Brochures and Reports Fact sheet Svalbard Germany in Arctic research The collaborative framework of AWI’s Antarctic research Marine Protected Area in the Weddell Sea Arctic Council Shipping in the Arctic Arctic and Antarctic – more differences than similarities? Arctic Governance Tourismus in Polar Regions EU Engagement in the Arctic [...] in the Polar Regions Knowledge on fish and their ecology in the Arctic Ocean The Greenland Ice

Ocean Biogeochemical Modelling The biogeochemical modelling group aims at achieving an understanding of diverse feedbacks between [...] physiology (see Research ). We contribute to and coordinate the ocean carbon sink estimate in the Global Carbon Budget, particularly the ensemble of Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Models that includes [...] cycle and in the marine ecosystem, with a special interest in the Arctic and the Southern Oceans. Surface chloropyll a concentration in an eddy-resolving simulation (1 km horizontal resolution) in the Fram

heatwaves have been taking an ever-greater toll on the world’s oceans and their ecosystems. Amplified by increasing global warming, these events are occurring more frequently and lasting longer. The Arctic is not spared from this trend either, as it is warming faster than any other region on our planet. However, due to local processes and conditions, marine heatwaves in the Arctic differ fundamentally from those in non-polar oceans. A recent study, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, in the journal Communications

The sea ice in the Arctic has several key functions in the Earth's climate system: it reflects large parts of the solar radiation, thus slowing down global warming and it drives global ocean and air currents, which has a direct impact on the weather outside our window. How the sea ice retreats or expands depends largely on the energy balance of the Arctic Ocean surface. However, there is a lack of data from direct observations, meaning that studies have to rely on modelling with

Litter Plastic has reached even the most remote corners of the ocean. The AWI is not only investigating the scale and impacts of the problem; it's also contributing the expertise to political [...] based on blue-green algae … Find out more The pulse of the Arctic The ‘Arctic PASSION’ project provides environmental data from the Arctic for the local population, for science and for local politics Find out more Putting permafrost in the classroom The Arctic’s frozen soils are thawing – with consequences for climate and humans. Together with partner schools in Germany, schoolchildren from

physical properties of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO). Only the observation of baselines, variability, and trends can provide solid evidence for change in biogeochemical and [...] Here much of the anthropogenic carbon is taken up by the ocean, and glacial ocean carbon storage in the deep Southern Ocean is well established ( Brovkin et al., 2012 ). Changes in Southern Ocean [...] , and carbon from the Siberian shelves to the central Arctic Ocean. A GEOTRACES expedition in 2015 revealed that ice formed above shelf sediments provided the main source of trace elements and

and AWI-ESM to analyze how wave-driven mixing in the warming Arctic affects the ocean state and dynamics and test whether there indeed is a positive feedback loop between sea ice melt on the one hand [...] other hand. Lastly, we will explore how these changes within the Arctic affect processes beyond, like deep-water formation and overturning in the (North) Atlantic Ocean. Friederike Pollmann | Ekaterina Bagaeva | Gabriela Amaral Wasielsky Arctic Gates The ARCTIC GATES project investigates whether reducing the export of sea ice through key Arctic gateways, particularly the

? To FAQ element Can permafrost only be found on land? Since the ocean floor in the Arctic is insulated by water and sea ice, one might assume there was no permafrost there. But guess again: at the bottom [...] erosion has worsened in the Arctic over the past few decades – due to the reduced sea-ice cover on the Arctic Ocean in summer, to higher water and air temperatures, [...] ? The permafrost regions of the Arctic are hardly an uninhabited no man’s land: in 2017, an estimated 2.3 million people lived there. More than half of all Arctic communities

generation and hence increased wave-driven mixing in the warming Arctic. The current, relatively weak mixing processes in the interior Arctic Ocean are the life insurance for its sea ice: The waters [...] We aim to shed light on the various feedback processes between Arctic internal waves and sea ice and the ramifications for ocean dynamics in the Arctic and beyond. Climate models do not resolve the [...] wave-driven mixing is not represented in a physics-based way in the Arctic. We will close this research gap and thereby contribute to improving climate projections. News How waves stir up the Arctic Ocean

Permafrost in the Arctic stores large quantities of organic carbon. When the frozen ground thaws or coastal sections erode, this carbon can enter the sea, [...] actually enters the atmosphere, however, and how much remains in the ocean has hardly been quantified to date. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute and MARUM – Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences