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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)

2025-01-16 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.

2024-12-18 02:39 PM — idw

Award for Hereon researcher Nils Christiansen

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Research on the impact of the expansion of renewable energies in the North Sea be honored with the Kurt Hartwig Siemers Award 2024

The Hamburgische Wissenschaftliche Stiftung gives the Kurt Hartwig Siemers Science Award every two years to researchers who have made an outstanding scientific achievement beyond their doctoral thesis. This year's recipient is Dr Nils Christiansen, who graduated from the University of Hamburg and is researching renewable energies at the Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon in the Cluster of Excellence „Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)”. The award is endowed with 30.000 euros.

2024-12-18 11:22 AM — idw

Are particle emissions from offshore wind farms harmful for blue mussels?

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

After several years of service under harsh weather conditions, the rotor blades of offshore wind parks are subjected to degradation and surface erosion, releasing sizeable quantities of particle emissions into the environment. A team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now investigated the effects of these particle on blue mussels – a species also being considered for the multi-use of wind parks for aquaculture. In the experiment, the mussels absorbed metals from the rotor blades’ coatings, as the team describes in a study just released in the journal Science of the Total Environment, where they also discuss the potential physiological effects.

2024-12-12 03:28 PM — idw

How sulphur affects the carbon cycle of subtropical seagrass meadows: New findings from Florida Bay

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Seagrass meadows have an important climate protection function due to their long-term carbon storage potential. An international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has now been able to show that seagrass beds have a stronger influence on the carbon and sulphur cycling in subtropical coastal areas than previously thought. Of particular interest is the important role of sulphur, which stabilises organic carbon, regardless of whether it is sequestered in the calcareous sediments of subtropical seagrass meadows or remains in dissolved form. The results of the study were recently published in “Communications Earth & Environment”.

2024-12-09 02:33 PM — idw

Oxygen is not the limit: Diversity and metabolic potential of globally distributed endosymbionts

Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie

Scientists from Bremen, Germany, find peculiar mitochondria-like symbionts all over the world, and unveil their surprising metabolic capacities. Their results are now published in Nature Communications.

2024-12-06 08:00 PM — idw

How do marine food webs respond to increasing alkalinity? First study shows promising results

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

06.12.2024/Kiel. To mitigate climate change, carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced quickly and drastically. Additionally, some of the CO2 already emitted needs to be removed from the atmosphere. One solution is to enhance the ocean's uptake of CO2 by increasing its alkalinity. The method mimics the natural process of rock weathering by adding ground rock, or its dissolution products, directly to the seawater. Little is known about the method's effects on marine life. A new study has assessed the impacts of a moderate OAE application, showing that the effects on zooplankton are likely minimal and that the food web could remain stable. The results are published today in Science Advances.

2024-12-05 08:00 PM — idw

Rapid surge in global warming mainly due to reduced planetary albedo

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

In 2023, the global mean temperature reached a new high of almost 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the preindustrial level. Seeking to identify the causes of this sudden rise has proven a challenge for researchers. After all, factoring in the effects of anthropogenic influences like the weather phenomenon El Niño and natural events, can account for a major portion of the warming. But doing so still leaves a gap of roughly 0.2 degrees Celsius, which has never been satisfactorily explained. In the journal Science, a team led by the AWI puts forward a possible explanation for the rise in global mean temperature: our planet has become less reflective because certain types of clouds have declined.

2024-12-04 10:45 AM — idw

On the trail of the 2011 mega earthquake

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

What was the cause of the great Tōhoku earthquake of 2011, and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure in the long term – for example, from a tsunami like the one 13 years ago? These questions are currently the focus of a scientific expedition as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), in which researchers from the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen are participating.

