Alfred Wegener Institute

AWI research vessel Heincke is investigating wartime wrecks and munition dumping sites on a two-week expedition. The expedition is part of a programme of the German federal government to recover munitions in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. www.awi.de/ueber-uns/se... Photos: M.Brenner, N.Dahn

📃 New paper led by Katharina Kohlenbach, a PhD candidate from the @awi.de #DeepSea Group on "Patterns and environmental drivers of marine 🪱 annelid distribution in the #Arctic Ocean". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Polarstern has returned from its final Arctic expedition of the summer, PS156 (LAMEX 1). For ten weeks, 40 researchers traveled more than 9,000 nautical miles from Tromsø to Greenland, the Fram Strait, the North Pole, and the Lomonosov Ridge. www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Video: Slingshot Pictures

We did it! 🛩️Angelika Humbert from @awi.de led the first airborne campaign to collect valuable data. 💽 We plan to do it again in 2028 (and perhaps in 2030)!

A new study by the AWI and @uni-kiel.de shows that climate is not the only factor influencing the retreat of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The composition of the seafloor can also play a decisive role in determining how stable the ice remains. 🧊 www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Chiara Tobisch

Permafrost is changing: A new AWI study analysed active layer thickness at 156 sites worldwide (2000–2024). Most sites show a significant increase, with particularly strong changes in European mountain regions. Read More: www.nature.com/articles/s43... Photos: Susann Henkel, Anna Irrgang

Exciting to be back at the #Potsdam Summer School for discussions with international students on global ocean governance and geopolitics @awi.de @rifs-potsdam.bsky.social @unipotsdam.bsky.social @gfz.bsky.social 👉 potsdam-summer-school.org

An opinion paper on the status of polar blue carbon led by @nadescha.bsky.social as part of the @pomp-eu.bsky.social project, to which we also contribute with modelling biological carbon storage in both polar oceans at @awi.de . 🌊

Helmholtz Imaging Conference 2026: abstract submissions deadline extended! Submit your contribution by 30/9 👉 events.hifis.net/event/3981/p... Inspiring keynotes, new formats, workshops, community spirit & Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig await! See you there! 👋 @helmholtz.de @helmholtzai.bsky.social

As part of the preparations for a major international research project in the Beaufort Sea in 2027, AWI researchers traveled to Inuvik, Canada, to meet with Canadian and Swiss researchers, as well as Inuvialuit representatives. While there, they spotted and captured on camera Arctic wildlife.

In early September, researchers from Germany, Canada and Switzerland met in Inuvik, Canada, with representatives of the Inuvialuit communities to discuss research needs and opportunities for collaboration on the BeauPAIR project in the Beaufort Sea. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Permafrost is a vital part of the Arctic ecosystem. It stores carbon and provides stable, firm ground. When the ice melts, thermokarst lakes form. AWI researchers have now created the 'Lost Lakes' database, which contains information about the state of thermokarst lakes. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

A Year in the Ice: The Tara Polar Station has begun its drift through the central Arctic!🧊🐻‍❄️On 9 September, the Tara Polar Station, reached its ice floe. From there, it will drift with the sea ice across the Arctic Ocean for a year. AWI scientist Julia Regnery is on board. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

🌱Pollen, charcoal, and biomarkers from 90-million-year-old Antarctic peatland sediments reveal that fire dynamics in the earliest peatlands of the warm, CO₂-rich Cretaceous world closely resembled modern ecosystems. @nu-eccor.bsky.social @awi.de 👉Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

2️⃣ Yesterday, our research icebreaker Polarstern passed the 2 million nautical mile mark during the LAMEX expedition 🎉! 🐻‍❄️ During its transit from Svalbard to stations off East Greenland, it encountered a few polar bears 🥰! 📸Felix Tulatz @awi.de @meereisportal.bsky.social @helmholtz.de

🐟 Our new paper is out: "Some like it hot: The enigmatic #Arctic #DeepSea eelpout Pachycara platyrhina thrives at hydrothermal vents." This work goes back to a study visit in 2005 at the Natural History Museum #Copenhagen, so pleased to see this outcome now 😊! Free for 24 h: doi.org/10.1016/j.ds...

