Saltwater intrusion threatens water supplies from tidal rivers worldwide
Worldwide, water obtained from tidal rivers for human use is threatened by saltwater intrusion. This is the result of a recent study by an international research team, in which the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) also participated. The main causes are the effects of climate change, such as prolonged periods of drought and sea level rise.
The construction of a new storage facility for the IOW began today with the traditional ground-breaking ceremony in Rostock’s fishing harbour. The building will provide additional capacity for equipment storage and climate-controlled sediment core storage as well as additional workshop space. The construction project has a total volume of around 2.44 million euros and is being realised with funds from the federal and state governments.
The western Baltic Sea may harbour more of humanity’s cultural heritage than previously thought: underwater landscapes with monumental structures built by Stone Age hunter-gatherers. The interdisciplinary joint research project SEASCAPE, led by the IOW, now wants to investigate these unique traces. Today, researchers from all SEASCAPE partner institutions are meeting at the IOW to kick off the three-year collaboration.
A research team led by the IOW was able to revive dormant stages of algae that sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea almost 7,000 years ago. Despite thousands of years of inactivity in the sediment without light and oxygen, the investigated diatom species regained full viability. The study, recently published in The ISME Journal, was carried out as part of the Leibniz Association-funded collaborative research project PHYTOARK.
After more than 30 years, the International Baltic Earth Secretariat (IBES), which supports research and other science activities of the Baltic Earth research network, is handed over from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon to two prominent oceanographic institutes at the Baltic Sea: The IOW and the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot, Poland (IO PAN).
IOW Director Oliver Zielinski becomes a member of the German Science and Humanities Council (WR)
Oliver Zielinski, Director of the IOW and Professor of Earth System Research at the University of Rostock, was appointed to the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) on February 1, 2025, by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the joint recommendation of the German Research Association, the Max Planck Society, the German Rectors' Conference, the Helmholtz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, and the Leibniz Association.
The IOW has been collecting physical, chemical and biological Baltic Sea data for many decades. 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”.
How sulphur affects the carbon cycle of subtropical seagrass meadows: New findings from Florida Bay
Seagrass meadows have an important climate protection function due to their long-term carbon storage potential. An international research team led by the 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.
Understanding the causes of changing humidity and precipitation in the earth's past is crucial for better assessments of the planet’s future hydroclimate changes through improved modelling. A research team led by the IOW has now for the first time analysed 50,000 years of mid-latitude hydroclimate of the South-East Pacific using special moisture related indicators in marine sediment cores. The most important result is that natural variations in the earth's orbital parameters exert a decisive influence.
Marine heatwaves in the Baltic Sea: IOW researchers investigate causes and effects
Marine heatwaves – periods in which the upper water layers in the sea temporarily become exceptionally warm – are occurring with increasing frequency worldwide. Recent studies by the IOW have now confirmed this trend also for the Baltic Sea.