• CO2-neutral on the North Sea

      Keel Laying for New Research Ship
      The Alfred Wegener Institute is setting new standards for sustainability in German maritime shipping. On 8 June 2021 the keel for the successor to the research cut

    • Sunken ammunition: danger with long-term effects

      course for Helgoland. The research team of the "North Sea Wrecks" project collected samples around the wreck of the warship SMS MAINZ off the North Sea island. They will be used to investigate the extent [...] Research Project North Sea Wrecks
      Stormy weather and strict hygiene regulations put the science crew to the test. After a delay of almost two days due to weather conditions and several days of scheduled

    • Impact of bottom trawling on marine protected areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea

      using the North Sea and Baltic Sea in sustainable ways What impact will the exclusion of bottom trawling have on marine protected areas in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea and Baltic [...] Baltic Sea? Two pilot missions in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, which started in March, are examining this key question as part of the research mission “Protection and Sustainable Use of Marine Areas” of

    • The Arctic Ocean was covered by a shelf ice and filled with freshwater

      marine deposits, the scientists could demonstrate that the Arctic Ocean as well as the Nordic Seas did not contain sea-salt in at least two glacial periods. Instead, these oceans were filled with large amounts [...] amounts of freshwater under a thick ice sheet. This water could then be released into the North Atlantic in very short periods of time. Such sudden freshwater inputs could explain rapid climate oscillations

    • Crossing the Equator

      Cape Verde Islands at 26 ° C, a cloudless sky and a gentle swell of 2 meters from the north. The hard-earned “sea legs” can rest for now, it could really be worse.

    • The return of the European oyster to the North Sea

      Researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, together with the Bremerhaven Zoo have developed a special exhibition on the reintroduction of the European oyster (Ostrea edulis) into the North Sea. On display are living European oysters in an aquarium, a detailed model of an oyster reef and its inhabitants as well as background information on the ecological importance of the species in the exhibition.

    • The latest findings on the MOSAiC floe

      floe: the sea ice in which the research vessel Polarstern is now drifting through the Arctic was formed off the coast of the archipelago, which separates the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea to the north [...] north of Siberia, in December 2018. Sediments, and even small pebbles and bivalves, were incorporated into the ice during the freezing process, which the on-going melting process has brought to light on

    • Change of Shifts at the North Pole

      the following paragraphs, the team from the first leg of the journey, which was dominated by thin sea ice, review the mission so far: despite extremely challenging conditions, they maintained a steady

    • Two New Records at the North Pole

      MOSAiC
      For days, fast sea ice had slowed the progress of the resupply icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn; bound for the North Pole, her mission was to support the second exchange of researchers and crew in

    • Ten years of exploration with the AWI’s research aircraft Polar 5

      for atmospheric research and geophysics purposes, the airplane has landed on the Arctic sea ice near the North Pole, and at the South Pole.