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The latest news and articles from marine research on the largest habitat on earth and its far-reaching significance for humanity.

Focus

Satellite image of the Arctic taken on 22 March 2025 — Picture: NASA

> Ocean Governance

Planetary boundaries

Anyone interested in marine and environmental issues will inevitably come across the buzzword “planetary boundaries”. But what does it actually mean?

Meere Online

Focus

A cod swims across the Baltic Sea floor — Picture: Dirk Schories

> Nutrients

Oxygen depletion in the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is running out of oxygen. This is primarily due to fertilisers entering the Baltic Sea via rivers. There, these additional nutrients trigger a fatal chain reaction.

Meere Online

Focus

American razor clam shells lie on the beach on the west coast of Sylt. — Picture: DAM

> Ecosystem Change

Non-native species

Introduced and immigrant animals, plants and microorganisms have been changing life in the ocean for centuries. Such resettlement can increase or decrease local biodiversity. There are examples of both developments.

Meere Online

Focus

A manta ray swims in the sea, surrounded by plastic waste such as bags and bottles. — Picture: Vincent Kneefel, Ocean Image Bank

> Plastic Litter

Plastic Litter in the Oceans

No matter where people look in the world’s oceans: Plastic is already there. Plastic waste in the marine environment is a global problem of immense scale that urgently needs to be solved. At UN level, there is movement towards a global plastics agreement.

Meere Online

Focus

A leafy sea dragon, which looks like a yellow seahorse with fanned wings, swims above green sea grass stalks in South Australia. — Picture: Jayne Jenkins, Ocean Image Bank

> Ocean Conservation

Protected areas for coasts and oceans

Marine protected areas are an important instrument for strengthening biodiversity, ecological functions and services - provided that protective measures are implemented effectively.

Meere Online

Focus

Mussels and green algae lie on a sandy seabed. — Picture: Dirk Schories

> North Sea and Baltic Sea

Environmental status North Sea and Baltic Sea

Every six years, experts assess the environmental state of Germany’s marine areas. The comprehensive 2024 report reveals that the German North Sea and Baltic Sea are in poor condition.

Meere Online

Focus

Large algae in light-flooded water. Photographed from below. — Picture: Dirk Schories

> Ocean Warming

Oxygen deficiency

The world’s seas oceans are losing oxygen – one of the most vital building blocks of life. The main causes: ocean waters are steadily warming, and excessive nutrient input in many coastal areas is driving widespread imbalance.

Meere Online

Focus

> Mineral Resources

Impacts of deep-sea mining

Mineral resources such as nickel, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc and rare earth metals are stored on the deep sea floor. However, the potential consequences of deep-sea mining for marine life are barely understood.

Meere Online

Focus

Several wind turbines at the ocean, the wind farm Rampion — Picture: Nicholas Doherty, Unsplash

> Marine Energy

Offshore Windfarms

The expansion of offshore wind turbines is being driven forward in many countries. What impact does the large-scale expansion of wind power in the North Sea and Baltic Sea have on the marine environment?

Meere Online

Focus

> Ammunition

Munition in the Seas – Current Knowledge and Perspectives

Munitions in the seas and oceans threaten the marine environment and risk their sustainable use and management. For several years, research has been conducted to evaluate the scale of the impacts and to develop solutions for their future remediation.

DAM

Insight

[Translate to English:] Cumulonimbus Wolke über Meereshorizont vom Forschungsschiff Sonne aus fotografiert. — Picture: Ralf Prien, IOW

> The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The Ocean as a Climate Buffer

The ocean stores large quantities of carbon dioxide and heat and thus, slowing down man-made climate change.

