23.06.2020
EN Die Mischung macht’s
Der Wald ist ein einzigartiger und wichtiger Lebensraum für Mensch und Tier. Knapp ein Drittel der Erdoberfläche ist von Wäldern bedeckt. Auch in Deutschland ist es rund ein Drittel der Landfläche: 11,4 Millionen Hektar. Doch es steht derzeit nicht gut um den Wald. Das sich verändernde Klima setzt ihm mächtig zu. Andreas Huth und Friedrich Bohn erforschen, wie Wälder am besten auf künftige Extreme
Further press releases from Helmholtz
13.01.2022
World's largest fish breeding area discovered in Antarctica
Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world's largest fish breeding area known to date. A towed camera system photographed and filmed…
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11.01.2022
Arctic coasts in transition
Arctic coasts are characterized by sea ice, permafrost and ground ice. This makes them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which is already accelerating rapid coastal erosion…
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10.01.2022
How unstable is the East Antarctic Ice Sheet?
On the 6th of January, the research vessel Polarstern set off from Cape Town in South Africa for an expedition of around eight weeks to the Antarctic. Extensive preventative measures have allowed the…
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15.12.2021
Meltwater influences ecosystems in the Arctic Ocean
In the summer months, sea ice from the Arctic drifts through Fram Strait into the Atlantic. Thanks to meltwater, a stable layer forms around the drifting ice atop the more salty seawater, producing…
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02.12.2021
Drought risk in the Northern Hemisphere rises with intensified warming
Over the next few decades, anthropogenic climate change and the resultant changes in the global water cycle will produce a significant rise in drought frequency in the Northern Hemisphere. An…
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30.11.2021
Beyond EPICA explores the climate of the past – drilling commences
The climatic and environmental history of our planet is hidden in the ice: it harbours information on the temperature development and atmospheric composition dating back centuries and even millennia…
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09.11.2021
Viscous AND elastic: Glaciers are more “solid” than previously assumed
Melting glaciers are a major contributor to global sea-level rise. In order to project the latter as precisely as possible, all relevant processes at work in the world’s large glaciers must be…
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04.11.2021
The CO2-Budget
Until 12 November 2021, important climate policy decisions will be made at the World Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow. One of them is the consistent reduction of the global CO2 budget to net zero…
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04.11.2021
2021 CO2 emissions at nearly 2019 level
After dropping considerably worldwide in 2020, this year fossil carbon dioxide emissions will likely reach the level before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s the conclusion arrived at…
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29.10.2021
Expert service to accompany the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow
From 1 to 12 November 2021, heads of state, organisations and researchers will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Their primary goal is to assess and further develop…
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14.10.2021
Mark of support for biodiversity: EuroNatur Award presented to IPBES researchers
Dr Eszter Kelemen (Hungary), Dr Yunne-Jai Shin (France) and UFZ agricultural scientist Prof. Dr Josef Settele accepted the award on behalf of their colleagues and fellow campaigners on 14 October on…
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07.10.2021
Integrated Wastewater Management in Jordan: From Idea to Institutionalization
The UFZ project NICE was ceremonially transferred to the University of Jordan under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Water/Irrigation and the mandate of the Jordanian cabinet. This marks the…
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16.09.2021
Annual sea ice minimum in the Arctic
The sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean reached its annual minimum of 4.81 million square kilometres on 12 September 2021. As such, the 2021 Arctic sea-ice minimum comes in at 12th place on the…
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13.09.2021
Degradation of biobased plastics in the soil
In two studies, soil ecologists at the UFZ have shown which microbial community is responsible for the degradation of biodegradable plastics, what role the climate plays in this process, and why…
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08.09.2021
Forest edges in the tropics increase carbon emissions
UFZ models show that fragmentation of tropical forests has increased to almost one third of the forest area. The increased tree mortality at the forest edges releases large amounts of carbon. These…
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05.09.2021
Pastorale for the Planet and the Polar Perspective
On Sunday, 5 September 2021, from 2:00 pm there will be a symposium on German-French cooperation in polar research and the arts, held at the University of the Arts Bremen, Speicher XI. Prior to the…
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18.08.2021
Thwaites Glacier: Significant Geothermal Heat Beneath the Ice Stream
Ice losses from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica are currently responsible for roughly four percent of the global sea-level rise. This figure could increase, since virtually no other ice stream in…
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05.08.2021
The North Sea in Miniature
The AWI’s new experimental facility on Sylt makes it possible to simulate the effects of climate change on coastal ecosystems.
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27.07.2021
Coastal Waters Under Pressure
The waters off many of the world’s coasts are under enormous pressure. Climate change is altering entire ecosystems in coastal waters and shelf seas, and added to this are further stress factors like…
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01.07.2021
Focus on global plastic pollution
Current rates of plastic emissions globally may trigger effects that we will not be able to reverse, researchers from Germany, Sweden and Norway report in a new study published in the prestigious…
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24.06.2021
Antarctic Circumpolar Current Flows More Rapidly in Warm Phases
Our planet’s strongest ocean current, which circulates around Antarctica, plays a major role in determining the transport of heat, salt and nutrients in the ocean. An international research team led…
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23.06.2021
Climate Change makes Arctic Ozone Loss Worse
In spring 2020, the MOSAiC expedition documented an unparalleled loss of ozone in the Arctic stratosphere. As an evaluation of meteorological data and model-based simulations by the Alfred Wegener…
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16.06.2021
EU Provides 15 Million Euros of Funding for Arctic Project
The European Union will provide 15 million euros from the Horizon 2020 Programme to fund the Arctic PASSION project for the period 2021 to 2025. Under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute,…
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15.06.2021
Oldest permafrost in Siberia discovered
While determining the age of a permafrost layer in Siberia, an international team of experts set a new record: at its deepest point, the soil is at least 650,000 years old. Yet the team’s findings,…
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15.06.2021
Heat from Below: How the Ocean is Wearing Down the Arctic Sea Ice
The influx of warmer water masses from the North Atlantic into the European marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean plays a significant role in the marked decrease in sea-ice growth, especially in winter…
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10.06.2021
Climate change, biodiversity loss and social justice – these challenges can only be overcome together
The fight against global warming and for sustainable development can only succeed if, from now on, humankind considers the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and social justice together, and…
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08.06.2021
CO2-neutral on the North Sea
The Alfred Wegener Institute is setting new standards for sustainability in German maritime shipping. On 8 June 2021 the keel for the successor to the research cutter Uthörn will be laid at the…
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02.06.2021
Salps fertilise the Southern Ocean more effectively than krill
Experts at the Alfred Wegener Institute have, for the first time, experimentally measured the release of iron from the fecal pellets of krill and salps under natural conditions and tested its…
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27.05.2021
Antarctic hotspot: Fin whales favour the waters around Elephant Island
During the era of commercial whaling, fin whales were hunted so intensively that only a small percentage of the population in the Southern Hemisphere survived, and even today, marine biologists know…
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21.05.2021
Polarstern Sets Sail for the Arctic
On Whit Monday, 24 May 2021, the Polarstern will set sail for the Arctic. In Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard, more than 50 participating scientists will resume the long-term observations…
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