Today, on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate women in polar research! 🐧🧊 Our AWI photographer Esther Horvath documents in her work life and research in the Arctic and Antarctic. In her TEDx Talk, she offers shines a light on the women scientists. youtu.be/VyoJ0R4tLoU

Phew, what a day: a keynote presentation, policy panel discussion & 💉 blood sampling for @wecfgermany.bsky.social’s PFAS campaign! Thanks a lot, @exitplastik.bsky.social for inviting me to Berlin & organising this great workshop with many interesting & insightful discussions & trainings! 🙏 @awi.de

Prof. Dr Hajo Eicken is the new director of the Alfred Wegener Institute! Born in Bremerhaven, the glaciologist will relocate from Alaska to take up his position as scientific director on 20 March. 🎉⚓ www.awi.de/en/about-us/... @helmholtz.de 📸: University of Alaska Fairbanks

Polarstern will be departing Punta Arenas for the Weddell Sea🚢 Until April, an AWI-led team will study sea ice, ice shelves, and ocean interactions in this key climate region, where summer sea ice has declined since 2017, presumably as a result of warmer surface water. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Rossella Alba, our new colleague at @hifmb.de leading the Marine Policy and Management working group, offers two fully funded PhD positions here: jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/21... apply until March 18, and feel free to make potential applicants aware. 🧪 @icbm-uol.bsky.social

AWI researchers have found evidence suggesting that humans may have influenced fire activity in eastern Siberia more than 5,000 years ago — earlier than previously assumed. 🔥 By analyzing charcoal particles from sediment cores, they were able to reconstruct a 10,000-year history of wildfires.

📣 In our new @nature.com Comment, we encourage the person elected as the new chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee on 7 February to implement significant changes to the negotiation workflow in order to achieve a global #PlasticsTreaty. Let's get this done! 1/n #Plastics rdcu.be/e14PA

A new study by the AWI, the University of Oldenburg and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory shows that changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could influence algae growth, which could affect the ability of the Southern Ocean to store CO₂. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Final reminder for the Arctic System Science Conference 2026: Abstracts are due January 31 at 11:59 p.m.UTC. Registration closes mid-February. The conference will take place from March 23-27 in Potsdam, Germany. Join the international Arctic science community! polarsystemscience.org/arcticsystem...

Glacier ice supplies the ocean with key nutrients. In experiments, researchers at the AWI have shown for the first time that Antarctic phytoplankton can use iron from glacier meltwater, but not iron released from groundwater. 👉 www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Berenice Ebner

🐧‘To make the #WeddellSea a protected marine area, we need to demonstrate that what the area has to offer is of great value to humans.’ Jacqueline Stefels (@rug.nl) boarded the #Polarstern of @awi.de for an expedition to Antarctica.❄️ Curious? Read more 👇 🔗 www.rug.nl/fse/news/cli... 🧪 #SciComm

🎺 New study based on @awi.de HAUSGARTEN Observatory in the #Arctic #DeepSea is out: Time series of dissolved organic carbon in the Fram Strait (2010–2021): Indications for increased river export of DOC to the East Greenland Current? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

AWI researchers have reorganized the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) database and made it publicly accessible. Since the 1990s, the GTN-P has collected high-quality data to monitor global permafrost changes and its role in the climate system. www.gtn-p.org

The fabulous Kimberley Peters @hifmb.de provides some great perspective on the BBNJ Agreement put into force today. hifmb.de/wp-content/u... 🧪🌍 @awi.de @icbm-uol.bsky.social

In 2025, the AWI and University of Bremen secured extensive data sets from the USA. Now, the @dfg.de has approved around €860,000 in funding to systematically identify endangered data and secure it for the long term with the help of the PANGAEA data platform. ☁️📊 www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

NPI scientists currently conduct ecosystem research on the @biodiversa.eu WOBEC cruise with @awi.de R/V Polarstern in the Southern Ocean, including work on sea ice. Read more here: instagram.com/p/DTkpb4IiLvn Photos: S. Moreau, Norwegian Polar Institute.

🌊 New ocean alkalinity enhancement paper out, led by @tanvi05.bsky.social: We conducted global and regional (subduction regions) alkalinity enhancement simulations in the emission-driven AWI-ESM. Key findings are ... shorturl.at/9Cz5r @miriamseif.bsky.social @awi.de @cdrmare.bsky.social 1/x

Join the Arctic System Science Conference 2026 in Potsdam from March 23 to 27.🧊 Abstract submissions are open until January 31. Registration opens today and travel funding is available. For more Information, visit: polarsystemscience.org/arcticsystem...

