Press Release Archive

08.06.2017

Recognizing patterns within the whirling biology of coastal seas

Biological long-term data series are valuable tools when it comes to identifying the human impact on ecosystems or to recognizing climate driven regime shifts. However, in coastal waters, where the freshwater inflow together with weather events and local currents leads to rapidly changing values in salinity, temperature and oxygen, their informative value is limited. The reason is that the marine communities primarily respond to these fast environmental changes, which more or less mask possible responses to any other impact factors. Yet, a group of scientists from Warnemünde has now succeeded in identifying further influences by means of specialized statistical approaches.

12.10.2016

Tracking down the greenhouse gases methane & Co: IOW heads a method standardization expedition

On October 15, 2016, an international research team under the lead of IOW heads out on the research vessel ELISABETH MANN BORGESE for a one-week cruise on the Baltic Sea. The goal of the 12 scientists from Germany, China, the UK, and the USA is to prepare the road for measuring the marine emissions of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide worldwide with highly precise and comparable methods. Therefore six measuring systems will participate in an on-board intercalibration campaign and the results will be communicated as recommendations to the SCOR.

07.10.2016

Better Career Opportunities for Women in Marine Research

The European Union is funding the project “Baltic Gender” with 2.2 Million Euros

In many areas of marine research men and women are now working together as equals. However, women are still under-represented in leadership positions. Partners from eight scientific institutions in five countries around the Baltic Sea will be working together in the project "Baltic Gender" trying to reduce gender inequalities in marine sciences. The project is coordinated by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and funded by the European Union with 2.2 Million Euros.

28.09.2016

The challenges of phosphorus — International IPW8 Conference in Rostock identifies solutions

From September 12 to 16, 2016, the 8th International Phos-phorus Workshop (IPW8), entitled "Phosphorus 2020: Chal-lenges for synthesis, agriculture, and ecosystems", took place in Rostock. 230 scientists from around the world discussed possible solutions arising from their latest research regarding the responsible use of this finite raw material. The aim is to avoid serious damage to the environment, such as the eutrophication of water bodies, and to ensure that, through its sustainable use, there will be enough phosphorus to maintain the world's food supply in the future.

07.09.2016

IPW8: International conference explores the current state of phosphorus research

From September 12 to 16, 2016, the 8th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW8) with the title “Phosphorus 2020 — Challenges for synthesis, agriculture, and ecosystems” will be held in Rostock, Germany. Its overarching theme is to discuss the research progress concerning the vital question of how phosphorus can be utilized sustainably in the face of finite reserves and without severe environmental damage. 230 experts coming from more than 30 different countries will attend. The international phosphorus workshop (IPW) is one of the most important expert meetings of European phosphorus research and takes place every three years.

16.08.2016

Can ‘farting’ copepods affect the climate? IOW expedition on methane production of zooplankton

Methane is an important greenhouse gas with a strong potential to impact climate de-velopment on earth. There are, however, huge gaps in the knowledge concerning indi-vidual sources of methane and to which extent they have an actual impact on the atmos-phere. On August 6, 2016, a research team under the lead of the Leibniz Institute for Bal-tic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) set out aboard the research vessel ALKOR for a 3-week cruise into the central Baltic Sea to examine for the first time systematically, whether certain, at times very abundant copepods and their microbial gut flora produce substantial amounts of atmospherically effective methane.

20.06.2016

First comprehensive inventory of the entire Baltic sea floor

The renowned ICES Journal of Marine Science published most recently the first comprehensive survey of the distribution of macrozoobenthos communities in the entire Baltic Sea – a study done by the IOW scientists Mayya Gogina and Michael Zettler and a team of co-authors. Based on the abundance of certain species at more than 7.000 locations, they identified 10 major communities. In the most northern areas, benthic communities with only few major key species belonging to crustaceans, polychaetes and bivalves (e.g. Monoporeia affinis, Marenzelleria spp. und Macoma balthica, respectively) exist. They dominate most of the Baltic Sea north of the Bornholm Basin, which means nearly 60 % of the whole sea floor of the Baltic

16.06.2016

IOW expedition studies eddies in the Baltic Sea to collect data for im-proving climate modelling

On June 18, 2016, a research team under the lead of the Leibniz IOW set out from Rostock port aboard the research vessel ELISABETH MANN BORGESE for a 9-day cruise into a sea area south of Bornholm island. The expedition focuses on the oceanographic analysis of eddy structures in the surface layer of the Baltic Sea and their impact on marine currents as well as microorganisms. IOW’s expedition contributes to the project “Clockwork Ocean” of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht – Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG), which for the first time employs a manned zeppelin that cooperates with research vessels for the study of marine eddies.

29.01.2016

10 years MARIA S. MERIAN, 50th expedition: Unique samples and data collected on winter cruise

After 23 days at sea the MARIA S. MERIAN arrived back at her home port of Rostock on January 29, 2016. This concludes the first comprehensive winter expedition for investigating matter cycles at the sea floor of the North and Baltic Sea. Under IOW lead, 16 scientists braved harsh conditions like heavy storms, driving snow, icy temperatures, thick fog and pouring rain to get „to the bottom“ of their research issues regarding the two German seas.

07.01.2016

New insights into the fate of methane released at the seafloor

Joint press release of IOW and GEOMAR about the special issue of the “Journal of Marine and Petroleum Geology”, which reports the studies of a crater at the bottom of the North Sea created following a shallow gas blowout in the course of oil exploration in 1990that provides new insights into the fate of methane emissions at the sea floor.