energy budget and the biological activity in the ice & the upper ocean. Radiation stations determine the fraction of incident light which is reflected by the surface or transmitted through ice & snow. [...] environmental change. The towed high resolution camera system OFOS (Ocean Floor Observing System) is used to index megafauna and plastic litter on the Arctic sea floor. ROV To observe the sea-ice system [...] Platform Sinking particles control CO2 transport to the deep ocean. AWI and MARUM researchers developed the BioOptical Platform BOP, which combines a camera system and gel traps to differentiate

to various factors such as warming, nutrient deficiency or ocean acidification, by focusing on one of the most sensitive areas on Earth, the subarctic and Arctic Ocean. Thereby, we contribute to [...] emission scenarios. Firstly, as a greenhouse gas, rising CO 2 causes ocean warming: temperatures of the surface waters have already increased by 1.1°C on average, while some regions like the Arctic Ocean [...] from CO 2 : As much of the anthropogenic CO 2 is taken up by the ocean, concentrations of CO2 and bicarbonate increase while the concentration of carbonate ions and the pH decrease, also known as 'Ocean

Long Term Observations Surface Meteorology in the Arctic (AWIPEV Research Base in Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen) Ny-Ålesund from above. (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institut) Ny-Ålesund is located on [...] fjord at the west coast of Svalbard (Spitsbergen). In this region, ocean currents from lower latitudes impact the sea water temperature, and the ocean is a heat storage affecting the local climate. Although Ny-Ålesund is situated in the high Arctic (78.9°N, 11.9°E), daily mean temperature in summer is above the freezing point. The interannual temperature variability in winter

mankind, is exceedingly difficult. The study of atmospheric, open ocean, deep sea or even processes in shallow coastal waters require sustained long-term observations often deploying sophisticated, costly [...] jointly generate a particularly large set of time series, in the Arctic, Antarctic as well as the North Sea. These data are used in the context of AWI research programmes, but also in a range of external [...] III) Infrasound (Neumayer-Station III) Biology North Sea Arctic (Fram and Svalbard) Antarctic Oceanography Arctic Time series Antarctic time series Terrestrial time series Samoylov Bayelva

. Under conditions of further warming and acidification of the ocean, Atlantic cod and its arctic relative polar cod would be forced to look for new habitats in the far north. Their populations could [...] disastrous, as the polar cod is the most important food source for Arctic seals and seabirds. In addition, fishers could lose the world’s most productive area for catching Atlantic cod, located to the north

vertical profiles of water mass properties in the ice-covered oceans. The systems are moored on the ice and measure temperature, salinity, and pressure in the upper 800 to 1000 meters of the water [...] example, to study changes in the freshwater content of the upper Arctic Ocean, as in the NORTHATLANTIC project. Together with higher-precision data from ship-based expeditions, the data from these autonomous [...] measuring systems is coordinated through the International Arctic Buoy Programme. Contacts Dr. Benjamin Rabe +49(471)4831-2403 Benjamin Rabe@awi. Dr. Mario Hoppmann +49(471)4831-2907 Mario.Hoppmann

in Northern European Waters) is a European project funded by JPI Oceans and will create new knowledge and improve our mechanistic understanding of the sources, transport, occurrence, and fate of small microplastics from European waters to the Arctic. The consortium consists of 15 partners in 7 countries, with more than 50 people involved in the research activities.

Anniversary
40 years of research in the Arctic, Antarctic and in coastal regions: on 15 July, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) [...] for climate research in the two polar regions and the world’s oceans.

An entire year trapped in the Arctic ice MOSAiC - Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate It is the largest-scale Arctic research expedition [...] , the German research icebreaker Polarstern drifted through the Arctic Ocean, trapped in the ice. Participants from institutions from more than 20 countries studied the Arctic over the course of the year [...] for miles. Hardly any other region has warmed as much as the Arctic in recent decades. Therefore, the MOSAiC project's goal was to reach a better understanding of the influence that the Arctic has on

ocean floor of the East greenland shelf. (Photo: Maciej Telesinski) [29 August 2017] Temperatures in the Arctic are currently climbing [...] in a glacial climate state. doi: 10.1038/NGEO2974 . How the Arctic Ocean became saline FS Heincke in Spitsbergen (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) [06 June 2017] The Arctic Ocean was once a gigantic [...] Jokat, Gregor Knorr, Gerrit Lohmann: Threshold in North Atlantic-Arctic Ocean circulation controlled by the subsidence of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/NCOMMS15681 .