerhaven, bound for the Arctic. On board the research ship Heincke, the RISING expedition – an initiative of the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group ARctic JELlies (ARJEL) at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) – had begun. The international team included experts from the AWI, GEOMAR and the University of Bergen. Their goal: to survey jellyfish along a poleward oriented line of latitude: from northern Norway, through the Barents Sea to the western coast of Svalbard.

New Method Makes It Possible to Measure Arctic Sea-ice Thickness, Even in Summer

An international team of researchers including experts from the AWI has now developed a method that uses satellite data to estimate the Arctic ice thickness and volume year-round

Research aircraft over the Arctic Ocean
[14. September 2022]  Over the past several decades, the Arctic has warmed much faster than the rest of the world. With consequences for its sea ice. An international team of researchers including experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute has now developed a method that, for the first time, makes it possible to identify changes in the Arctic sea-ice thickness for the years 2011 to 2021 – even during the summer months. The resultant data is especially valuable for shipping in the Arctic and will substantially improve the quality of weather and ice forecasts alike. The results have just been released…

Transfer

AWI spinoff secures 14.5 million euros of backing to digitalise engineering knowhow

ELISE GmbH Secures Substantial Financial Backing

Group photo of the three managing directors of ELISE GmbH
[12. September 2022]  Digitalising engineering: ELISE GmbH's mission is to harness the combined expertise of engineers and automate certain aspects of product development; in particular, it hopes to reduce the time needed for drafting, designing and constructing technical components. Investors have now provided ca. 14.5 million euros of financial backing for the Bremen-based start-up.

Marine organisms: "Light sensor" detects correct moon phase

Full moon over water at night
[09. September 2022]  Many marine organisms such as brown algae, fish or bristle worms have an internal monthly calendar: they adapt their behavior and reproduction to the different light conditions to which they are exposed. A team led by researchers Kristin Tessmar-Raible (Alfred Wegener Institute and Max Perutz Labs Vienna) and Eva Wolf (Johannes Gutenberg University and Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz) has now discovered how marine organisms can distinguish between different light conditions and how they align their internal calendar accordingly.

Scientific Study

Emperor penguin gizzards free of microplastics

Study shows top predators from Atka Bay colony do not currently accumulate plastics

[Translate to English:] Kaiserpinguine
[06. September 2022]  Good news from the emperor penguin colony near the German Neumayer Station III in Antarctica's Atka Bay: The food mash fed by the adults is free of microplastics larger than 500 micrometres. This is the result of an analysis of the stomachs of 41 young emperor penguins, which researchers have now published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

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