Happy new year to Antarctica @alexandrazuhr.bsky.social from @unituebingen.bsky.social! Work near Kohnen station is progressing well. All 979 (!) stake readings for surface mass balance are done and up next are flights with @awi.de’s UWBm radar. Has snowfall increased in the last decade?

During the return journey of an Antarctic expedition in the Bellingshausen Sea geoscientist Johann Klages threw a message in a bottle into the water. He has now received an email from Tasmania: Toby Ray found the bottle on the west coast of Tasmania - it has travelled around two-thirds of Antarctica

Brilliant to see this paper rdcu.be/eUWMI by @NEGIS_Durham team & led by @louisecallard.bsky.social Work offshore with partners @awi.de revealing how ocean warming triggered ice shelf collapse @geogdurham.bsky.social @ncl-geography.bsky.social

Our icebreaker Polarstern sets off today from Namibia toward Antarctica. The research expedition to the Antarctic Weddell Sea will conduct long-term studies of Antarctic biodiversity. www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Tim Kalvelage

AWI researchers are studying whale songs with the help of AI. The result: bowhead whales appear to reproduce under the sea ice northwest of Spitsbergen, while using the open water in the eastern Fram Strait as a migration route. 🐋 Photo: Ocean Acoustics Group - AWI OZA

🎧 In the latest episode of the fabulous Plastisphere podcast, I had the pleasure and honour to chat with @kristiansyberg.bsky.social and @anjakrieger.bsky.social about the 🐘 in the room: the need to reduce #plastic production! 🔽 @awi.de soundcloud.com/plastisphere...

Freshly out at @natcomms.nature.com ! Our @univie.ac.at @awi.de @viennabiocenter.bsky.social @ercgrantees.bsky.social research into neurogenic plasticity of adult worm brains, and similarities in stem cells supporting growth of camera-type eyes. www.nature.com/articles/s41... [1/7]

🪸Good morning from @awi.de HAUSGARTEN observatory in the #Arctic #DeepSea. This photo taken by our Ocean Floor Observation Bathymetry System (~2500 m) shows sponges (Caulophacus arcticus, Cladorhiza gelida) with a comatulid, anemones, soft corals (Gersemia fruticosa) & shrimp (Bythocaris) on them!

The Beyond EPICA project begins the fifth and final drilling campaign in Antarctica. AWI researchers are part of the international research team that will drill into the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet – at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level and temperatures around -35°C.

AWI biologist Simeon Lisovski is currently travelling to the Danger Islands in Antarctica with the Team Malizia sailing crew. There, he will study a colony of over 750,000 Adélie penguins. 🐧🇦🇶

Looking back on yesterday's wonderful #PolarPrideDay at our AWIPEV station in the Arctic on Spitsbergen. 🐻‍❄️🏳️‍🌈 #PolarPride2025 🎥Wenceslas Marie-Sainte

Join today’s sessions at the German Climate Pavilion at COP30 with Josie Antonucci Di Carvalho: 15:30 UTC+1 Nature Based Solutions and Beyond german-climate-pavilion.de?pgm=35&nav=1... 20:45 UTC+1 Science Policy Interfaces for Biodiversity and Climate german-climate-pavilion.de?pgm=35&nav=1...

AWI scientists around the world took part in today's global climate strike. They included those at the AWIPEV station in the Arctic, expedition participants aboard the Polarstern and employees at Neumayer Station III in Antarctica. 🐻‍❄️🐧🌡 📸 L.Weis, A.Herbaut, A.Seidenstuecker.

Join today’s Permafrost Day at the ICCI Cryosphere Pavilion at COP30 with #AWI researchers Hugues Lantuit and Fabian Seemann. All sessions stream live on YouTube starting at 19:00 GMT/UTC+1. Watch here: www.youtube.com/@iccinet/vid...

