Today, the research vessel Polarstern will depart on a seven-week-long voyage to the Arctic, where the onset of summer also marks the beginning of the annual sea-ice melting. Over the past 40 years, the [...] zone, the team of researchers on board will investigate how heat fluxes and water layering in the ocean, as well as the characteristics of the ice, interact and influence melting. A further focus of the

Gelatinous zooplankton from the Fram Strait region, Arctic Ocean (Photo: Mario Hoppmann/AWI) Gelatinous zooplankton, comprising cnidarians, ctenophores and tunicates, are known to be major drivers of ecosystem [...] the consequences of range shifts of Atlantic and Arctic jellyfish. A better understanding of jellies´ trophic role is crucial for the rapidly changing Arctic and surrounding shelf seas, responsible for 10% [...] topics currently addressed by ARJEL: How diverse are gelatinous zooplankton communities in the Arctic Ocean? Since gelatinous zooplankton are fragile and easily fragmented, there are some biases associated

north of Svalbard, as well as ocean/glacier interactions off the coast of Greenland. Central research questions included how the ice conditions, ocean heat fluxes and ocean stratification determine sea-ice [...] The Research Vessel Polarstern was in the Arctic for the past seven weeks. There, the summertime sea-ice extent declined by ca. 40 percent over the past 40 years – making it one of the most visible impacts

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk. The research led by scientists

C., Rabouille, C., Sauter, E., Schewe, I., Soltwedel, T. (2015): Benthic oxygen uptake in the Arctic Ocean margins - A case study at the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN (Fram Strait). PLoS ONE 10(10): [...] Braeckman, U., Hasemann, C., Wenzhoefer, F. (2018): Deep-sea benthic communities and oxygen fluxes in the Arctic Fram Strait controlled by sea-ice cover and water depth. Biogeosciences 15: 4849-4869. Braeckman [...] Marchant, H., Buckner, C., Bienhold, C., Wenzhöfer, F. (2018): Carbon and nitrogen turnover in the Arctic deep sea: in-situ benthic community response to diatom and coccolithophorid phytodetritus. Biogeosciences

million metric tons of CO 2 in the Arctic deep sea for millennia. In this region alone, a previously unknown transport route uses the biological carbon pump and ocean currents to absorb atmospheric CO 2

We know little about the fish stocks in the central Arctic Ocean, and what we know about the local ecosystem is insufficient to ensure sustainable management. In response, in June 2021 the Agreement to [...] to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean – which includes a moratorium on fishing in the region – entered into force. The European Union and nine other countries signed the

the Alfred Wegener Institute’s flagship has successfully completed more than 130 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic and offered a temporary home for thousands of researchers from Germany and around the [...] safely traversed 1.8 million nautical miles. The ship is currently on an expedition in the Southern Ocean.

Over the past 200 years, our planet’s oceans have absorbed more than a quarter of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As a result, their acidity has increased by nearly 30 percent their [...] recently demonstrated. If this comes to pass, it could have far-reaching consequences for life in the ocean, as they report in the journal Nature.

Institute and Professor at the University of Bremen. Ocean currents Ocean topography of polar regions Ocean-ice sheet interaction Sea level Ocean currents play various important roles in the climate and in ecosystems [...] the two polar regions makes the Arctic and Southern Oceans key regions in the context of ocean circulation. At the AWI, we investigate the characteristics and role of ocean currents through interdisciplinary [...] mid-latitudes to the Arctic and Antarctic. Once there, this heat can delay the formation of sea ice or cause the floes to melt more rapidly. This applies to the ice covering the Arctic Ocean, as well as to the