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The latest news and articles from marine research on the largest habitat on earth and its far-reaching significance for humanity.

Topics from Public Debate

Focus

Karte von Norddeutschland mit gekennzeichneten Gebieten Munitionsversenkung, Munitionbelastete FLäche, Munitionsverdachtsfällen. — Karte: Nach Böttcher et al. 2011, in DAM Factsheet Munition im Meer

> Ammunition

Munition in the Seas – Current Knowledge and Perspectives

Munitions in the seas and oceans threaten the marine environment and risk their sustainable use and management. For several years, research has been conducted to evaluate the scale of the impacts and to develop solutions for their future remediation.

DAM

Insight

Cumulonimbus Wolke über Meereshorizont vom Forschungsschiff Sonne aus fotografiert.

> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

Only in the past few decades, we have become aware that the ocean plays a crucial role in the Earth's climate system and how it is changing itself due to climate change.

Meere Online

Multimedia

> Marine Engergy

Planning areas for offshore wind farms

The interactive map of the Helmholtz Centre Hereon shows the location and size of offshore wind farms and protected areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea for scenario planning.

Hereon

Multimedia

> Restoration

The restoration of the European oyster

The European oyster plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystem functions in its habitat. Currently considered extinct in the German North Sea, it is being reintroduced through a project at the Alfred Wegener Institute.

AWI

Website

> Plastic Litter

Round table marine litter

An information platform for all relevant stakeholders on the coordination and implementation of national measures against marine litter. Around 130 experts support the work of the round table, established in 2016. Available in German only.

UBA

Press Releases from Marine Research by Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw)

idw (Informationsdienst Wissenschaft)

2025-02-21 01:22 PM — idw

Özdemir visits shipyard for the new Polarstern

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

On Tuesday, 18 February 2025 as part of a specialist appointment, Federal Minister of Research Cem Özdemir visited the thyssenkrupp Marine Systems shipyard in Wismar. There, he was informed about the current state of construction regarding the new research icebreaker Polarstern for the Alfred Wegener Institute. With Bettina Martin, Minister of Science for the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also in attendance, the importance for the city was underscored. For the AWI, the new ship will represent an important milestone for its future research agenda, and for international collaboration during the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences.

2025-02-21 12:55 PM — idw

Where coastal upwelling and Saharan dust support marine life

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

21.02.2025/Kiel/Mindelo. Last weekend, the expedition M208 led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel started. The expedition with the research vessel METEOR is investigating the physical, chemical and biological processes in the coastal upwelling region off Northwest Africa. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the interactions between the ocean, atmosphere and marine ecosystems. The expedition also serves as preparation for the large-scale FUTURO project, which will focus on the further development of the ecosystem off Northwest Africa from 2027.

2025-02-21 09:53 AM — idw

Amazon rainforest more resilient than assumed

Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie

New evidence suggests that mean annual precipitation in the Amazon region is not going to change significantly even if it were completely deforested. This is contrary to previous concerns that beyond a certain threshold, the Amazon would turn into a savannah. However, the researchers who conducted the study point out that a full picture of the consequences of deforestation requires more than one indicator.

2025-02-20 11:40 AM — idw

New mathematical model shows: Heterotrophic bacteria account for around 10% of global marine nitrogen fixation

Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT)

Using a mathematical model, an international team of researchers has been able to show that heterotrophic bacteria inside sinking particles can fix nitrogen in nearly every part of the global ocean. The scientists from Bremen (Germany) and Copenhagen (Denmark) estimate that these types of specialised bacteria account for 10% of global marine nitrogen fixation. Their findings have just been published in the high-impact journal Science Advances.

2025-02-19 01:46 PM — idw

Resilient algae may speed up Greenland ice melt

Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie

Tiny algae darken the surface of glaciers and thus accelerate their melting. This is the case, for example, on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which plays an important role in our climate and is already melting increasingly fast due to global warming. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, and the University of Aarhus, Denmark, now shows that the ice algae grow extremely efficiently, despite the fact that there are hardly any nutrients available to them on the ice.

2025-02-19 09:24 AM — idw

Urban environments promote adaptation to multiple stressors

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

Study investigates the response of aquatic species to environmental stress factors

19 February 2025/Kiel. Animal populations from urban areas show significantly higher resilience to stressful environmental conditions. This was found by an international team of researchers led by Dr Elizabeta Briski from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany. The mussel and crustacean species studied were able to adapt to disturbed environments, making them more resistant to environmental changes such as climate and land-use change. The study is published today in the journal Ecology Letters.

2025-02-17 04:00 PM — idw

How can Northern Germany's coasts become more resilient?