Former AWI director and marine biologist Antje Boetius was awarded a place in the prestigious Order Pour le Mérite for her contributions to ocean research. Boetius led the AWI from 2017 to 2025, after which she became president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 💐 📷 E. Horvath

Our research vessel Polarstern will set sail on a new expedition at the end of the week: an international group of young scientists will immerse themselves in the fascinating world of marine research. @pogo-ocean.bsky.social 📸 J.Lemburg

Our research vessel Polarstern is back in Bremerhaven after a long journey. ⚓️❤️ During the expedition, researchers took measurements in the seawater north of Greenland. Initial results show that there is a current band that transports warm Atlantic water from the Arctic Ocean southward. 🌊 📸Nicolaus

AWI climate researcher Markus Rex receives the NOMIS Award 2025. 🏆👏 The award recognizes his leadership of the MOSAiC expedition, in which scientists from 20 countries researched the interaction between ice, ocean, atmosphere, and ecosystem in the Arctic. Photo: NOMIS Foundation / David Biedert

New #AWI study shows how sustainable management of #krill in the Southern Ocean can work. The concept for managing krill stocks involves close cooperation with fisheries. #Antarctica #CCAMLR www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Carsten Pape

A new review study shows the invisible transport pathways for #iron through #hydrothermal plumes. More on Iron’s Irony here ➡️ www.marum.de/en/Iron-sIro... @icbm-uol.bsky.social #ConstructorUniversity @geomarkiel.bsky.social @awi.de @marumunibremen.bsky.social

🐧 Is #Antarctica trying to talk to us? As warming temperatures chip away at the continent’s ice shelves, #WHOI scientists are listening for signs of unstable ice using acoustic data collected by the @awi.de 🔊 Listen in with Oceanus: go.whoi.edu/polarstethoscope

AWI researchers have mapped 19,000 driftwood in Alaska and northwestern Canada for the first time. The data will help to better understand coastal processes, carbon storage and environmental changes such as storm surges and erosion. www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Carl Stadie

The heart of the new Polarstern ❤️🚢 Together with our shipyard TKMS, we have reached a milestone in the construction of the new Polarstern: the new propulsion unit for the icebreaker has been finalized and the corresponding contracts have been signed. www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

Can you spot the Polarstern amid the ice floes of the Arctic? 🧊A satellite image shows, that we are just a pixel amidst ice floes (light grey) and open water (dark). Polarstern appears as a bright spot in the image because it reflects electromagnetic radiation more strongly than its surroundings.

Unique concept for observing Arctic sea ice successfully implemented: AWI scientists were able to study different types of sea ice in parallel during the Polarstern expedition “CONTRASTS.” 🧊 www.awi.de/en/about-us/... Photo: Evgenii Salganik

Excited to share that senior postdoc Sören Häfker @awi.de just secured one of the highly competitive @erc.europa.eu ‬ @ercgrantees.bsky.social #ERCStG grants to pioneer work decoding the molecular clockwork driving rhythmicity of krill in the #marine #foodweb! More on BICLOPS here: bit.ly/4lYpBq0

Johann Klages gave a plenary talk on Antarctic research at #ICP15 in Bangalore, India. A once-in-a-lifetime honor for groundbreaking insights. AWI colleagues from Marine Geology and Marine Biogeochemistry also presented on their diverse projects.👏 Photos: personal

Lukas Weis, who is spending the winter at Neumayer Station III in Antarctica, explains in the AtkaXpress blog how he takes the most beautiful photos of the polar night. #AureliaBorealis blogs.helmholtz.de/atkaxpress/e...

Hi! I’m ARIEL, an L-band microwave radiometer 📡, and this is my little buddy Sebastian (the pulka 🛷). Together, we traveled across 3 Arctic ice stations ❄️ to uncover the invisible (aka microwave) secrets of ever-changing summer sea ice and its thickness on the @awi.de CONTRASTS #expedition 🧊.

Can the color of melt ponds reveal the sea-ice thickness below? 🧊 And can we measure this from #space? 🛰️ On the @awi.de CONTRASTS #expedition, we’re testing this with a 200+ band hyperspectral camera and co-located ice thickness measurements for a large variety of #Arctic ponds.

Our icebreaker Polarstern is currently in the Arctic, where it has met up with our polar aircraft Polar 6 for the second time. The joint measurements enable researchers to place their data in an even broader context.🧊 More information in the Polarstern app: follow-polarstern.awi.de/blog/21-08-2...

A very successful Perma-X campaign is ending now and both the Polar-5 and the team left Inuvik. We are looking forward to analyze a mountain of >30 TB of new data collected to better understand how fast #permafrost thaws and subsides, coasts erode, and lakes and vegetation change. @awi.de