• Observatories

    the establishment of the FRAM (Frontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring) Ocean Observing System improves our monitoring capacities. LTER Observatory HAUSGARTEN Ocean Observing System FRAM [...] 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 [...] multidisciplinary ocean observatories by the Alfred Wegener Institute will help to provide the means to accomplish this goal. Ecological time-series work at the LTER (Long-Term Ecological Research) site HAUSGARTEN

  • Photosynthesis in near darkness

    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 under much lower light conditions [...] low light levels. This is the result 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

  • QUARCCS

    key Arctic atmospheric and sea ice variables based on satellite and in-situ data sets (WP1) • Regional feedback mechanisms responsible for Arctic climate change (WP2) • Interaction between Arctic climate [...] routes (WP4) • Impact of Arctic sea ice and cyclones on biodiversity and productivity of the Arctic marine biota (WP5) WP1 will quantify the strength of climatic changes in the Arctic based on unique Russian [...] in-situ and satellite data for sea ice and ocean variables and atmospheric key parameters. WP2 will improve the regional feedbacks between the Arctic atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and snow in a regional coupled

  • Coastlines’ contribution to climate change possibly underestimated

    result of accelerated climate change, 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.

  • Awards and honors

    the Arctic lost its white landscape and had a blue, ice-free ocean. Alexander Haumann , ERC Starting Grant VERTEXSO , January 2023 - Dcember 2027. VERTEXSO (VERTical EXchange in the Southern Ocean) studies [...] Artemics (Arctic internal wave energetics and mixing and their interdependence with sea ice in changing climate conditions) aims to elucidate the role of internal gravity waves in the warming Arctic Ocean. We [...] the North Atlantic Ocean but also in remote areas such as the Pacific Ocean and the Antarctic. Heinrich, H.: Origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the northeast Atlantic Ocean during the past 130

  • CONTRASTS

    is to 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 [...] (Graphic: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) Regime 1: Future Arctic (Photo: Marcel Nicolaus) Regime 2: Present Arctic (Photo: Marcel Nicolaus) Regime 3: Past Arctic (Photo: Marcel Nicolaus) Objectives The overall objective [...] is to 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

  • New equipment for the AWI - "Gardener"

    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 deep-sea research [...] RV Polarstern starts the Arctic season
    Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) are setting out with the research vessel Polarstern towards [...] research group. 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.

  • Coastal carbon sinks protect permafrost material from decomposition

    show, 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 [...] 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 in the permafrost for thousands of years. Once [...] 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 conducted by AWI experts show

  • Junior Groups

    fate of the Arctic Ocean in times of climate change Link to project webpage ARJEL To better understand the role of jellyfish in Arctic seas, the Helmholtz Young Investigators Group ARJEL (ARctic JELlifish) [...] Effect in the Arctic Ecosystem – is to assess the consequences of the decline in silicic acid concentration in the inflow of North Atlantic water into the Eurasian Arctic for the Arctic marine ecosystem [...] project webpage SO-CLIM Linkt to project webpage oceanPeak ERC Starting Grant OceanPeak COLDSPOT The project investigates where and why Arctic soils act as sinks for methane and nitrous oxide. link project

  • Polarstern longterm cruise planning

    models simulating current and future changes in the Arctic Ocean. • decipher how climate change mechanisms in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean are coupled. • assess plastic pollution in sea-ice, [...] Campaigns - Antarctic Campaigns - Arctic Expeditions 2025: Transits and Campaigns - Antarctic Campaigns - Arctic Expeditions 2026: Transits and Campaigns - Antarctic Campaigns - Arctic Expeditions 2027: Transits [...] the transition zone between the northern North Atlantic and the central Arctic Ocean, and to determine the factors controlling Arctic deep-sea biodiversity. • Permanent presence at sea, from surface to depth