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

5 questions to Dr Insa Meinke about the North Sea coast in the face of climate change

The sea level of the North Sea is rising, storm surges are increasing, and it rains more frequently and more heavily in winter. The water comes from everywhere and threatens the coastal regions of Northern Germany. Dykes alone are not enough to resist the consequences of climate change in the long term. Scientist Insa Meinke from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon advocates new, sustainable measures for resilient coastal development. The new film production “North Sea Coast under Climate Change” from Hereon's North German Coastal and Climate Office shows where these can be applied.

2025-02-12 02:06 PM — idw

Global warming and mass extinctions: What we can learn from plants from the last ice age

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Global warming is producing a rapid loss of plant species – according to estimates, roughly 600 plant species have died out since 1750 – twice the number of animal species lost. But which species are hit hardest? And how does altered biodiversity actually affect interactions between plants? Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute have tackled these questions and, in two recent studies, presented the answers they found buried in the past. This comparison can offer an inkling of what might await us in the future. The researchers have just published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

2025-02-07 10:36 AM — idw

Timing is everything

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Initiative calls for increased global collaboration to reconstruct the climate of the past 100 million years more reliably across regions

2025-02-06 05:41 PM — idw

Questions and answers about the earthquakes near Santorini

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

6. February 2025/Kiel/Potsdam. An accumulation of weak to moderate earthquakes has been recorded around Santorini since 24 January. The seismic activity is concentrated in the area between the islands of Santorini and Amorgos, with a centre around 25 km north-east of Santorini. The GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences Potsdam classify the current events in eight questions & answers.

2025-02-04 12:07 PM — idw

Microbes from Extreme Environments as Key to Innovations: XTREAM Investigates Potential of Extremophilic Microorganisms

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

04. February 2025/Bergen. XTREAM is a new international research project that will study resilient microorganisms from extreme environments to harness their properties for applications in medicine, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and the food and feed industry. Scientists from the 13 participating research institutions, including GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, have now gathered in Bergen, Norway, for the official launch of the project. Over the next four years, they will use state-of-the-art technologies to study glaciers, hot springs, deep-sea sponges and acid mine drainage. The project is funded with around €4.4 million from the EU's Horizon Europe programme.

2025-02-04 09:54 AM — idw

Baltic Earth: New joint secretariat

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

After more than 30 years, the International Baltic Earth Secretariat (IBES), which supports research and other science activities of the Baltic Earth research network, is handed over from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon to two prominent oceanographic institutes at the Baltic Sea: The Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde, Germany (IOW), and the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot, Poland (IO PAN). A colloquium with a ceremony to mark the occasion is held today at the International Maritime Museum Hamburg.

2025-02-03 11:32 AM — idw

IOW Director Oliver Zielinski becomes a member of the German Science and Humanities Council (WR)

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Oliver Zielinski, Director of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) and Professor of Earth System Research at the University of Rostock, was appointed to the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) on February 1, 2025, by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the joint recommendation of the German Research Association, the Max Planck Society, the German Rectors' Conference, the Helmholtz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, and the Leibniz Association. The WR is the highest advisory council for Germany's federal Government and the governments of its federal states in scientific matters; the appointment is for an initial period of three years.

2025-01-29 01:18 PM — idw

New Study Highlights the Role of Mangrove Systems in Global Biogeochemical Cycles

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

29. January 2025/Kiel. Mangrove forests along the Amazon coast release significant amounts of trace elements such as neodymium and hafnium. These elements and their isotopic compositions can serve to understand the inputs of micronutrients which are vital for marine life. Researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have investigated the processes behind these releases and their significance for the ocean. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment.

2025-01-24 10:45 AM — idw

Seagrass as natural climate protector: New major project investigates potential of seagrass meadows as carbon sinks

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

24.01.2025/Kiel. How can seagrass help combat climate change? This question is the focus of the new research project ZOBLUC , which now starts under the leadership of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. The project aims to investigate the role of seagrass meadows as carbon sinks and to develop recommendations for their protection. Funded with around €6 million as part of the Natural Climate Protection Action Programme (ANK) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV) and the Ministry for Energy Conversion, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (MEKUN), the project will run until September 2030.

2025-01-16 10:58 AM — idw

Artificial gills for ocean gliders

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Hereon researchers develop an energy system for autonomous underwater vehicles

Autonomous underwater robots, such as ocean gliders, are essential tools in marine research. Most of these systems are powered by lithium batteries, which come with significant drawbacks. To address these, scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon have developed a new energy system. With hydrogen as an energy source, it is significantly more sustainable than lithium batteries and enables a greater range for ocean gliders. The unique feature: employing membrane technology, it extracts oxygen from seawater—much like a fish’s gills.

