Archive of News and Press Releases

[Translate to English:] Fischnester im Weddellmeer
Press releases

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…
Press releases

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…
FS Polarstern at the ice shelf edge
Press releases

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.
Last view from Polarstern
Weekly report

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.
Launch of the weather balloon on New Year's Eve
Weekly report

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.
Tropos Lidar
Weekly report

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. 
Sound velocity profiler for bathymetry patch test
Weekly report

Some final tests and a sunny goodbye

Final device tests, packing equipment, interesting weather patterns and a BBQ were all part of activities this week before reaching Las Palmas. 
[Translate to English:] Leben am Meeresboden
Online news

Abundance of life discovered beneath an Antarctic ice shelf

Far beneath the ice shelves of the Antarctic, there is more marine life than expected, finds a recent study in the journal Current Biology, published this week (20 December 2021). Despite occupying nearly 1.6 million km2, ice shelves are amongst the least known environments on Earth. Life has been seen in these perpetual dark, cold and still habitats on camera but has rarely been collected. 
Polarstern-Expedition ARK-XXVII/1
Press releases

Meltwater influences ecosystems in the Arctic Ocean

In the summer months, sea ice from the Arctic drifts through Fram Strait into the Atlantic. Thanks to meltwater, a stable layer forms around the drifting ice atop the more salty seawater, producing significant effects on biological processes and marine organisms. In turn, this has an effect on when carbon from the atmosphere is absorbed and stored, as a team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now determined with the aid of the FRAM ocean observation system. Their findings have just been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Weekly report

A stormy send-off

After a snowy Bremerhaven departure on Dec 5th 2021 at 13:00, Polarstern made its way through the port, the locks and towards the English Channel.