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Driftwood plays a key role in Arctic coastal ecosystems: it stores carbon, stabilises coastlines and provides a habitat for animals. At the same time, it can offer clues regarding climate change in the Arctic region, providing information on the likes of storm surges, coastal erosion and shifting fluvial dynamics. Despite the crucial role it plays, there is still a lot that we do not know about the large-scale distribution patterns of driftwood. Now, for the first time, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have systematically mapped driftwood…

AWI marine biologist Melanie Bergmann participated in the WISSENSWERTE dialogue forum on 30 September as an expert on microplastics. In a panel discussion with other experts from the fields of toxicology, chemistry and medicine, she spoke about the potential effects of plastic particles on the human body and health. WISSENSWERTE is a German-language conference for science and journalism that takes place annually.

By signing the Inklupreneur Pledge, the Alfred Wegener Institute is setting an example for greater inclusion in the workplace. The initiative aims to create new career prospects for people with disabilities and to embed inclusive structures in the institute's corporate culture on a long-term basis. The collaboration started with a kick-off meeting with Inklupreneur on 23 September. More information.

The final symposium of the EU project Arctic PASSION took place in Potsdam on Monday and Tuesday. This marks the conclusion of the project, which was coordinated by AWI researcher Michael Karcher over the past four and a half years. The programme featured lectures and panel discussions that combined scientific perspectives on Arctic environmental observation with the knowledge of indigenous communities. The symposium is followed by the project’s two-day General Assembly.

The 15th ExtremeWeatherCongress will take place on 24 and 25 September at HafenCity University Hamburg. Leading experts from science, meteorology, climate research and the media will come together to discuss current developments related to extreme weather events, climate change and their consequences. The Alfred Wegener Institute will participate with several contributions, including lectures, a workshop and a live link to the research vessel “Polarstern”. The event will be broadcast live. More information.

With temperatures hovering around minus 30 degrees, icy winds and the darkness of the polar night: winter is not the most pleasant time to navigate around the coast of Spitsbergen in a small vessel. But that is exactly what a team headed up by Prof. Charlotte Havermans and Dr. Ayla Murray from the Alfred Wegener Institute undertook in the winter of 2022. In Kongsfjord, in the west of the archipelago, the researchers took water and sediment samples and then assigned the DNA they contained to various marine organisms. This enabled them – for the first time…

Up to well into the 20th century, research shipping was strictly a male domain. In the early days of the Federal Republic of Germany, sayings such as "a woman on board brings bad luck" were still to be heard. At that time, the roles were clearly divided between the sexes and it was a time when it was not easy for women to break out of these roles and pursue their own desires. This called for pioneers who dared to do so with courage, tenacity and passion – strong and assertive women. And Irmtraud Hempel was one of them who led the way.

The centrepiece of the new construction project for the Polarstern's successor is now taking shape: by the end of August, TKMS, Wärtsilä, Steerprop and Aker Arctic had inked the contracts for the entire propulsion unit: rudder propellers, engines and exhaust gas aftertreatment system. Many of the components are genuine market innovations with which the Alfred Wegener Institute and TKMS are setting new standards in research navigation.

The Polarstern recently ended a two-month expedition in the Central Arctic in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The international and interdisciplinary research team, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, focused on the summer melting of Arctic sea ice in three different regimes. The comprehensive inventory revealed major differences between the various sea ice regimes and a low sea ice concentration in the study area. In addition, bacteria and zooplankton dominated the biological communities, while the expected ice algae could hardly be found. 

Just exactly how internal clocks function in zooplankton in the open sea at the mechanistic and molecular level is the core question the BICLOPS junior research group is addressing. Over the next five years, the European Research Council (ERC) will be funding the group led by AWI biologist Sören Häfker to the tune of €1.5 million.