Archive of News and Press Releases

Press releases

Ten-year anniversary of the Neumayer Station III

The Antarctic is a frigid continent south of the Antarctic Circle, where researchers are the only inhabitants. Despite the hostile conditions, here the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) operates a research station where researchers live and work year round. Since 2009 the Neumayer Station III, located on the Ekström Ice Shelf on the eastern coast of the Weddell Sea, has served as the primary base of operations for German Antarctic research activities. The station crew, together with a delegation from the…
AWI permafrost scientists investigate the eroding coastline at the Siberian island Sobo-Sise, Eastern Lena delta.
Press releases

The pace at which the world’s permafrost soils are warming

Global warming is leaving more and more apparent scars in the world’s permafrost regions. As the new global comparative study conducted by the international permafrost network GTN-P shows, in all regions with permafrost soils the temperature of the frozen ground at a depth of more than 10 metres rose by an average of 0.3 degrees Celsius between 2007 and 2016 – in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as the high mountain ranges of Europe and Central Asia. The effect was most pronounced in Siberia, where the temperature of the frozen soil rose by nearly 1…
Weekly report

On the way to Neumayer Station III

Having refurbished all oceanographic moorings of the eastern Weddell Sea (Fig. 1), the ship can finally shifts its attention to the biological projects aboard. 
Die Heißwasser-Bohrung durch das Filchner-Schelfeis läuft und darf bis zum Durchbruch nicht unterbrochen werden. Anderenfalls gefriert das Wasser in den Leitungen und Rohren sofort. The hot water drill is running and cannot be stopped until the hole throught the Filchner ice shelf is finished. Otherwise the water running through the pipe will freeze immediately and block the system. Project description After 20 years, FISP is AWI’s second attempt to deploy instruments within and underneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS) – this time focused on the Filchner Ice Shelf (Fig. 1). The aim of the project is to monitor the thermal characteristics of and the hydrographic conditions beneath FIS (up to five years depending on battery reliability). FIS covers the Filchner Trough and, thus, (1) the main route of glacial melt from the whole FRIS and (2) the projected path of warm water intrusions from the Weddell Sea towards the grounding line. Glacial melt water contributes to Ice Shelf Water, the main ingredient of Weddell Sea Bottom Water formed at the continental shelf break. The glaciological interest is focused on measurements, for the first time ever, of the FIS basal melt rates, retrieving in its southern part even the spatial distribution. A one-year daily record of basal melting will be obtained at one site, deploying a phase sensitive radar (pRES) of the newest generation. In addition, a GPS will be deployed for one year, allowing for the study of perturbations of the mean speed by grounding line processes and sliding of the ice stream due to tidal forcing. The high-gain of this project is the combination of glaciological and sub-ice measurements, which will allow to relate changes in basal mass loss and ice stream dynamics to sub-ice ocean variability in a region affecting both the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Short news

Science in the new year

What to expect in 2019 via Nature and Science
Weekly report

Oceanography

After nearly a week at sea, the oceanographic station work falls into routine: CTD (conductivity – temperature – pressure probe) in the water – lowering to the bottom – hoisting – CTD aboard.  This is frequently followed by the deployment of an Argo float, freely drifting profiling probes which will regularly provide the oceanographic key parameters, temperature and salt, from within the upper 2000m of the ocean for the next 5 years.
Weekly report

A full loaded vessel

As planned, Polarstern pushes away from the pier in Cape Town on 15 December at 4pm, taking off for her 117th expedition to the Antarctic. 
Short news

German-Russian Cooperation

Scientists and political representatives are meeting in Rostock today, including AWI Director Antje Boetius. Cooperation in marine and polar research is an essential aspect of German-Russian research cooperation.
Weekly report

Satellite orbits and laser beams

On our way further south, we sailed on various courses and with different speeds.
de: Der Neubau des Alfred-Wegener-Instituts von 1986 in Bremerhaven, vom Kölner Architekten Oswald Ungers entworfen.
Online news

Science Day at the Alfred Wegener Institute

December 7 is the day of junior researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute. From 9:00 to 15:00, graduates of all disciplines present their work in the lecture hall. AWI director Antje Boetius welcomes the PhD students, junior group leader Scarlett Trimborn gives a keynote lecture.
Infografik zu den globalen Kohlenstoffflüssen
Online news

Global Carbon Budget released

At the UN Climate Conference in Katowice, Poland, this year’s Global Carbon Budget was released. For the purpose of the budget, researchers estimate the anthropogenic carbon budget for the planet as a whole; this includes the sources (emissions), the carbon sinks on land and in the ocean, and the carbon content of the atmosphere. The report provides the figures for the year 2017 and offers an initial indicator of the general trend for 2018.