Archive of News and Press Releases
CO2 emissions are rising more slowly – but are still higher than last year
What amount of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), is released into the atmosphere year after year, and how much can be absorbed by the land and oceans? The Global Carbon Project (GCP), a worldwide consortium of climate researchers, has published annual reports since 2006. According to the GCP’s latest report, global carbon emissions continued to rise in 2019, although more slowly than in previous years. While less coal was burnt on a global scale, the growing use of natural gas and increased emissions from land use more than made up for…
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Antje Boetius speaks at the Schwarzkopf Foundation
Climate goals: why a crisis can still be avoided - AWI director Antje Boetius gave a lecture on this topic at the Schwarzkopf Foundation. Afterwards she discussed with the audience what each individual can do to get involved in climate protection.
MOSAiC presentation in Brussels
AWI director Antje Boetius presented the MOSAiC expedition in a lecture at the autumn event of the Brussels-based Helmholtz office. The event was titled "Understanding tomorrow's climate: What science can tell us."
Chilean ambassador visits the AWI
Strengthen cooperation and create connections: Together with AWI employees, Antje Boetius and Karsten Wurr welcomed the ambassador of the Republic of Chile in Germany, Cecilia Mackenna Echaurren, and the honorary consul, Reinhard R. Kütter, to the AWI.
Antje Boetius awarded the 2019 Erna Hamburger Prize
In recognition of her outstanding scientific contributions, Prof Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, was recently awarded the “2019 Erna Hamburger Prize”.
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Antje Boetius speaks at Falling Walls
AWI Director Antje Boetius will be giving a talk at the Falling Walls Conference on 9.11. On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, top scientists from all over the world meet there each year to exchange ideas about forward-looking research.
Coastlines’ contribution to climate change possibly underestimated
Permafrost coasts make up about one third of the Earth’s total coastline. As a result of accelerated climate change, whole sections of coastline rapidly thaw, and erode into the Arctic Ocean. A new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters now shows that large amounts of carbon dioxide are potentially being produced along these eroding permafrost coastlines in the Arctic.
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![[Translate to English:] Satellitenbild mit heutigem Sedimenteintrag von Flüssen in Zentral-Chile](/fileadmin/_processed_/f/6/csm_chilesediment_tmo_2019182_lrg_902f752b4c.jpeg "[Translate to English:] Satellitenbild mit heutigem Sedimenteintrag von Flüssen in Zentral-Chile")
Changes in high-altitude winds over the South Pacific produce long-term effects on the Antarctic
In the past million years, the high-altitude winds of the southern westerly wind belt, which spans nearly half the globe, didn’t behave as uniformly over the Southern Pacific as previously assumed. Instead, they varied cyclically over periods of ca. 21,000 years. A new study has now confirmed close ties between the climate of the mid and high latitudes and that of the tropics in the South Pacific, which has consequences for the carbon budget of the Pacific Southern Ocean and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The study was prepared by Dr…
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Antje Boetius receives the Leibniz Ring
A great honour for Prof Antje Boetius: the deep-sea researcher and Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research was selected for the “LeibnizRingHannover 2019”, a prize bestowed by the Hannover Press Club.
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Tiny fossils reveal 25,000 years of carbon history in the Southern Ocean
A reconstruction of 25,000 years of South Ocean carbon chemistry, using micro-fossils buried in sediments, shows sub-Antarctic waters have played a key role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Chemical changes measured in micro-fossil shells, as well as sediments, showed that different regions of the Southern Ocean varied in terms of their circulation, chemistry and biological productivity during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. This resulted in regional variations in the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2)…
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