Meere Online

Insight

The research icebreaker Polarstern travels between ice floes of the Arctic sea ice on a smooth sea. — Picture: Sabine Arndt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute

> Marine and Climate Research

German marine research

Researchers from a wide range of disciplines work together to unravel the complexities of marine systems. They are focusing on the questions: How do the oceans fundamentally influence our climate? And how can we make use of the seas while protecting them

Meere Online

Insight

The illuminated Polarstern in the darkness of the Arctic ice during the MOSAiC expedition. — Picture: Esther Horvath, Alfred-Wegener-Institute

> Research Vessels

Research vessels

Research vessels are as diverse as marine science itself. Each has its own strengths and areas of operation. Scientifically, they are capable of everything: biology as much as geology, meteorology or geophysics. Yet there are not many such ships.

Meere Online

Multimedia

> For Pupils

Interactive world ocean

Touchscreen-based ocean map for schools, educational institutions and exhibitions - navigate simply and intuitively by touch and immerse yourself in the underwater world.

DAM

Press Releases from Marine Research by Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw)

idw (Informationsdienst Wissenschaft)

2025-11-12 04:34 PM

A significant amount of dissolved organic carbon in the Arctic Ocean comes from land

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

New study shows that 16 percent of the Arctic Ocean’s organic carbon comes from terrestrial sources, such as thawing permafrost and eroding coastlines – and presents a new approach to assess its capacity as a carbon sink

2025-11-11 12:24 PM

Going digital with U16

Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum - Leibniz-Institut für Maritime Geschichte

A fragile, oversized tube was hoisted out of the North Sea off Cuxhaven in the summer. The find turned out to be the U16 submarine from the imperial era. The German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven was immediately interested and is now bringing a piece of the submarine to Bremerhaven – thanks to the museum's digitization department.

2025-11-11 10:35 AM

How to Make Model Experiments on the Atlantic Overturning Circulation More Realistic

Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie

Melting ice in the Arctic is causing an increasing amount of freshwater to enter the North Atlantic, which is expected to result in a weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation. However, many modeling studies make unrealistic assumptions about how this water enters the ocean. A new study shows that the timing, location, and source of freshwater input can have a considerable impact on its eventual fate and should therefore be taken into account in future model experiments.

2025-11-10 04:19 PM

The Ocean’s Role at the UN Climate Conference - GEOMAR contributes to the Ocean Pavilion and signs Ocean Declaration

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

Between today and 21 November 2025, representatives from the international community will meet in Belém, northern Brazil, for the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) – at the place where the Amazon rainforest meets the ocean. Alongside international partner institutions, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel will be present at the Ocean Pavilion once again. Prior to the conference, GEOMAR signed the Belém Ocean Declaration, which urges all nations to recognise the ocean's central role in climate policy and ensure its protection.

2025-11-06 01:42 PM

More eelgrass in the Baltic Sea thanks to AI – Kick-off meeting for SEAGUARD research project at the IOW

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

How can eelgrass beds in the Baltic Sea be efficiently restored with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) in the most climate-resilient way possible? This is the core question of the new SEAGUARD research project, which is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW). The project combines marine research, data science and environmental management and is funded with about 1.8 million euros until November 2027 as part of the German federal environment ministry's AI flagship initiative. Now, for the first time, researchers from all participating partner institutions are coming together for two days at the IOW to develop strategies for the joint work ahead.

2025-11-04 09:36 AM

The greenhouse gas trapped in the Black Sea

Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie

Microorganisms in the Black Sea can produce large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). However, this gas never reaches the atmosphere because it is swiftly consumed by other microorganisms, which convert it to harmless dinitrogen gas (N2). Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have now investigated this process and identified the key players involved.

2025-10-30 12:20 PM

Fats provide clues to life at its limits in the deep sea

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Researchers use lipid biomarkers to reveal survival strategies in extreme ecosystems

2025-10-20 12:15 PM

Researcher at the German Maritime Museum elected to the Hamburg Academy of Sciences

Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum - Leibniz-Institut für Maritime Geschichte

On October 16, Dr. Katrin Kleemann from the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven (DSM) was named a Young Academy Fellow by the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg. The environmental historian successfully applied for the prestigious funding program and will now be part of the interdisciplinary network for three years. During this time, she will receive conceptual, professional, and financial support from the Academy.

