News

The global ocean takes up about a quarter of all CO2 that humans emit into the atmosphere. The Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40% of this. However, the amount of CO2 it can uptake varies from year to year. An international research team with the participation of the Alfred Wegener Institute investigated why the uptake varies so much and was able to show that what happens in winter is crucial in explaining this variability in CO2 uptake. The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. 

In the last few decades, the Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe’s Norwegian Sea into the Arctic Ocean, passing through the Barents Sea and the Fram Strait in the process. However, not all the Atlantic water flowing into the Barents Sea reaches the sea ice. Part of the Atlantic water recirculates, i.e. by changing direction and flowing back into…

During the end of the last ice age huge amounts of CO2 which were formerly stored in the deep ocean upwelled in the Southern Ocean and were released to the atmosphere. This was one of the main causes of global warming at that time. However, it is assumed that not all of the stored carbon was released into the atmosphere, but that parts were directly transported northwards by the so-called Antarctic Intermediate and Mode Water into the East Pacific. So far, however, this has not been clearly proven. Using a combination of sediment core analyses and highly…

Antarctic krill is a key species in the Antarctic marine ecosystem: it is an important food source for many species, such as whales, seals and penguins. However, the small crustaceans are increasingly becoming the focus of fishing, which can incur significant consequences for the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem. Therefore, concepts that minimize the negative effects of fishing on the krill themselves and on the animals that feed on krill are required urgently. A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Norwegian Institute of Marine…

At this year's UN Ocean Conference in Nice, AWI scientists Antje Boetius, Nicole Biebow and Alexander Haumann presented the international Antarctic research project “Antarctica Insync” to the scientific community. On board the research vessel Meteor, researchers exchanged ideas on the topic of “Polar Oceans, Climate and Biodiversity: Advancing Synergies and Sustainability of International Science Collaboration!”. In addition to Antarctica Insync, the POLARIN and Tara Polar Drift projects were also presented.

An international initiative is investigating whether the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has reached a tipping point and what the consequences would be. AWI researchers are also involved.

The 25th Arctic Dialogue at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam focused on international cooperation in polar research. The dialogue placed a particular emphasis on the upcoming fifth International Polar Year, which is scheduled for 2032/33. Representatives from research, politics and national and international organisations discussed the scientific, social and geopolitical perspectives of this major project.

The world produces more than 460 million tons of plastic every year. Plastics are made from a wide variety of chemicals and polymers that are almost exclusively derived from fossil fuels. When they end up in the environment, they can cause lasting damage to us humans, the climate and our ecosystems. Plastics can now be found in even the remotest parts of our planet and throughout the human body. One approach currently being advocated as a way out of the crisis is plastic credits. An international consortium of experts, led by Sangcheol Moon of the…

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 long-term observatory 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 month-long expedition, which is scheduled to finish in Tromsø, Norway, at the end of June, will focus on benthic and plankton…

Temperatures around the world continue to rise – and the North Sea is no exception. Yet, in addition to this gradual warming, increasingly frequent and intense heat events also have consequences for marine organisms. Researchers at the Marine Station Helgoland, a research facility of the Alfred Wegener Institute, have quantified the frequency and intensity of these heatwaves along with their repercussions for plankton. They have also conducted an experiment that exposed the North Sea plankton community to different future warmer scenarios, both with and…