have shown that garbage can be found throughout the world’s oceans. Even in the most remote parts of the ocean, like the polar regions or the bottom of the deep sea, we can find large amounts of [...] plastic debris end up? A great deal of the debris in and on the ocean ends up on beaches or the ocean floor. Especially deep-sea trenches have essentially become deposition sites for large amounts of debris. Currents transport plastic debris through the ocean, allowing it to accumulate even in remote areas like the Arctic. Unlike beach debris, the plastics in the ocean cannot be readily

Sea Ice Broad expanses of the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean in the Antarctic are covered in sea ice. The ice plays a vital role in our climate system and is an [...] when seawater freezes; this most frequently takes place in the Arctic and Antarctic. Depending on the season, the ice covers greater or lesser parts of the ocean. In the Northern Hemisphere, the ocean [...] the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere, the ice is melting earlier in spring and freezing later in autumn. In September 2012, the Arctic sea-ice

Tehnikaülikool (Estonia) Gronlands Naturinstitut (Greenland) Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme Secretariat World Ocean Council EU-PolarNet Participants (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institut)

Marine Geology curates and archives sediment cores from both polar oceans which were taken by RV Polarstern since 1983. The collection comprises more than 4000 cores from gravity, piston, kastenlot and [...] the AWI repository. Lacustrine sediments cored from lakes in the Arctic and Antarctic are archived by the section Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems at AWI Potsdam. Cores are stored at 4°C and an

Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense. The Arctic Ocean also suffers from this development: The absence of sea ice will lead to more extreme fluctuations in ocean temperatures, with [...] heatwaves will also become much more intense and frequent in the Arctic in the 21st century. With drastic consequences for the ecosystem. The researchers published their findings in the scientific journal

the Arctic Ocean to increasing sunlight, driving a 56% rise in organic matter production through photosynthesis (net primary production) over [...] due to warming, releasing more nutrients and carbon into the Arctic Ocean, delivered from rivers and coastal erosion. While it might seem logical that these additional nutrients would enhance the [...] the pump’s efficiency, challenging assumptions about the Arctic’s ability to store carbon in a warming world.

types with detailed uncertainty assessment using multi-sensor ocean color and sea surface temperature satellite products. Journal Geoph. Res.-Oceans 126: e2020JC017127, doi: 10.1029/2020JC0171275. [...] TROPOMI’s high spectrally resolved satellite data to fill gaps in ocean color observations. Oceans from Space V, Venice, Italy, 24 Oct 2022, Oral. Alvarado L., Bracher A., Oelker J., Losa S., Soppa M., [...] A. , Voelker C., Alvarez E. (2022) Toward the Synergistic Use of Ocean Colour Products to Improve the Description of Phytoplankton Productivity within the Global Ocean. ESA Ocean Carbon from Space Workshop

). The scientists in Potsdam carry out expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. They are mainly devoted to Arctic research - in particular in the permanently frozen areas of Siberia and the Arctic [...] predict the effects of future interventions in the system. German Arctic Office Since 2017, the German Arctic Office at AWI Potsdam serves as an information and cooperation platform for German stakeholders invested in Arctic science, politics and industry. It enhances the visibility of Germany's engagement in the Arctic on a national and international

depletion in polar regions: A comparison of observations in the Arctic and Antarctic. Tellus, 50B, 34-50, 1998. Frieß, U., J. Hollwedel, G. König-Langlo, T. Wagner, and U. Platt, Dynamics and chemistry [...] source is emission of 222 Rn from terrestrial soil, while the oceanic source strength (with two order of magnitude lower emission rates) can usually considered as negligible. However, in case of Neumayer [...] continental sources are far away and our measurements indicate that oceanic emissions significantly contribute to the measured signal and especially to the seasonal maximum in late summer after retreat of

and impacts of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the oceans through case studies in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Mediterranean. It is developing new methods for assessing the impact of [...] blue light photoreceptors in Antarctic versus temperate and Arctic diatoms. The project is carried out in cooperation with the AG Kroth, University of Konstanz . Antarctic Diatoms (Photo: Melissa [...] interactions in a co-evolutionary context in a changing Arctic ecosystem. Functional Genomics and Ecological Impact of Viral Infection in the Toxic Haptophyte Prymnesium polylepis 2014-2016