2024-12-03 01:00 PM — idw

Data Collection for Tsunami Early Warning Systems: Expedition MSM132 Investigates Volcanic Hazards in the Aegean

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

03 December 2024/Kiel/Catania. An international team of researchers has set off today aboard the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN to explore the Kolumbo volcanic chain in the South Aegean Sea. Their aim is to understand the geological processes that can trigger landslides, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. The overarching goal is to develop early warning systems to enhance the safety of coastal communities. This expedition, led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in collaboration with National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is part of the research mission “mareXtreme” of the German Alliance for Marine Research.

2024-11-27 03:04 PM — idw

Occurrence of blue and fin whales in the Arctic

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

The long-term analysis of blue whale and fin whale vocalisations in the eastern Fram Strait offers valuable insights into seasonal and annual patterns regarding these species’ occurrence in the region. For example, blue whales can primarily be heard in the summer and autumn, whereas the acoustic data on fin whales indicates that their occurrence is much longer and more variable. The unprecedented long-term dataset also confirms the sporadic occurrence of blue whales – the largest fauna on the planet – during the winter months. The team of researchers, led by the Alfred Wegner Institute, has just released its findings in the journal PLOS ONE.

2024-11-22 11:29 AM — idw

Student training on Polarstern’s transit to the Antarctic

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

This weekend, the research vessel Polarstern is scheduled to depart from her homeport in Bremerhaven. In addition to the crew, 33 scientific expedition participants will be on board – primarily young researchers whose job it will be to familiarise themselves with using echosounders to survey the ocean floor.

2024-11-21 03:43 PM — idw

Data collector on the seafloor: New measuring node was placed off Boknis Eck today

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

21 November 2024/Kiel. One of the oldest marine time series stations in the world is located in Eckernförde Bay, just under two kilometres off the coast: Boknis Eck. Since 1957, data on the state of the Baltic Sea have been collected regularly from a ship and, since 2016, also from an underwater observatory on the seafloor. After the device disappeared in 2019, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel today launched a new, modernised measuring node with the research vessel ALKOR. The underwater station will soon resume providing continuous data on key environmental parameters such as temperature, salinity and currents.

2024-11-19 08:15 AM — idw

Hereon names a very special ship

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Accompanied by around 400 guests, the ship naming ceremony was led by Karin Prien, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Science, who assumed the role of sponsor for this remarkable vessel. CORIOLIS is a floating, multi-purpose laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment designed for coastal, hydrogen, and membrane research. It also represents a step toward environmentally friendly maritime technology, which empowers environmental protection and climate sensitivity.

2024-11-14 01:35 PM — idw

European Initiative to Clear Old Munitions from the Seas: Project Launch of MMinE-SwEEPER at GEOMAR

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

14 November 2024/Kiel. The EU project MMinE-SwEEPER has been launched with a big kick-off meeting at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Led by Professor Dr Jens Greinert, the project will bring together 20 international partners to develop innovative and safe strategies for removing unexploded ordnance from the sea. With a budget of almost six million euros, MMinE-SwEEPER will work over the next three and a half years to develop solutions to this urgent environmental problem in European waters.

2024-11-14 11:11 AM — idw

How to deal with the 1.5°C Climate Target

Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie

In a position paper, the German Climate Consortium, of which the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is a member, has made recommendations on how to deal with the widely discussed 1.5°C target in climate policy. According to the paper, the target is no longer achievable, but it cannot be abandoned either.

2024-11-14 09:55 AM — idw

Of Tiny Organisms and their Giant Impact on the Ocean: Susanne Neuer Receives Excellence Professorship

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

13 November 2024/Kiel. Professor Dr Susanne Neuer, renowned marine biogeochemist and professor at Arizona State University, was today awarded the 31st Excellence Professorship from the Prof. Dr Werner Petersen Foundation. The award ceremony took place at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany. In her keynote lecture, Susanne Neuer highlighted how phytoplankton and bacteria contribute to the global carbon cycle through the biological carbon pump. These processes play a crucial role in climate protection and are a core focus of Professor Neuer’s current research.

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