Arctic Ocean
More melt water is entering the Artic Ocean from the glaciers due to climbing temperatures. In addition, the rivers are carrying large amounts of sediment from thawing permafrost. How the [...] the Arctic Ocean will react to such changes is a very big question, which is concerning scientists around the world. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now published, together with int

Arctic Ocean
Tiny gypsum crystals can make phytoplankton so heavy that they rapidly sink, hereby transporting large quantities of carbon to the ocean’s depths. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute [...] Institute recently observed this phenomenon for the first time in the Arctic. As a result of this massive algal transport, in the future large amounts of nutrients could be lost from the surface waters.

category of mid-ocean ridges, accounting for about 15% of the total length of mid-ocean ridges worldwide. Since ultraslow ridges are located in the Arctic Ocean and the stormy Southwest Indian Ocean and are therefore [...] Ultraslow spreading mid-ocean ridges At mid-ocean ridges, the lithospheric plates move apart at rates of about 5-150 mm/year and new oceanic lithosphere is continuously formed. At low spreading rates of [...] making its way to the ocean floor through a cold, thick lithosphere. Therefore, the formation process of new ocean lithosphere differs at ultraslow spreading ridges from all other ocean basins. Ultraslow ridges

shifted location • Arctic Ocean: • Increased coastline erosion – e.g. village relocation • Cultural change – subsistence lifestyle facing problems Changes in the ocean impact people Arctic Ocean and extreme [...] weather Impacts on people J. Francis What’s happening in the Arctic Ocean? • Warmer air reduces air column density, shifting wind fields Arctic Ocean and extreme mid-latitude weather Impacts on people J. Francis [...] PowerPoint Presentation Ocean and climate change Dr. Rebecca Rolph Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Potsdam, Germany • How the ocean regulates climate • Changes in the ocean • What these changes

role in Arctic Ocean geophysical research for many years and in various projects. Projects Formation of new seafloor at the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (Photo: [...] Formation of the Arctic Basin The Arctic Ocean is of particular geological interest. It hosts a wealth of different geological provinces ranging from deep ocean basins over prominent ridges to vast shallow [...] perennial sea ice-cover, information on the geological history of the Arctic Ocean is still sparse. As the sea-ice recedes, the Arctic Ocean will see an explosion of research activities. With RV Polarstern

evolution of surface properties of the Arctic Ocean influence the radiative energy transfer through the coupled compartments (atmosphere, sea ice, open ocean) of the Arctic climate system. Radiative effects [...] the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean. In particular, the cold halocline layer, which separates warm Atlantic water from the upper ocean mixed layer, appears to be affected by Arctic climate change. On the [...] experiments with a coupled ocean-sea ice model (North Atlantic Arctic Ocean Sea Ice Model, NAOSIM) show a destabilisation of the halocline due to increased freezing in polynyas of Arctic shelf seas. We are planning

from the Arctic reservoir. Long-term observations in the Arctic Ocean by a multitude of observational platforms allow estimates of annual mean liquid freshwater content in the upper Arctic basins (Figure [...] Central Arctic long-term observations [Translate to English:] Anomalies of annual mean liquid freshwater content in the upper Arctic Ocean basin from salinity profile observations since 1992. Liquid freshwater [...] linear trend is 600+-300 The central Arctic is an important component of the global climate system, not only by atmospheric teleconnections but also by links in ocean circulation to lower latitudes. There

amounts of microplastic in arctic sea ice than ever before. However, the majority of particles were microscopically small. The ice samples from five regions throughout the Arctic Ocean contained up to 12,000 [...] patch in the Pacific Ocean, while in turn, the high percentage of paint and nylon particles pointed to the intensified shipping and fishing activities in some parts of the Arctic Ocean. The new study has

Arctic Ocean
The Arctic has a serious litter problem: in just ten years, the concentration of marine litter at a deep-sea station in the Arctic Ocean has risen 20-fold. This was recently reported in

German Norwegian Ocean Forum
From the Arctic to the North Sea: this year’s German Norwegian Ocean Forum was held in Bremen’s Übersee Museum. The spotlight topic of the symposium, which was jointly organised [...] by the AWI, Innovation Norway, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy, was ‘The sustainable future of our oceans’. AWI Director Antje Boetius moderated the event.