Archive of News and Press Releases
Go North at Midnight
The “Polarstern” leaves for winterexperiments in the Arctic
On 28th february at 12 p.m. “Polarstern”, the research vessel of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI), will set sail again. The 19th Arctic expedition has an unusual mission: In order to study the processes of ice production during the arctic winter, the “Polarstern” is heading for ice-free regions. Most of the arctic ice is formed in these so-called polynyas , even thought they are only a very small part of the total ocean area.
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Beautiful Diatoms: Pattern for stable construction
AWI publication in ‘Nature’
In February 2003, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) published new results concerning the structure and material properties of diatoms in the journal "Nature". These single-celled marine algae are responsible for the majority of oxygen and biomass production in the oceans. Since their discovery around 170 years ago they have been admired for their beauty and diversity. It has now been shown that their fantastical shapes have an ecological purpose.
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Winter in the Antarctic: "Polarstern" comes home
On Sunday 16th February at about midday, the Alfred Wegener Institutes’ (AWI) research ship, the “Polarstern” arrived back in Bremerhaven. The twentieth antarctic expedition ended a day earlier than planned. A major task of the three and a half month long journey was the supply of the research stations “Kohnen” and “Neumayer”. On the second part of the cruise, on the 9th December 2002, the scientists and crew celebrated the twentieth birthday of the ice-breaker. A scientific highlight of this trip was the discovery of a unexpected biologically rich area…
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20,000 years before our time
Ice Core-Drilling in Antarctic thousand meters deep now
At Kohnen-Station of Alfred-Wegener-Institut for Polar and Marine Research scientists unearthed an ice core from a depth of one thousand meters on 22nd january 2003. This ice is about 20,000 years old and contains information about the last glacial maximum. To date this, an ash layer produced by a prehistoric volcano 14,000 years ago, has been helpful. It was found in a depth of 802 meters, and was also found and dated at the Japanese Station Dome Fuji. Thus it could work as a milestone. The 24…
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From Bremerhaven to Las Palmas
After more than eight days of individual quarantine in the Hotel Best Western in Bremerhaven and a second negative PCR tests for CoV-2, we moved, according to plan, in two batches to RV Polarstern on December 20. We moved into the chambers, the safety briefing took place in the two groups that were to remain together until the end of the further quarantine measures. In addition, an exercise was carried out on the helideck.
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Earth's position in relation to the sun influences the origin and intensity of precipitation
Understanding the causes of changing precipitation and humidity levels in the Earth's past is important for understanding how future changes in the Earth's hydroclimate might affect it. A research team involving the Alfred Wegener Institute has now for the first time analyzed around 50,000 years of hydroclimate in the mid-latitudes of the south-east Pacific using marine sediment cores. The most important result: natural fluctuations in the Earth's orbital parameters have a decisive influence. The study was recently published in the scientific journal…
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