Archive of News and Press Releases
AWI-scientist Markus Rex receives Dobson-Award
For his work on interactions between climate change and the ozone layer, Dr Markus Rex of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Research branch Potsdam) received the ‘Dobson-Award’ on May 31, 2004. The Quadrennial Ozone Symposium in Greece was chosen to present the award for the first time.
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Taking the Research Icebreaker to the "Hausgarten"
On June 16, 2004, the German research icebreaker "Polarstern" is scheduled to leave Bremerhaven for her 20th arctic expedition. During the first leg of the expedition, the main emphasis is on measurements of selected pollutants of air, water and snow, as well as on the hydrographic conditions in the Greenland Sea. In addition, any changes in the so-called "AWI-Hausgarten” (“Back Yard"), a long-term monitoring station in the arctic deep sea, will also be of great interest.
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Prestigious Oceanography Award for Prof Dr Victor Smetacek
On June 11th, Prof Dr Victor Smetacek, scientist at the 'Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research' (AWI) will be presented with the Manley-Bendall medal for his "work in the field of marine biology, as an expert on plankton and for his worldwide reputation" by the Oceanographic Institute in Paris
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Oldest Antarctic ice core reveals climate history
Secrets of the Earth’s past climate locked in a three-kilometre long Antarctic ice core are revealed this week in the journal Nature. The core from Dome C, high on East Antarctica’s plateau, contains snowfall from the last 740,000 years and is by far the oldest continuous climate record obtained from ice cores so far.
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"Polarstern" back from Antarctic expedition
Biologists investigated ecosystem and its changes
After more than seven months, the German research vessel "Polarstern" returned to Bremerhaven on June 2nd from its 21st Antarctic expedition.
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Climate researchers study haze over the Arctic
An international team of scientists is currently investigating a haze layer that spreads over the Arctic each spring. This layer of air contains aerosols whose expansion in the otherwise clean Arctic atmosphere leads to a level of pollution that usually occurs only over industrial areas. One of the most important questions arising is whether or not this might have direct or indirect effects on the climate.
Aerosols are air-suspended particles that directly influence climate through absorption or reflection of solar radiation. In addition, they can act…
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Saint-Petersburg State University awards Honorary Doctorate to AWI director
For his scientific contributions to polar research and his commitment towards cooperation with Russia, Professor Jörn Thiede, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Saint-Petersburg State University on May 12, 2004.
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Scientists investigate Krill in the South-Polar Ocean
In the past six weeks scientists aboard the research vessel “Polarstern“ have been searching for krill in the previously scarcely investigated Lazarev Sea. The expedition ended today in Cape Town. As a food source for whales, seals, penguins and seabirds, krill takes a key role within this ecosystem of the Antarctic. Very little is known about the distribution, biology, population dynamics and physiology of these shrimp-like crustaceans, either from this ocean region or about the time period between the Antarctic autumn and winter. The expedition was to…
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Carbon dioxide: riding the sugar express into the abyss
In the world's oceans, considerably more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than previously suggested can be transported to the deep sea. This was pointed out in an article authored by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, and the Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche in France in the recent issue of the scientific journal Nature (see below). In their work, the scientists show that water-soluble sugar molecules produced by algae form particles in the process of aggregation. These…
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Impacts of climate changes on the ozone layer are bigger than previously suspected
Researchers have been successful in identifying the relationship between a reduction of arctic ozone and climate changes. Current observations show that the arctic ozone layer reacts much more sensitively to climate changes than predicted from earlier model calculations. A study published in “Geophysical Research Letters” (see below) demonstrates that, within the last 40 years, climate conditions in the stratosphere have facilitated the ozone decline in the Arctic. After analysis of ozone measurements from the past 12 years, researchers were able to…
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