Current issues

Pteropods or sea snails, also called sea angels, produce chemical deterrents to ward off predators, and some species of amphipods take advantage of this by carrying pteropods piggyback to gain protection from their voracious predators. There is no ...

The loss of arctic permafrost deposits by coastal erosion could amplify climate warming via the greenhouse effect. A study using sediment samples from the Sea of Okhotsk on the eastern coast of Russia led by AWI researchers revealed that the loss of ...

On September 1, 2018, a ship-based research cruise starts from Guangzhou down the Pearl River to the coastal areas of the South China Sea. As part of the joint German-Chinese project MEGAPOL (short for Megacity's fingerprint in Chinese marginal seas: ...

As the Arctic Ocean warms, marine organisms move pole-wards and experience different day-lengths. Project CHASE will determine effects on their biology and the ‘ticking’ of biological clocks.

Warm tropical coastal seas are home to up to 1,000 times more species of fish than the cold polar seas. The decline in the number of species from the tropics to the poles has been known in biodiversity research for a long time and is explained in most ...

For the first time, the UK and Germany have joined forces to investigate the impact of climate change on the Arctic Ocean.

A new joint research project headed by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) wants to find out how microplastics end up in the water. The project aims to optimise representative water and wastewater sampling procedures. Representative ...

Ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths of this rise (3.0 mm) coming in the last five years alone.

130 Scientists meet in Helsingør, Denmark for the Second International Baltic Earth Conference. The Baltic Earth network strives to achieve an improved Earth System understanding of the Baltic Sea region as the basis for science-based management in ...

Urban agglomerations are growing rapidly worldwide and new megalopolises are emerging. The dense settlement structures with sometimes millions of people are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In the RIESGOS project (Spanish: risks), the Earth ...

Expedition MANGAN 2018 is the ninth cruise of the BGR to the German license area for the exploration of manganese nodules.

The German-American satellite mission, GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On), was successfully launched. On 22 May at 21:47 hours (CEST) the two satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg Air Force ...

With the German-American satellite mission GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On), the measurement of the Earth's gravity field and its temporal change will enter “extra time”. Between the years 2002 and 2017, the predecessor mission ...

More than 70 years after the end of the Second World War, countless pieces of ammunition from this time are still lying – and corroding – in all oceans. Once the casings are damaged, the explosives can release toxic substances into the seawater. A new ...

Global warming will exacerbate soil droughts in Europe - droughts will last longer, affect greater areas, and have an impact on more people. If the earth warms by three degrees Celsius, extreme events - such as the drought which struck large parts of ...