measured sea ice thickness and properties, recorded the currents and chemical properties of the ocean and investigated life in and under the ice, in the open water and at the bottom of the deep sea. Their [...] significant changes compared to previous expeditions. On 7 September 2023, Polarstern reached the North Pole, and on 20 September there was the world's first livestream of an ROV under-ice dive from the

international team of researchers is investigating the coupling between sea ice, the ocean and its life, including within the deep sea. So far, the Arcwatch-1 expedition, launched on August 3, 2023, has delivered

transports contaminants, stemming from industry, agriculture, and water treatment plants, to Germany’s North Sea coast. Their concentrations vary due to inlets found along the course of the river, but also due [...] microplastic particles, nutrients and climate gases found in the river change on their way to the North Sea.

humans, whose diversity and ecology they can fundamentally change. For example, the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts are now characterized by non-indigenous marine organisms. Their occurrence and rate [...] marine areas. In cooperation with the Schleswig-Holstein State Office for the Environment, the AWI North Sea Office has compiled an overview of all known introduced species in German marine areas: “Neobiota

n 10.08.2023Seite 8 Fraunhofer IFAM‘s infrastructure on the island of Helgoland, German Bight, North Sea © Fraunhofer ©dapd - Informationsklassifizierung - Testing of biofouling control coatings 10.08 [...] at different water depths © Fraunhofer Floating raft in south harbour: constant water depth at the sea surface (~ 0.2-1 m) Lander in MarGate test field: tidal influence, water depth 5-10 m Planned: lander

and physics of sea ice as well as the effects of sea ice retreat on the entire ocean system from the surface to the deep sea. Eleven years ago, Antje Boetius was part of the largest ever sea ice minumum in [...] set off from Tromsø, Norway, towards the North Pole. For two months, a good fifty scientific expedition participants will explore the Arctic in transition as sea ice extent reaches its annual minimum in [...] in the Arctic and its consequences for life in the deep sea. Now she is returning with her team to compare the state of the Arctic today - also with the data from the MOSAiC expedition 2019/20.

(Helmholtz Project, PIs: Yaqing Duan, Sebastian Primpke and Gunnar Gerdts) Microplastics in the North Sea (in-house project; PIs: Claudia Lorenz (DBU stipend), Sebastian Primpke and Gunnar Gerdts) Fram [...] hadal zones in the long-term fate of marine microplastics: Identification of microplastics in the deep sea of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, Northwest Pacific (PIs: Angelika Brandt (Senckenberg Gesellschaft für

summer blooms with outbreaks typically seen in climates warmer than those experienced in, e.g., the North Sea. This may partly explain why Vibrio monitoring efforts in the German Bight are altogether lacking [...] traffic, pollution & eutrophication from various sources, and recently, the set-up of wind farms at sea. With our focus on microbes these two aspects, climate change and anthropogenic pressure are under

providing new means to address these topics. PACES: Topic 2 WP2 Current Projects Microplastics in the North Sea (in-house project; PIs: Claudia Lorenz (DBU stipend), Sebastian Primpke and Gunnar Gerdts) Fram [...] hadal zones in the long-term fate of marine microplastics: Identification of microplastics in the deep sea of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, Northwest Pacific (PIs: Angelika Brandt (Senckenberg Gesellschaft für

environmental chemicals, nano- and microplastic particles, and nutrients enter the Elbe and then the North Sea, in what concentration and size, and how they are degraded and modified along the way. This year’s