Archive of News and Press Releases
Further to the North and two more stations
During the last week, we continued our northward travel to the Erebus and Terror Gulf completing two more stations. Another highlight were curtesy visits between the Polarstern and the Argentinian vessel Almirante Irizar.
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Ocean sink for man-made CO2 measured
Not all of the CO2 generated during the combustion of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. The ocean and the ecosystems on land take up considerable quantities of these man-made CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere. Without this sink, the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere and the extent of anthropogenic climate change would be considerably higher.
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Northward journey and the first station
During the last week, we travelled for more than 60 nautical miles to the north and only stopped our journey for the first sampling station where we deployed most of our scientific equipment. Since then, we are busy to analyse water, sediment and benthos samples or to preserve them for later onshore analyses.
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Step by step
We are now almost within sight of A68 and a survey to measure the thickness of the sea ice has already crossed A68. Unfortunately, heavy ice conditions made our progress quite cumbersome. During the past week, we literally nudged our way metre by metre through the ice. At times, our progress was so small that it did not even compensate for the displacement of the ice-drift.
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Larsen C Ice Shelf Remains a Mystery
A few days ago, the captain and the head of the current Polarstern expedition jointly decided to abandon their efforts to reach the Larsen C Ice Shelf. Since dense sea ice and ice ridges blocked the planned route, the ship has now set course for alternative research sites further to the north.
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AWI hosts the King and Queen of the Netherlands
On the evening of 6 March 2019, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will visit the Alfred Wegener Institute as part of their tour of the State of Bremen. Dutch and German researchers will report to the royal couple on their collaborations regarding climate change, biodiversity and nature conservation, sign a joint declaration, and subsequently gather for a festive dinner.
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On the way
Right now, we are southeast off James Ross Island in the western Weddell Sea breaking our way to the iceberg A68 and the Larsen C ice shelf. The distance to the northern tip of A68 measures ca. 75 nautical miles (nm), slightly over 135 km. To our working area, the area where A 68 broke of the Larsen C ice shelf, the distance is ca. 180 nm (330 km)…
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A bumpy start
We are still in Punta Arenas at the pier in Cabo Negro to take on fuel. Later, we need to take on kerosene for the helicopters and finish last cargo operations. If everything works according to plan, we should hopefully be on our way to Antarctica on Monday morning. However, all in good order …
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Munitions at the bottom of the Baltic Sea
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…
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Anja Karliczek visits the Alfred Wegener Institute
At the invitation of Senator of Science Eva Quante-Brandt, and as part of her tour of the Federal States, today (Thursday, 7 February 2019) Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek visited the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven.
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