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Climate Change

The ocean regulates the climate and slows down global warming by absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide and heat. However, as a result, the water is becoming warmer and more acidic, and sea levels are rising.

Overview
> Climate Change

The Ocean in a changing climate

The ocean regulates the climate and mitigates global warming in two ways: by absorbing atmospheric heat and by capturing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide.

Meere Online
Insight
[Translate to English:] Cumulonimbus Wolke über Meereshorizont vom Forschungsschiff Sonne aus fotografiert.
Picture: Ralf Prien, IOW
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The ocean stores large quantities of carbon dioxide and heat and thus, slowing down man-made climate change.

Meere Online
Insight
A dyke on the North Sea island of Pellworm, where sheep are grazing. The mudflats can be seen in the background.
Picture: DAM
> Sea Level Rise

Sea Level Rise

Climate change is causing sea levels to rise at an accelerated speed. Since the use of satellite measurements, it has been recognised that the rate of rise has doubled.

Meere Online
Insight
Close-up of a pteropod sea snail
Picture: Dirk Schories
> Ocean Acidification

Ocean Acidification

The absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere leads to fundamental changes in the chemistry of the ocean, impacting biological processes across a variety of life forms.

Meere Online
Insight
The sun sets into the sea on the horizon
Picture: DAM
> Ocean Warming

Ocean Warming

The ocean absorbes a huge amount of heat at its surface, which is stored at increasing depths. This leads to an increase in water temperature, impacting the climate and the marine life.

Meere Online
Focus
Large algae in light-flooded water. Photographed from below.
Picture: Dirk Schories
> Ocean Warming

Oxygen deficiency

The world’s seas oceans are losing oxygen – one of the most vital building blocks of life. The main causes: ocean waters are steadily warming, and excessive nutrient input in many coastal areas is driving widespread imbalance.

Meere Online
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The ocean as carbondioxide storage facility

Information material from the DAM research mission CDRmare (CDR: Carbon Dioxide Removal) about the role of the ocean in the absorption and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

CDRmare
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

Climate Saviour Ocean?

The World Ocean Review (WOR) ‘Climate Saviour Ocean?’ describes the role of the ocean in the Earth's carbon cycle and presents the benefits, risks and knowledge gaps of the most important ocean-based carbon dioxide removal processes.

WOR
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

Helmholtz KLIMA dialogue platform

With the dialogue platform on climate, the Helmholtz Association promotes the exchange between science and politics and offers up-to-date climate knowledge with a keyword search and a network of experts.

Helmholtz
Multimedia
> Sea Level Rise

North Sea coast under climate change

This film about the North Sea coast under climate change by the Hereon Research Centre illustrates the connections between coastal protection, inland drainage and spatial planning on the German North Sea coast.

Hereon
Multimedia
> Sea Level Rise

North German Coastal and Climate Office

The North German Coastal and Climate Office of the Hereon Research Centre provides practical results from coastal and climate research for northern Germany and offers individual consultations for stakeholders.

Hereon
Multimedia
> Sea Level Rise

Sea level monitor

How much has the sea level risen along the northern coasts of Germany in the last century? These and other questions are answered by the sea level monitor of the North German Coastal and Climate Office of the Helmholtz Centre Hereon.

Hereon
PDF
> Sea Level Rise

Fact Sheet Sea Level Rise

How much will the global sea level rise by 2100? In this fact sheet, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) summarises answers to key questions on sea level rise.

BSH
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The ocean as a climate protector

As part of GEOMAR's ‘Discover’ information series, the role of the ocean as a climate protector is explained in a compact way and linked with vivid graphics.

GEOMAR
Multimedia
> Sea Level Rise

Sea ice portal

Sea ice is rapidly melting due to climate change. The sea ice portal of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is a logbook of a fading world, in which experts share their knowledge about sea ice.

AWI
Website
> Ocean Acidification

Facts about ocean acidification

The oceans are absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide, resulting in sea water that increasingly becomes more acidic. The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) summarises the consequences for marine life in this thematic focus.

AWI
Website
> Ocean Acidification

Effects of ocean acidification

The website of the ‘BIOACID’ research programme offers interesting facts about the impact of ocean acidification on marine organisms and habitats. In addition to informative texts and brochures, the website also contains interviews with experts.

GEOMAR
Multimedia
> Ocean Warming

The herring in the climate trap

In the multimedia report, the Thünen Institute explains how climate change is affecting herring stocks in the Baltic Sea.

Thünen Institute
Website
> Ocean Warming

Oxygen and Ocean

The European Marine Board Future Science letter No. 10 summarises how important the ocean is for oxygen on our planet and answers the question whether “every second breath we take comes from the ocean”.

European Marine Board
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

Coasts as climate protectors

Coastal ecosystems can both emit and absorb greenhouse gases - an international team involving the Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT), Hereon and GEOMAR investigated, which regions of the world are of particular importance.

ZMT
Website
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The ocean as a climate saviour?

The website of the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) reports on the need for proactive management of negative emissions technologies.

RIFS Potsdam
Multimedia
> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

IMPACT2C Web Atlas

What does 2°C global warming mean? The web atlas summarises the results of the project ‘Impact 2°C’ // IMPACT2C. It emphasis for example the rising annual costs of storm surge events or the costs incurred in dyke construction.

IMPACT2C
Multimedia
Lighthouse on a hill by the sea
Courtney Corlew/Unsplash
> Sea Level Rise

Coastwards

Researching sea level rise via app: With the Coastwards app, coastal photos can be uploaded to help scientists assess the risks of sea level rise.

CRSLR | Kiel University
Website
Schäumende Ostsee bei Strum im Hintergrund Blick auf das histrorische Hotel Fürstenhof in Sassnitz. Bild von Peggychoucair auf Pixabay
Bild von Peggychoucair auf Pixabay.
> Educational Materials

Climate change - understanding and acting

The educational programme of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU) deals with the causes and consequences of climate change using various teaching materials.

LMU Munich

Find Connections

More on "Climate Change" from other subject areas:

Website
> Ecosystem Services

Seagrass meadow habitat

Seagrass meadows, their ecosystem services, their protection and their restoration are presented clearly and concisely in the information series ‘Discover’ of the GEOMAR Research Centre.

GEOMAR
Multimedia
> Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity at the Humboldt Current

This information video presents the Humboldt Current upwelling area off the Pacific coast of South America, which provides millions of tonnes of fish and seafood every year and is considered a hotspot of marine biodiversity.

Humboldt Tipping
Multimedia
> Ecosystem Services

Dive through the coral reef

Dive into one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world: In this video, the Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) shows the importance of coral reefs for humans and the effects of climate change on these unique ecosystems.

ZMT
Website
> Ecosystem Change

Arctic species in climate change

Living conditions in the Arctic have changed as rapidly in recent decades as in hardly any other ecosystem on Earth. This thematic focus from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) provides the facts.

AWI
Website
> Restoration

Can reefs recover after coral bleaching?

Can coral reefs regain their functions after coral bleaching? What factors contribute to the recovery of species-rich ecosystems? This summary of an international study by the Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) provides answers.

ZMT
Website
> Ecosystem Services

FutureMARES

FutureMARES is an EU-funded research project that investigates the relationships between climate change, marine biodiversity, and ecosystem services.

FutureMARES
PDF
> Ecosystem Change

Octopuses and climate change

Why cephalopods are better adapted to climate change than other marine animals, and what the significance of their spread in the North Sea could be for fish stocks and the fishing industry, is explained in this article.

Thünen Institute

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

Topics at a Glance

Biodiversity

Climate Change

Ocean Use

Pollution

Management

Research