Archive of News and Press Releases
![[Translate to English:] Eisimpressionen der Antarktis](/fileadmin/_processed_/f/a/csm_20121220_Eisimpressionen_LGruebner8234_3f07c59fed.jpg "Antarctic sea ice")
Ocean eddies could explain Antarctic sea-ice paradox
Despite global warming and the sea-ice loss in the Arctic, the Antarctic sea-ice extent has remained largely unchanged since 1979. However, existing climate model-based simulations indicate significant sea-ice loss, contrary to actual observations. As experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now shown, the ocean may weaken warming around Antarctica and delay sea-ice retreat. Given that many models are not capable of accurately reflecting this factor and the role of ocean eddies, the study, which was just published in the journal Nature…
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Sustainability for Marine Regions
Climate change, man-made pollution and overexploitation of ecosystems are increasingly causing problems for seas and coasts. The project CoastalFutures - "Future scenarios to promote sustainable use of marine spaces" aims to investigate the consequences of this development and create effective protection concepts. In a virtual model for the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the project team can investigate the effects of climate and humans on ecosystems and test protection strategies. The goal is to identify options for action for users and decision-makers.…
Greenland's ice has a delayed response to climate change
Rising temperatures are melting Greenland's ice and glaciers, causing sea levels to rise. How fast and how much is yet uncertain. To provide insight on this issue, researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute have modeled the development of the ice sheet from the past to the future. They published their results in the current issue of the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE.
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Projecting climate change more accurately
Scientists have been making projections of future global warming using powerful supercomputers for decades. But how accurate are these predictions? Modern climate models consider complicated interactions between millions of variables. They do this by solving a system of equations that attempt to capture the effects of the atmosphere, ocean, ice, land surface and the sun on the Earth’s climate. While the projections all agree that the Earth is approaching key thresholds for dangerous warming, the details of when and how this will happen differ greatly.
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![[Translate to English:] Fischnester im Weddellmeer](/fileadmin/_processed_/c/7/csm_20210216_FishnestsWeddellSea_PS124_AWI_OFOBS_Team_003_53f429518e.jpg "Fish nests in Weddell Sea")
World's largest fish breeding area discovered in Antarctica
Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world's largest fish breeding area known to date. A towed camera system photographed and filmed thousands of nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah on the seabed. The density of the nests and the size of the entire breeding area suggest a total number of about 60 million icefish breeding at the time of observation. These findings provide support for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. A…
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Arctic coasts in transition
Arctic coasts are characterized by sea ice, permafrost and ground ice. This makes them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which is already accelerating rapid coastal erosion. The increasing warming is affecting coast stability, sediments, carbon storage, and nutrient mobilization. Understanding the correlation of these changes is essential to improve forecasts and adaptation strategies for Arctic coasts. In a special issue of the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute describe the…
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How unstable is the East Antarctic Ice Sheet?
On the 6th of January, the research vessel Polarstern set off from Cape Town in South Africa for an expedition of around eight weeks to the Antarctic. Extensive preventative measures have allowed the Alfred Wegener Institute to tackle important research on former instabilities of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet despite the the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be continued on two further planned expeditions in the coming years. Interested parties can follow this and subsequent Polarstern expeditions live in a new app.
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Last full week of calm seas until Cape Town
After countless hours processing and cleaning bathymetry data for the past couple weeks we have reached South Africa and shut down the hydroacoustics, as well as Polarsterns underway measurements. Underway CTD casts of two times per day have also ended. This was the last real science for the cruise and I will miss these daily undertakings.
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Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn for New Years Eve
After countless hours processing and cleaning bathymetry data for the past couple weeks the days tend to blend together. Sediment-echosounder training program came to an end back in Las Palmas, but the data is still gathered and checked for interesting features.
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A green laser pierces the clear night sky
The week before the Christmas holidays was quite eventful: Outdoor cinema on the helideck, more Saharan dust than before and the start of an additional radiosonde.
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