Archive of News and Press Releases
Helmholtz Association promotes business start-ups
The Biological Institute Helgoland of the Alfred Wegner Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) has been breeding lobsters for years and has developed a special hatchery system. The animals and their habitats have been extensively investigated.
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The New Year‘s Day profile and the truth uncovered by the corer
The New Year started immediately with comprehensive station work. Occasionally, however, you could get the impression that Neptune was unhappy with this work being carried out in his private home.
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Micro-plastic particles in edible fish and herbivores
Micro-plastic particles pose a risk not only to sea birds, whales and organisms at the bottom of the sea. In two new studies, scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute Hemholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) show that plastic waste is also eaten by nautili as well as North and Baltic Sea fish such as cod and mackerel.
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Alga of the Year 2016: Ice alga Melosira arctica – winner or loser of climate change?
Researchers have chosen one of the most important algae of the Arctic, the Melosira arctica, as Alga of the Year. The scientists are planning to use it to study the impact of climate change. "Because so far, nobody can predict whether the Melosira will be a victim or a beneficiary of the melting sea ice, and so far nobody knows why it is the most productive alga in this inhospitable world," says biologist Dr Klaus Valentin of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). He is a member of the Phycology Section of the…
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AWI snow buoys provide important weather information from the North Pole
When the temperatures at the North Pole went to just above zero degrees Celsius at the end of December, not only the relatively warm temperatures of this region were unusual. The availability of weather data is not for granted but owed to the use of snow buoys, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
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Visit at Neumayer station and research on public holidays
After three days of ice breaking near Neumayer station “Polarstern” finally arrives at the ice shelf front. Once again the ship’s nautical officers did an excellent job! The unloading of tons of cargo and supply of the station progress very smoothly and while all this hard work is going on, some scientists and crew members are given the opportunity to have a look at the impressive Neumayer III station.
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Sea water below, wind above and ice in between: “Polarstern” is thriving in the Southern Ocean waters between Bouvet Island and the Neumayer III station.
Just in time when the first weekly letter started its long distance, homeward bound journey - a “space odyssey” via satellite - the first tiny ice fragments appeared in the sea. One day later, and ice floes, knocked against the ship’s hull and woke up some of the “Antarctic greenhorns” sleeping in their berths (at the end of our cruise everyone on board will be missing this sound!).
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AWI's Friends' Association honours permafrost researcher for extraordinary achievements
Permafrost researcher Dr Jens Strauss, AWI Potsdam, was awarded "Young Scientist 2015". With this award the chairmen of the Friends' Association acknowledge the researcher's outstanding achievements in his dissertation.
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This Agreement will initiate a Technology Shift
This agreement will initiate a technology change, which includes the increasing farewell to fossil fuels and the transition to sustainable management. With these words, AWI researcher Hans-Otto Pörtner commented on the conclusion of the first global climate protection agreement in Paris.
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At the beginning of an expedition
Northern Europeans are not used to seeing ubiquitous advent decoration at +25°C in the shade. Off we go – leaving the Table Mountain and heading south. Frozen water fits our idea of Christmas much better than a boiling hot sun.
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