2025-01-09 11:00 AM — idw

More than 1.2 million years old ice core drilled

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

It is a historic milestone for climate research: an international research team involving the Alfred Wegener Institute has successfully drilled a 2,800 metre-long ice core , reaching the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In the fourth Antarctic season of the European Commission-funded project "Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice", the team was able to drill ice that contains a continuous record of the history of our climate as far back as 1.2 million years ago - and probably beyond. The previous age record comes from the EPICA core drilled in 2004, which depicts the atmosphere of the last 800,000 years.

2025-01-07 01:50 PM — idw

Long-term measurements for climate research

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

07.01.2025, Kiel/Belém. Last weekend, the first GEOMAR expedition of the year set sail: on board the research vessel METEOR, an international team of scientists set off from Belém, Brazil, to Mindelo, Cabo Verde. The aim of the mission is to study oceanographic and meteorological processes in the tropical Atlantic, focusing on the western boundary circulation and long-term measurements of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

2025-01-07 12:00 PM — idw

Cause of one of the largest climate shifts detected

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

07.01.2025/Kiel/St Andrews. An international research team reconstructed how atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) behaved between 335 and 265 million years ago. This period encapsulates the peak of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age, when Earth's climate cooled dramatically. The new findings provide decisive evidence that CO2 has been regulating Earth's climate and environmental conditions for hundreds of millions of years. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the research was led by Dr. Hana Jurikova from the University of St Andrews, with contributions from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and other leading institutions.

2025-01-06 11:29 AM — idw

Complex Drivers of Phytoplankton Bloom

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

06 January 2025/Kiel. The ocean is vital for oxygen, food supply, and carbon storage. At its core is phytoplankton - microscopic algae that produce biomass through photosynthesis, using nutrients, CO2, and sunlight. Researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in collaboration with Oregon State University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, have identified how a complex interplay of wind and current patterns affect nutrient delivery and phytoplankton growth in the equatorial Atlantic. Their study, published today in Nature Geoscience, reveals the seasonal nutrient dynamics critical for marine productivity and potential impacts of climate change.

2025-01-06 11:00 AM — idw

Marked decrease in Arctic pressure ridges

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

In the Arctic, the old, multiyear ice is increasingly melting, dramatically reducing the frequency and size of pressure ridges. These ridges are created when ice floes press against each other and become stacked, and are a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, an obstacle for shipping, but also an essential component of the ecosystem. In a recently released study in the journal Nature Climate Change, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute report on this trend and analyse observational data from three decades of aerial surveys.

2024-12-20 10:55 AM — idw

Research on the adaptation of cod to environmental stress

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

19.12.2024/Kiel. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a new Emmy Noether Research Group at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Under the leadership of Dr Till Harter, the junior research group will investigate the physiological mechanisms by which fish balance oxygen transport and metabolic requirements under environmental stress. The group is being funded by the DFG for six years with 1.5 million euros.

2024-12-20 09:00 AM — idw

Warming exacerbates oxygen depletion in the Baltic Sea: Rising water temperatures undermine nutrient reduction efforts

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

20 December 2024/Kiel. Eutrophication and rising water temperatures are taking an increasing toll on the Baltic Sea, leading to dangerous oxygen depletion in deeper water layers and threatening many marine organisms. Despite successful efforts to reduce nutrient inputs, rising temperatures are preventing the ecosystem from recovering. Researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have used long-term measurements to investigate how environmental conditions have changed in recent decades. Their findings have now been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

2024-12-19 04:23 PM — idw

Appreciation from the United Nations: IOW's Baltic Sea long-term observation is officially part of the UN Oceans Decade

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

The Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has been collecting physical, chemical and biological Baltic Sea data for many decades. These allow important conclusions about the state and environmental changes in the Baltic Sea and are freely accessible to both scientists and the public. As of this year, the centrepiece of the IOW's long-term observation programme – the annual monitoring ship expeditions – has been officially recognised as a project of the United Nations (UN) “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030”.

2024-12-19 03:45 PM — idw

The new Polarstern: Contract for new German research icebreaker awarded

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Good news for the German research fleet, German shipbuilding, and international polar research alike: the new Polarstern will be constructed in Wismar by thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. The company received the official contract to construct a new research icebreaker from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) today, marking the end of a two and a half-year-long Europe-wide call for tenders. The new flagship of German climate research will cost an estimated 1.185 billion euros. Following five years of construction, she is to be handed over to the research community in 2030.

The federal government and the governments of the five northern German states support the current development and sponsor the DAM