Archive of News and Press Releases
Drake Passage Traverse
After wrapping up our work along the Chilean continental margin on the 28th of February we embarked on our first Drake Passage traverse toward the West Antarctic Peninsula. Our route was located just west of the narrowest point between South America and Antarctica in the south Pacific. We covered approximately 500 nautical miles over a widely unstudied section of the open ocean (Fig. 1). The main focus on our first Drake Passage traverse was to take water samples, sediment coring and oceanographic profiles.
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AWI research aircraft lands at Bremen Airport for the first time
It was the first landing for Polar 6 at the Bremen Airport today. The aircraft is one of two research planes that the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) currently uses for scientific and logistical tasks in polar regions. Bremen Airport is the new home of the Basler BT-67 aircraft, which will come here regularly for instrument checks and re-fitting.
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Tierra del Fuego
The search for a geological station in the night from 21st to 22nd February, led us from the SW corner of Banco Namuncurá (also known as Burdwood Bank) into the deep sea in the northernmost part of the Drake Passage, along the NW continental margin and up again offshore the “Isla de los Estados”.
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Dealing with Climate Change Impacts
The programme will comprise lectures, various discussion formats, and interactive project activities, including hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and group projects.
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Stormy Departures
At midnight between the 19-20th of February we finally had the get-go for the FS Polarstern PS97 Expedition. It was a long way to this very point. An advance group had arrived in Punta Arenas six days prior to aid in changing over containers from the previous Antarctic Expedition PS96 with our materials. Unfortunately the FS Polarstern could not access the Mardones container loading pier in Punta Arenas, as it was still being occupied by a delayed freight ship. We had to wait until access was given for the extensive freight loading operations.
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Research priorities for the Arctic have been defined
The leading international Arctic research organisations have set common scientific objectives for the coming decade. The indigenous peoples of the Arctic were also involved in this process. Under the auspices of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), which is based at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam, they are about to submit a report that sets out the path for a jointly conceived and solution-oriented research agenda on the sustainable development of the Arctic and beyond.
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The Expedition PS97 from Punta Arenas to Punta Arenas
The cruise leg PS97 “Paleoceanography of the Drake Passage (PaleoDrake) will start on February 16, 2016 in Punta Arenas (Chile) and will end on April 8, 2016 again in Punta Arenas.
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Become an international ocean expert
The Nippon Foundation-POGO Centre of Excellence provides world class education and training courses in the field of observational oceanography. Apply now for the international scholarship.
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Farewell to East Antarctica and passage through the Weddell Sea
No – we did not forget about the four men at Drescher Inlet and left them there for overwintering. The helicopters brought them and all their equipment back to the ship last week. It was fascinating to see how they reported about their work with the typical Antarctic glaze in their clear eyes. The stories of their impressions bubbled out of their mouths like freshwater from a thawed water fall.
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Unusual cold spell in the stratosphere creates conditions for severe ozone depletion in the Arctic
Unusual weather development in the Arctic leads to ozone depletion. According to the researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, in the past weeks an extreme cold spell in the Arctic stratosphere has created conditions that might cause severe ozone depletion over the Arctic in March – if the next few weeks will not bring a significant warming.
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