Archive of News and Press Releases
Search for the effects of the Chicxulub asteroid impact on life
In April and May, 2016, a team of international scientists drilled into the site of the asteroid impact, known as the Chicxulub Impact Crater, which occurred 66 million years ago. The crater is buried several hundred meters below the surface in the Yucatán region of México. This joint expedition, organized by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) recovered a nearly complete set of rock cores from 506 to 1335 meters below the modern day seafloor.
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New tools and concepts to observe the changing Arctic Ocean
Expedition PS101 tests, deploys and recovers several new types of instrumentation for the observation of ice, ocean and seafloor processes in the Central Arctic. A main aim is to observe and analyse the changes in the sea ice cover, and its causes and consequences for ocean and life.
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Great potential for comprehensive monitoring of the water masses in the ocean
More melt water is entering the Artic Ocean from the glaciers due to climbing temperatures. In addition, the rivers are carrying large amounts of sediment from thawing permafrost. How the Arctic Ocean will react to such changes is a very big question, which is concerning scientists around the world. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now published, together with international colleagues, the usage of a new optical method by which it is easier and quicker to identify different water masses.
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Hot and Cold at Gakkel Ridge of the Central Arctic Basin
The third week of expedition PS101 was dedicated to the study of hydrothermal venting under the ice. The Arctic fall season has begun.
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APECS International Directorate at AWI Potsdam from February 2017
The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the AWI are pleased to announce that the APECS International Directorate will be hosted by AWI at its research centre in Potsdam, Germany for five years from February 2017. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between both this week. The staff of the APECS International Directorate at AWI will include the APECS Executive Director, Dr. Gerlis Fugmann, and Heike Midleja as new half-time APECS Administrative Assistant (currently Administrative Assistant for the International Arctic…
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German delegation with AWI director Karin Lochte at White House Arctic Science Ministerial
On September 28, 2016, science ministers from 22 countries across the globe will gather in Washington, DC, for the first-ever White House Arctic Science Ministerial.
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Under Ice Life at Karasik Seamount
The second week of Expedition PS101 was dedicated to the discovery of the deep-sea ecosystem at Karasik Seamount. This giant seamount rises over 4000m above the Arctic basin and is teaming with life.
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Greenland loses more ice than assumed
The mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet is bigger than previously estimated. This is the result of a study by international scientists to be published in Science Advances. The work shows that up to now the so-called glacial isostatic adjustment, i.e., the uplift of the bedrock, was not correctly taken into account when measuring the glaciers’ mass balance with data from GRACE satellite observations. The new calculations by the team yield 272 Giga tons (Gt) of mass loss per year from 2004 to 2015 compared to previously calculated 253 Gt per year. Ingo…
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Tropical coral reefs lose two thirds of their zooplankton through ocean acidification
Tropical coral reefs lose up to two thirds of their zooplankton through ocean acidification. This is the conclusion reached by a German-Australian research team that examined two reefs with so-called carbon dioxide seeps off the coast of Papua New Guinea. At these locations volcanic carbon dioxide escapes from the seabed, lowering the water's acidity to a level, which scientists predict for the future of the oceans. The researchers believe that the decline in zooplankton is due to the loss of suitable hiding places. It results from the changes in the…
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PS101 KARASIK
The aim of POLARSTERN expedition PS101 is to study the geophysical, geological, geochemical and biological processes at seamounts and sources of hydrothermalism at Gakkel Ridge of the Central Arctic. Such integrated studies of ultraslow oceanic spreading zones are rare, because the most extensive of these systems, the Arctic Gakkel Ridge and the Southwest Indian Ridge, lie in poorly accessible areas.
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