2025-10-20 12:08 PM

Iron’s Irony

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Hydrothermal plumes as invisible transport pathways for iron

A new review led by the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen – highlights how hydrothermal vents on the seafloor shape iron availability and influence the global oceanic element cycles. The review study, titled “Iron’s Irony,” has been published in Communications Earth & Environment.

2025-10-20 11:18 AM

Krill in the Antarctic: Scientific data directly from krill fishing vessels

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

AWI study presents new concept for sustainable management of krill stocks in the Southern Ocean, in close cooperation with fisheries.

2025-10-17 04:18 PM

The Southern Ocean’s low-salinity water locked away CO2 for decades, but ...

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

An AWI study gives a potential explanation as to why the ocean around Antarctica is defying climate model projections and continuing to absorb CO2, despite the effects of climate change.

2025-10-17 09:29 AM

AWI researcher Markus Rex receives 2025 NOMIS Award

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Climate researcher Prof. Dr. Markus Rex is one of three distinguished recipients of this year’s NOMIS Award, one of the most prestigious and generously funded international scientific awards, for groundbreaking interdisciplinary research. The scientist from the Alfred Wegener Institute received particular recognition as MOSAiC expedition lead: For a year, RV Polarstern drifted through the Arctic, frozen in ice. The goal was to gain a better understanding of the complex interaction between the ocean, the ice, the atmosphere and the ecosystem. Hundreds of international scientists made significant contributions to the global understanding of climate feedback mechanisms in the central Arctic.

2025-10-16 05:42 PM

The Baltic Sea coast in the Anthropocene: a model for the consequences of climate change

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Under the lead of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), a review article outlined the state of the Baltic Sea coast and its expected development as a result of climate change. The article shows that the Baltic Sea can serve as a model for the consequences of climate change and that interdisciplinary research is needed to investigate changes in its shallow coastal zones. A focus is on researching the interactions between the coastal area and the open ocean and the aim is to develop a basis for marine conservation measures. The feature article was recently published in the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

2025-10-16 02:15 PM

New insights into the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

An international research team led by Kiel University (CAU) has systematically investigated for the first time how the WAIS responded to temperature increases in the Southern Ocean during a natural warm period, Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11), about 400,000 years ago. The results, published in the journal Nature Communications, provide valuable insights into the conditions under which the WAIS became unstable in the geological past and what parallels this could have for current and future warming scenarios.

2025-10-14 02:25 PM

Chemical Munitions and Clearance Effects in Focus

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

14.10.2025/Kiel. How do legacy munitions affect the Baltic Sea? Which technologies can help safely identify unexploded ordnance? And what effects do initial clearance operations have on the environment? GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel is addressing these questions through three coordinated research cruises. Today, the second expedition AL642 sets off with the research vessel ALKOR into the southern Baltic Sea. During the 14-day cruise, new underwater technologies will be tested, among other things. Special focus areas are the Bornholm Basin, where dumped chemical munitions are being mapped, and monitoring in the Bay of Lübeck following recent test recoveries in August.

2025-10-13 11:33 AM

Patagonia’s Ice Sheet Danced to a Different Beat

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Researchers identify factors influencing the expansion of the Patagonian ice sheet

2025-10-09 10:22 AM

The many uses of driftwood: the first large-scale mapping of Arctic coastlines

Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Driftwood plays a key role in Arctic coastal ecosystems: it stores carbon, stabilises coastlines and provides a habitat for animals. At the same time, it can offer clues regarding climate change in the Arctic region. coastal erosion and shifting fluvial dynamics. Despite the crucial role it plays, there is still a lot that we do not know about the large-scale distribution patterns of driftwood. Now, for the first time, researchers from the AWI have systematically mapped driftwood deposits, using satellite imagery and AI-powered evaluation methods. The result is the largest database ever produced, with researchers able to identify over 19,000 stable driftwood deposits.

