• Dr. Anna Maria Irrgang

    anna.irrgang@awi.de
    +49(331)58174-5429
    Telegrafenberg A45, 14473 Potsdam

  • Dr. Andreas Herber

    Andreas.Herber@awi.de
    +49(471)4831-1489
    Klußmannstraße 3d, 27570 Bremerhaven

  • Development and dynamics of ice sheets

    Extent of the Arctic ice sheets during the last glacial (Graphic: Catalina Gebhardt) In contrast to the continent Antarctica, the Arctic region consists of a large marine basin. Therefore, Arctic ice sheets [...] Siberia-Chukchi Ice Sheet. During their maximum extent, these ice sheets reached far into the Arctic Ocean, and signs of glacial overprint can be found as far north as at the North Pole. Many studies have [...] sheet is found on Greenland, but in the past, several other ice sheets covered large areas of the Arctic realm. The most important ones were the Laurentide Ice Sheet on North America, the Svalbard-Barents

  • Detlef Wilde

    vessel Icebreaker Expedition New Polarstern The Research Vessel Polarstern has been underway in the Arctic and Antarctic for 40 years, giving experts from around the globe the opportunity to safely and e [...] The goal is to find solutions for preserving the ecological equilibrium of the polar regions and oceans for future generations. The requirements profile reflects the lessons learned over the Polarstern’s

  • Detaillierte Beschreibung

    each day for 1 year) - self contained vehicel (internal data storage to avoid problems with ice in arctic regions) - measure C,T and p with precision high enough to indicate convective events in polar regions [...] is placed onto the vehicle at the time a cast shall start, and it is removed when it reaches the ocean bottom. The vehicle itself is balanced to posess some buoyancy and to swim up by itself, finally reaching

  • Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology

    A main focus is to carry out multidisciplinary field studies and experimental work in the deep Arctic Ocean. In December 2008 a Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology of the Helmholtz [...] Marine Microbiology ( MPI-MM ) in deep-sea research, and to set up a new research focus on the deep Arctic Ocean. The Joint Research Group comprises the expertise of the MPI-MM in the area of marine microbiology [...] al projekts Find out more TECHNOLOGY Instruments and gears to facilitate research in the deep Arctic Ocean Find out more Section Head: Dr. Frank Wenzhöfer Lead MPI-MM branch: Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius Assistance

  • Deep insights into the Arctic of tomorrow

    frequency over a full annual cycle in the Central Arctic Ocean. They have now published three overview articles on the MOSAiC atmosphere, snow and sea ice, and ocean programs in the journal Elementa, highlighting [...] together. These results present the first complete picture of the climate processes in the central Arctic which is warming more than two times as fast as the rest of the planet - processes which affect weather

  • Deep Sea

    specially adapted biotic community. Ice-covered seascape in the Arctic Ocean (Photo: Esther Horvath) The deep sea in the polar regions In the Arctic, living at the bottom of the sea poses unique challenges for [...] standards. For another, food is harder to come by. The central Arctic Ocean is largely covered with ice and – unlike the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean – surrounded by landmasses. Exchanges with the Atlantic and [...] than we do about the ocean depths. Yet the deep sea is not a habitat fully separated from the surface; it is already undergoing dramatic changes in response to warmer water, ocean acidification and en

  • Data Assimilation Publications

    sea surface temperature observations to constrain upper ocean properties in an Arctic sea ice-ocean data assimilation system. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , 124, 4723-4743, doi:10.1029/2019JC015073 Pradhan, H [...] unstructured-grid ocean model under Earth System Modeling Framework, Ocean Modelling , 102546, ​ doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2025.102546 . Bunsen, F. , J. Hauck, L. Nerger , S. Torres-Valdés. (2025) Ocean carbon sink [...] (2018) Arctic-wide sea-ice thickness estimates from combining satellite remote sensing data and a dynamic ice-ocean model with data assimilation during the CryoSat-2 period. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , 123

  • Data Assimilation

    which are a set of ocean and sea ice variables optimally combining observations and a model. The analysis fields are applied for a variety of ocean and sea ice studies in the Arctic Ocean, and also provide [...] used to synthesize model results and observed data in the Arctic Ocean. The systems have been successfully applied to North Atlantic/Arctic Ocean Sea Ice Model (NAOSIM) developed at the Alfred Wegener Institute [...] Institute (AWI). We are currently working to apply the systems to Finite-volumE Sea ice-Ocean Model (FESOM2), also developed in AWI. Contact: Dr. Hiroshi Sumata Seasonal cycle (left) and interannual variation