Russo-German exhibition about polar and marine research – Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary for the Federal Minister of Education and Research, opens touring exhibition in St. Petersburg

Bremerhaven/Kiel/Skt.Petersburg, 14.October 2011. On the 14th of October Thomas Rachel, the German parliamentary State Secretary for the Federal Minister of Education and Research, opened the exhibition „Vivid Exhibition – Focuses of the russo-german collaboration in the field of marine and polar research“ at the State University of St.Petersburg. The touring exhibition is part of the Russo-German year of Education, Science and Innovation 2011/2012 and will visit Berlin, Munich and Bonn within the next year. The exhibition is part of the close co-operation between Germany and Russia in the fields of marine and polar research, which has a long tradition. It was developed with the help of scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Resaerch in the Helmholtz Association and the Leibniz Institute for Marine Science (IFM-GEOMAR).

In terms of surface area Russia is the largest country on earth. It adjoins to the Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the Black Sea and reaches from polar to temperate climate zones. Russia’s wide open spaces and the huge coastal waters are of a large interest for Scientists dealing with the Ocean, the climate, natural resources or phenomena like volcanism. Germany and Russia have always co-operated closely in marine and polar research a collaboration which has been recorded in the “Agreement about the collaboration in the fields of marine and polar research” more than ten years ago. 

On the 14th of October the Russian Vice minister of Education and Science, Ms Inna P. Bilenkina and Thomas Rachel, MdB, the German parliamentary State Secretary for the Federal Minister of Education and Research, together inaugurated the exhibition „Vivid Exhibition– Focuses of the Russo-German collaboration in the field of marine and polar research“ at the State University of St. Petersburg. The exhibition depicts joint projects and co-operating institutions dealing with marine research. In his speech, Rachel emphasised the excellent scientific results gained in this field and underlines the importance of Russo-German co-operation as strengthening the bonds between the two countries. 

Dr. Heidemarie Kassens, from IFM-GEOMAR, said that one of the main purposes of the exhibition is to give people from both countries an understanding of the challenges that global change bears for the future. Research on the decline of the sea ice or the ice formation in the arctic marginal sea is presented as well as research about gas hydrates in the Black Sea. In Siberia for example scientists have reconstructed the climatic history of the earth by means of analysing sediments from a crater lake and on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Geoscientists search for answers to the development of volcanism in the North-West Pacific in the past 10.000 years.

In 1999, the Otto-Schmidt-Laboratory in St. Petersburg was founded to co-ordinate those and many other activities.  The Alfred-Wegner-Institute for polar and marine research (AWI) and the Leibniz-Institute for marine science (IFM-GEOMAR) are running the laboratory together. This is supplemented by a joint master program for polar and marine science (POMOR), that the universities of Hamburg and St. Petersburg have developed. The exhibition itself is part of the Russo-German year of Education, Science and Innovation 2011/2012 and will travel to Berlin, Munich and Bonn within the next year.

The exhibition is promoted by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Science. Furthermore, it is supported by the Universities of St. Petersburg, Cologne, Hamburg and Bremen, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russian Federation (AARI) the Alfred-Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Science (AWI) in Bremerhaven and Potsdam and the Leibniz-Institute of Marine Science (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel.

Contact:

Dr. Heidemarie Kassens, hkassens@ifm-geomar.de 

Jan Steffen (press office IFM-GEOMAR), Tel. +49 431 600-2811, jsteffen@ifm-geomar.de