RV Polarstern starts the Arctic season
Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) are setting out with [...] towards Spitsbergen, to use newly developed equipment in the Arctic Ocean. Autonomous instruments on the seabed, in the water column and in the air will complement the long-term measurements of the [...] In this way researchers can analyse the climatic changes in the Arctic and their impact on the fauna in the future with higher temporal and spatial resolution.

Permafrost
The Arctic is warming more strongly than any other region on Earth, which leads to serious erosion of coasts where organic matter was frozen [...] for thousands of years. Once eroded material is released into the ocean, microorganisms break down ancient plant remains, releasing sizable quantities of greenhouse gases. Yet, as the latest analyses [...] part of the biomass released becomes trapped in deep sinks on the ocean floor off the Arctic coast – where it is protected from microbial decomposition. The outcomes of their analyses are intended to make

. Melanie Bergmann (AWI): Litter and Microplastics Invade the Arctic Ocean (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) Contact Melanie Bergmann +49(471)4831-1739 E-Mail CV Social Media Channels Mastodon Twitter [...] Biologin Dr. Melanie Bergmann. jpg | 3 MB Melanie Bergmann counts Arctic Ocean plastic, jpg | 363 KB Melanie Bergmann analyses marine litter in, jpg | 3 MB Melanie Bergmann in the negotiating room in, jpg | 5 MB Media Euronews (Video) | 02.06.2023 Cleaning up the oceans: Is it too little, too late? Find out more > Eye on the Arctic | 25.04.2023 Arctic ice algae highly polluted with microplastics,

, 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.

Pliocene, and the Miocene, possible long-term future) when the Arctic lost its white landscape and had a blue, ice-free ocean. Alexander Haumann , ERC Starting Grant VERTEXSO , January 2023 - Dcember [...] role of internal gravity waves in the warming Arctic Ocean. We want to identify if and how internal wave energy, wave-driven mixing, and sea ice melt are connected and will develop a [...] the ocean salinity and circulation and if these changes will amplify or dampen global warming in the future. Ocean tracers serve as a fingerprint

CONTRASTS (PS149) Contrasts of sea ice regimes in the Arctic Ocean during melt season The Polarstern expedition CONTRASTS (2 July to 1 September 2025, also named PS149, ArcWatch-3) investigates [...] characterize the key processes that determine the observed sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem changes in the Central Arctic Ocean during meltseason. The process studies and continuous observations of CONTRASTS [...] characterize the key processes that determine the observed sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem changes in the Central Arctic Ocean during melt season. We will investigate the causes and consequences of differences

correct classification of ice types. Radiation fluxes through Arctic sea ice Changes in Arctic sea ice result in increasing light transmittance and absorption Nicolaus et al. ( 2012, GRL, doi:10.1029 [...] spectral radiometers on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) under Arctic sea ice in summer. This data set is used to produce an Arctic-wide map of light distribution under summer sea ice. Our results show [...] changes will increase the amount of light penetrating into the Arctic Ocean, enhancing sea-ice melt and affecting sea-ice and upper-ocean ecosystems. Radiation fluxes through summer sea ice in the Arctic

of an international study that investigated the development of Arctic microalgae at the end of the polar night. The measurements were carried out as part of the MOSAiC expedition at 88° northern latitude [...] in the microalgae's habitat under the snow and ice cover of the Arctic Ocean. The results of the study now published in the journal Nature Communications show that photosynthesis in the ocean is possible

navigation conditions through the Northern Sea Route. WP5 connects Arctic climate changes and sea ice decline evaluated in WP1-4 to biodiversity and biological productivity changes in the Arctic Ocean. WP5 [...] ocean-ice model and the state-of-the-art coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean regional climate model of the Arctic (HIRHAM-NAOSIM) with high [...] , W. Smethie, and R. Rember, (2018), Radium isotopes across the Arctic ocean show time scales of water mass ventilation and increasing shelf inputs, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, doi:10.1029/2018JC013888

Understanding the ocean, and the complex physical, biological, and biogeochemical systems operating within it, is a challenge for the opening decades of the 21st century. The establishment of multidisciplinary ocean observatories by the Alfred Wegener Institute will help to provide the means to accomplish this goal. Ecological time-series work [...] in 1999. Since 2014, the establishment of the FRAM (Frontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring) Ocean Observing System improves our monitoring capacities. LTER Observatory HAUSGARTEN Ocean Observing System