The great makeover begins: AWI is building new long-term observatory for Arctic Ocean observations

    Press release

    Higher Water Temperatures and Reduced Ice Cover In the Arctic Ocean

    Press release

    The sea-ice is getting thinner – A closer look at the climate and ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean

    Press release

    JAGO and Polarstern, an unbeatable team on a coldwater coral expedition in Arctic ocean

    Press release

    Fire under the ice - International expedition discovers gigantic volcanic eruption in the Arctic Ocean

    Press release

    Continued warming of the Arctic Ocean - Northernmost position of the new research vessel Maria S Merian

    Press release

    How climate change is altering the Arctic Ocean

    On 29 May 2025, the Polarstern research vessel set sail from Bremerhaven for the Arctic. The destination of the 95 expedition participants, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, is the AWI Hausgarten, a [...] y situated between Svalbard and Greenland. There they will investigate how the ecosystems of the Arctic deep sea are reacting to changing environmental conditions as a result of rapid climate change. The [...] June, will focus on benthic and plankton communities in the open water and physical changes in the ocean.

    Ocean: FRAM

    look beyond the moorings and the Hausgarten into the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The Fram Strait connects the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. Unlike the shallow water conjunction to the Pacific [...] Arctic long-term observatory FRAM 5,000 metres seawater plus ice separate the seafloor from boisterous life in the upper water layers of the Arctic Ocean. Additionally there is a strong change between [...] deep and thus the main region for exchange of water between the Arctic and the global oceans. Due to its importance for the global ocean circulation the Fram Strait has long since been a focus area of

    Ice Ocean Dynamics

    the Eurasian shelf seas. Ocean waters with salinities below the average salinity of the Arctic Ocean also contribute positively to the fresh water balance of the Arctic Ocean. Such waters flow in from [...] er-Institut) Figure 1: Surface circulation of the Arctic Ocean (Graphic: Alfred-Wegener-Institut) Figure 2: Mid-depth circulation in the Arctic Ocean, which is fed from the Atlantic. 129 Iodine releases [...] blue line shows the total Arctic (liquid + sea ice) freshwater content (integrated in the area in blue on the map) (Graphic: T. Kovacz, Alfred-Wegener-Institut) The Arctic Ocean receives freshwater by run-off

    FRAM Ocean Observing System

    Boetius, A. (2013): FRAM - FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring: Permanent Observations in a Gateway to the Arctic Ocean. OCEANS - Bergen, 2013 MTS/IEEE. doi:10.1109/OCEANS Bergen.2013.6608008 Publications featuring [...] FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring Our ability to understand the complex interactions of biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes in the ocean and on land is still limited by the lack [...] interdisciplinary observation infrastructures. The main purpose of the planned open-ocean infrastructure FRAM (FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring) is permanent presence at sea, from surface to depth, for the