Archive of News and Press Releases

Weekly report

Temperature Changes

We just escaped from the snowstorm in Germany. Since our plane had to be de-iced and then re-fueled twice, we started our flight to South Africa with a 3-hour delay. Between the Bavarian slush and the Antarctic sea ice, we enjoy a short warm-up period with wonderful 26 °C while having a ‘farewell beer’ at Cape Town’s Waterfront.
Weekly report

From the Equator to the Cape-Basin

Also along the second part of our journey, the top priority remains to reach our destination on time in order to avoid delays in the tight schedules of the forthcoming Antarctic expeditions. Thus, during one of the shortest transits from Bremerhaven to Cape Town, there is very little time for station work.
Arrival of the EDEN ISS greenhouse at the Neumayer-Station III
Online news

Greenhouse reaches the Antarctic

With the arrival and unloading of the EDEN ISS greenhouse at the edge of the Antarctic ice shelf, the construction process has begun. In the coming weeks, a team from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) will set up the greenhouse, designed for extreme environments, just 400 metres from the German Neumayer Station III in the Antarctic. It will be run by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), which is working on the EDEN ISS project together with DLR.
Weekly report

From Advent into the New Year

According to the schedule Polarstern left Bremerhaven at high tide and in tight fog on 20th December, 2017. On board are 44 crew members and 9 scientists. There are also 2 inspectors of Laeisz Shipping Company and 4 engineers and technicians from companies in duty of last jobs left over from the ship-yard time of the vessel.
Press releases

European Research Council awards grant to Potsdam-based AWI researcher

How is the global climate connected to regional variations in temperature and precipitation? And what is the possible range of future climate variations? To help find answers to these questions, Dr Thomas Laepple will receive 1.5 million euros over the next five years from the European Research Council (ERC) to support his Young Investigators Group SPACE. Together with a five-member team, the climate researcher from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam will work to combine modern observational data…
[Translate to English:] Arbeiten an Deck
Press releases

Polarstern sets sail for the Antarctic

On Wednesday 20 December 2017, the research vessel Polarstern set sail south from Bremerhaven. After a stop in Cape Town, it will deliver supplies to the Neumayer Station III, and the researchers will subsequently gather vital data at the Filchner-Rønne Ice Shelf in the southern part of the Weddell Sea, which is permanently covered by sea ice, in order to examine the melt rates of the Antarctic glaciers. From March 2018, biologists will investigate marine life around the Antarctic Peninsula. Oceanographic studies will be carried out on the return trip to…
Röntgenhologramm einer Schale der Kieselalge Actinoptychus senarius mit einem Durchmesser von nur 0,1 Millimetern. Die 5000fache Vergrößerung zeigt feinste Details der Struktur.
Online news

Novel lenses enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution

In cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute scientists at DESY, a Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association, have developed novel lenses that enable X-ray microscopy with record resolution in the nanometre regime.
Short news

Special Issue: Prediction of Arctic change

A special issue in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences presents new research efforts towards a predictive understanding of Arctic climate change and its linkage with Eurasian mid-latitude climate and weather.
[Translate to English:] Wie können die Ozeane als Nahrungsquelle nachhaltig genutzt werden? Das europäische Konsortium SAPEA hat dazu jetzt ein Gutachten vorgelegt.
Online news

Business as usual would not be sustainable

How can the oceans help satisfy the global demond for food. This question has been examined in the first Evidence Review Report by SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) titled Food from the Oceans.
Kuestenerosion auf der russischen Permafrostinsel Muostakh
Press releases

Retreating permafrost coasts threaten the fragile Arctic environment

Permafrost makes up a quarter of the landmass in the Northern Hemisphere. Climate change means that Arctic coasts are thawing and eroding at an ever greater pace, releasing additional greenhouse gases. A large EU project, coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is now exploring the consequences for the global climate and for the people living in the Arctic. But that’s not all: working together with residents of the Arctic region, the researchers will also co-design strategies for the future in…