2025-10-06 04:56 PM

Cooler warm periods: How the Southern Ocean controlled climate and atmospheric CO2

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

6 October 2025/Kiel. The Southern Ocean around Antarctica plays a decisive role in the global carbon cycle – and thus in the climate system. This is supported by a new study involving the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, published today in Nature Communications. An international team has demonstrated that between 800,000 and 430,000 years ago, a stronger layering of the Southern Ocean prevented carbon dioxide from rising from the deep ocean into the atmosphere. As a result, temperatures were significantly lower than in later warm periods.

2025-10-01 01:33 PM

New research project launched to preserve maritime cultural heritage

Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum - Leibniz-Institut für Maritime Geschichte

Making museum ships fit for the future? This is the idea behind the new cooperation project “NaSchiff” by the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven and the Leibniz Institute for Materials-Oriented Technologies (IWT) at the University of Bremen. For the first time, researchers are combining monument preservation, materials research, and maritime museum practice. The project will start on October 1 and is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).

2025-10-01 11:05 AM

Small change, big impact

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Researchers identify major ecological turnover occurred already before the largest warming event of the past 90 million years

Climate change poses a major threat to the organisms such as plankton that form the base of the marine food web. A team of scientists from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen have used the fossil record to show that only a relatively minor amount of climatic change is needed to affect plankton communities. They have published their findings in Communications Earth & Environment.

2025-09-24 05:00 PM

Magma Displacement triggered thousands of Earthquakes around Santorini: Analysis reveals origin of the seismic crisis

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

Embargoed until 1600 London time / 1100 US Eastern Time on 24 September

Tens of thousands of earthquakes shook Santorini and its surroundings in January 2025. Researchers from the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in collaboration with international partners, have now published their analysis in the journal Nature. The study reveals that ascending magma triggered the seismic crisis and points to a previously unknown connection between the magma reservoirs of Santorini and the Kolumbo submarine volcano.

- Joint press release by the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel -

2025-09-24 04:00 PM

Phytoplankton – the tiny Climate Heroes of the Ocean: AI lighthouse project for Natural Climate Protection launched

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

They are microscopic, yet play a gigantic role in the climate system: the tiny microalgae collectively known as phytoplankton. Through photosynthesis, they play a vital role in absorbing CO2 in the ocean. These hidden climate heroes are at the centre of the new KIMMCO lighthouse project. In this project, researchers from the GEOMAR and Kiel University are developing AI-based methods to measure the role of phytoplankton and climate-relevant gases, such as CO2 and methane more rapidly and efficiently. The Baltic Sea will serve as the first test area. Today, the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin awarded the project around 2.16 million euros in funding.

2025-09-24 11:31 AM

Climate change promotes the spreading of vibrios: IOW study reveals global distribution patterns

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterium that is potentially very dangerous to humans, is a natural component of marine plankton. The Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has now presented the first comprehensive analysis of its global distribution. It shows that the pathogen occurs in almost all coastal regions of the world, but is more prevalent at comparatively high water temperatures, moderate salinity levels, and in decaying algal blooms. Published in Nature’s journal “Communications Earth & Environment”, the study also provides a predictive model that can be used to estimate future climate change-induced changes in the distribution of vibrios.

2025-09-19 11:00 AM

Discovery in the Deep Sea: Novel hydrothermal system links two seabed phenomena

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

An international research team led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has discovered a globally unique system on the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea. During their expedition aboard the research vessel SONNE, they came across the “Karambusel” field, where hydrothermal vents and methane seeps occur immediately adjacent to one another. The discovery is significant not only for geology but also provides new insights into the development of deep-sea communities. The study describing the discovery is published today in the journal Scientific Reports.

2025-09-16 12:21 PM

Maritime Cultural Heritage Award presented for the second time – three awards presented for the first time

Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum - Leibniz-Institut für Maritime Geschichte

The Maritime Heritage Award was presented for the second time during the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven. The award, which is jointly sponsored by the DSM and the museum's support association, recognizes outstanding scientific work on maritime topics. This year saw a first: for the first time, three research projects received the award. One was produced at the renowned Harvard University in the US.

The federal government and the governments of the five northern German states support the current development and sponsor the DAM