A team of AWI researchers will depart from Bodø, Norway aboard the Malizia Explorer, heading for East Greenland’s Kangertittivaq, the world’s largest fjord system. They will investigate Atlantic water circulation and how ship noise affects underwater life. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Arctic cyclones can accelerate sea-ice loss, especially when they occur in rapid succession. An international research team led by the AWI has now systematically investigated how this cyclone clustering affects the future of Arctic sea ice and coastlines. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Antarctica InSync is a global, interdisciplinary research initiative bringing scientists together to better understand how Antarctica’s interconnected systems are changing. The new Science Plan provides a roadmap for coordinating Antarctic research. The AWI is part of this international project. 🐧🌍

Are you in Oslo this weekend? Join the SYNCHRONY workshop at #SCAR2026, held in the context of Antarctica InSync and IPY-5. Saturday, 15 August, Clarion Hotel The Hub, room Hyde Park A 11:30–13:00: Closed session 13:15–18:00: Open session scar2026.org/schedule/syn...

The Arctic's permafrost stores large quantities of organic carbon. Researchers from the AWI and @marumunibremen.bsky.social have shown that large quantities of this carbon, released by thawing permafrost and coastal erosion, are permanently buried in seafloor sediments. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

The SYNCHRONY project, led by the AWI, will start on 1 August 2026. It will strengthen observations in the Southern Ocean, improve our understanding of changes to the ocean, ice and atmosphere, and lay the groundwork for the UN Ocean Decade initiative, Antarctica InSync. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

The Ararat Glacier has been surveyed geophysically for the first time. As part of a project led by the University of Münster, AWI and its partners mapped its ice cap, laying the groundwork for an ice core drilling campaign in 2027. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

One week left to apply for a PhD position about phage-host interactions on the beautiful island Helgoland. Come and work with us on the importance of phages in oyster-pathogenic Vibrios and which effect different seasons have on phage-host interactions. jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/22... @awi.de

Last week, we welcomed new AWI Director Hajo Eicken at HIFMB. As a collaborative institute between the University of Oldenburg and AWI, HIFMB is legally and organizationally part of AWI, and we collaborate closely. It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with Hajo so soon after he took office.

On Saturday,research vessel Polarstern will head to HAUSGARTEN,a long-term Arctic observatory in the Fram Strait. Since 1999,it has recorded ecological changes in the water column and on the seafloor, providing key insights into climate impacts on polar marine ecosystems. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

🪱New paper in the 25 years of HAUSGARTEN Observatory issue on "Biological variability & ecological sensitivity of #Arctic #DeepSea macrobenthos to environ. change" showing subtle long-term trends, incl. fauna responses to warm water anomaly (2015-2017). @awi.de www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Need to cool off? ❄️Our wintering team celebrated 'Midwinter' at Neumayer Station III over the weekend. This means that, from now on, the days in Antarctica will become longer and brighter once again. The first half of the polar night is over!

🥳Something to celebrate: 25 years of ecological time-series studies at the LTER Observatory HAUSGARTEN! As we see right now, it's not easy to sustain time series over long times -especially covering all spheres- yet it's vital to monitor #ClimateChange. @awi.de www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Marine heatwaves in the Arctic are now more frequent, longer-lasting and more intense than in the past. A recent AWI study led by Marylou Athanase shows how these extreme events have changed significantly and where gaps in our knowledge still exist. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Since 2016, the AWI has operated an atmospheric observatory in Palau in the Pacific. The station measures ozone, water vapour, clouds and aerosols to help improve our understanding of atmospheric processes and refine climate models. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

😊 I fondly remember the 'eek' moments we had after each visit to an ice floe to collect microplastic samples during #Polarstern expedition #PS126 in 2021 to our #Hausgarten observatory! 🚁During one flight, we discovered a small ‘boulder island’ in the ice & examined it more closely. 🎥 H. Jager 🧵->

What happens on the deep Arctic seafloor when glaciers retreat and sea ice disappears? A new AWI study reveals: As Arctic glaciers become increasingly unstable, more icebergs break off and drift through the ocean. Carrying rocks and sediment, these icebergs create new seafloor habitats as they melt.

You want to connect with colleagues in alpine and polar research in Germany? Check out now our 2nd update for the upcoming 30th International Polar Conference! 🗓️ 22. - 26. February 2027 📍 Bremerhaven, Deutschland @awi.de at the old Nordsee-Museum 👉 www.polarforschung.de/en/news/30-i...

🚢 Yay, we’re setting sail soon: in July we’re heading to @awi.de HAUSGARTEN observatory in the #Arctic #DeepSea to continue our time series and take samples to assess the effects of #ClimateChange and #plastic pollution. Most of the boxes are packed, I can't wait to see the blue-white shades again!🤗