Archive of News and Press Releases
Kick-Off Meeting: Nansen Legacy
This week 160 researchers, research leaders, representatives from the Norwegian Research Council, stakeholders, industry, management and international cooperation partners were gathered in Tromsø. Amonst them AWI director Prof Antje Boetius and Arcitc scientist Dr Michael Karcher, both members of the project's Advisory Board.
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On thin ice in the warm Arctic
The Arctic sea ice continues to dwindle: Since the 1970s, when satellites first began monitoring the white sheet covering the Arctic Ocean, its February extent was never as small as it was this year. The reason: warm air intrusions, which are not only hitting the Arctic more frequently, but are also intensifying and reaching farther north.
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From the Northern Transect to Halley Bay
A third transect from this week now also covers the Northern part of the Filchner Depression. Net and water samples as well as short sediment cores kept all research groups on Polarstern busy 24 hours a day.
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Ice and water in the Filchner Depression
Favourable ice conditions and stable weather with southwesterly winds enabled Polarstern to go far south into the Filchner Depression and to cross directly in front of the Filchner Ice Shelf close to 44° W this week.
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Stagnation in the South Pacific
A team led by geochemist Dr. Katharina Pahnke from Oldenburg has discovered important evidence that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at the end of the last ice age was triggered by changes in the Antarctic Ocean. The researchers from the University of Oldenburg's Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) were able to demonstrate that the deep South Pacific was strongly…
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From the Ronne Ice Shelf Polynya
During this week we completed a transect along the Ronne Ice Shelf front, extending from 50°W to 60°W. Every instrument on board has been used.
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Larsen C expedition
A team of scientists, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), heads to Antarctica to investigate a mysterious marine ecosystem that’s been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years.
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AWI publishes magazine on climate research in the Arctic and Antarctic
Making climate research accessible – it was with this goal in mind that the Alfred Wegener Institute released the magazine “Tracking Changes”. In articles, interviews and infographics, readers will come to realise why pursuing climate research in the polar regions is so vital. Further, the engaging and highly informative read will make them ideally prepared for the next time they find themselves in a discussion about climate change.
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Moorings
This week’s work on PS111 was focused on moorings. Instruments, which have stayed in the water for up to 4 years, were retrieved and re-deployed.
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Neumayer and beyond
Now we have arrived – Polarstern makes her way easily through the disintegrating winter sea ice cover, heading for the northeastern edge of Ekström Ice Shelf.
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