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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

Dense green mangroves with clearly visible roots in the water — Picture: Paul Selvaggio, SECORE International

> Restoration

Restoration of marine ecosystems

Successful projects demonstrate that damaged marine ecosystems can recover if the right conditions are met. This can greatly benefit both humans and nature.

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

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

> 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

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

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

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

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

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

A shoal of herrings moves through the ocean. — Pichture: Dirk Schories

> Biodiversity

Genetic Diversity

A loss of genetic diversity weakens the resilience and adaptability of organisms. If they are properly planned and implemented, renaturation and other measures can help.

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

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)

2026-02-16 03:06 PM

Offshore wind farms change current patterns

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Hereon researchers simulate long-term effects of wind and tidal wakes caused by wind turbines in the North Sea for the first time

By 2050, offshore wind power capacity in the North Sea is set to increase more than tenfold. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon have analyzed the long-term overall impact of this large number of wind farms on the hydrodynamics of the North Sea for the first time. The result: the current pattern could change on a large scale. The study highlights approaches for minimizing potential risks to the environment at an early stage. The work was recently presented in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment.

2026-02-16 02:24 PM

Why the eutrophicated Baltic Sea struggles with recovery – New IOW review highlights key processes and causes

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

The Baltic Sea has been under pressure for decades: Although phosphorus and nitrogen river loads, the main cause for its eutrophication, have been significantly reduced, adverse effects such as algal blooms and oxygen depletion still massively occur, leading to further ecological problems. Scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) have now published a comprehensive review showing how nutrient pollution, internal matter cycles and global warming interact, thereby delaying the impact of protective measures. They also identify potential approaches for effective Baltic Sea management. The study was recently published in the Annual Review of Marine Science.

2026-02-11 05:00 PM

Course correction needed quickly to avoid pathway to ‘hothouse Earth’ scenario, scientists say

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

International team publishes appeal in specialist journal

2026-02-11 11:37 AM

Dr Viktoria Steck is starting a new Emmy Noether Group, “Marine Metalloproteins”, at GEOMAR

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

11 February 2026 / Kiel. After ten years at renowned research institutions in the United States, biogeochemist Dr Viktoria Steck has accepted a position leading an Emmy Noether Junior Research Group at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Her work focuses on an invisible yet central driver of the ocean: metallo-enzymes, which power biogeochemical cycles and enable life in the sea.

2026-02-10 11:37 AM

Prof Dr Hajo Eicken appointed new director of the Alfred Wegener Institute

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

On 20 March 2026, the glaciologist will take over as scientific director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). To date, he has been active as the director of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

2026-02-10 11:00 AM

Underestimated wake: Shipping traffic causes more turmoil in the Baltic Sea than expected

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Commercial shipping not only affects the Baltic Sea on the surface, but also has a significant impact on the water column and the seabed. A study by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) and Kiel University (CAU) now shows for the first time that wake turbulence from large ships in heavily trafficked areas of the western Baltic Sea significantly alters water stratification and leads to marked sea floor erosion. The research team has therefore documented a previously underestimated human impact on shallow marine areas. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

2026-02-06 05:20 PM

Record low sea levels in the Baltic Sea – Will there be a major inflow of saltwater from the North Sea?

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Since the beginning of January, an unusually long period of easterly winds has caused the average water level in the Baltic Sea to fall to a historic low. Measurements at the Swedish Landsort-Norra gauge show values that are the lowest since records began in 1886. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) are currently monitoring this development very closely, as it represents a rare oceanographic situation that could lead to a large inflow of saltwater from the North Sea into the Baltic Sea. An inflow of this kind could significantly affect the physical and chemical conditions in the deep basins of the Central Baltic Sea.

2026-02-06 08:55 AM

Polarstern is setting sail to a region in rapid transition

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

With the departure of the research vessel Polarstern from Punta Arenas (Chile) scheduled for this weekend, the "Summer Weddell Sea Outflow Study" (SWOS) international expedition will commence. Up to early April, a multidisciplinary international research team will investigate the northwestern region of the Weddell Sea – an area of central importance for the global climate and ocean system, but one that can only be explored on site by research icebreakers such as the Polarstern due to challenging sea ice conditions.

2026-02-03 11:29 AM

Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations: Success is still possible

Forschungsinstitut für Nachhaltigkeit Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam

Plastic pollution is causing severe problems worldwide. However, negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva last August did not result in the expected global plastics treaty. On 7 February 2026, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution will reconvene in Geneva to elect a new chairperson. In order to secure an agreement, the new chairperson must urgently reform INC procedures, argue Paul Einhäupl, Linda Del Savio (Research Institute for Sustainability), Melanie Bergmann (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research) and Annika Jahnke (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) in a recent Nature Comment.

2026-02-02 03:05 PM

CDRatlas: A Guide to CO2 Removal Methods on Land and in the Ocean

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

How can carbon dioxide (CO2) be permanently removed from the atmosphere? Which approaches are realistic, meaningful and responsible? The Carbon Removal Atlas (CDRatlas) now provides answers to these questions. Developed under the leadership of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, this freely accessible online platform compiles scientifically sound information on methods for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Its aim is to provide policymakers, public authorities, industry and the general public with robust, clearly structured knowledge, offering a reliable basis for dealing with difficult-to-avoid emissions.

2026-01-29 03:00 PM

How artificial intelligence can help protect the ocean: international study offers practical guide for AI application

Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT)

A European research team led by AZTI - Marine and Food Research in Spain, and involving the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Germany, has developed a framework that establishes three pillars for marine AI to be reliable, ethical, and scientifically robust. Although AI use is growing rapidly worldwide, global governance in the marine domain remains fragmented, with differing regulatory approaches across regions. The full work is detailed in the scientific article “Towards Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence for Marine Research, Fisheries and Environmental Management” and was published in Fish and Fisheries.

2026-01-29 11:54 AM

How a shifting plate boundary and hot mantle material formed one of the largest canyons in the ocean

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

The King’s Trough Complex is a several-hundred-kilometre-long, canyon-like system of trenches on the North Atlantic seafloor. Its formation was long thought to be the result of simple stretching of the oceanic crust. An international research team led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has now shown that the so-called “Grand Canyon of the Atlantic” was formed around 37 to 24 million years ago through the interplay of a temporarily existing plate boundary and an early branch of the Azores mantle plume. Their findings have been published in the AGU journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed).

2026-01-28 11:38 AM

From Greenland to the deep sea via ocean express: North Atlantic Seaweed has potential as major carbon trap

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Greenland’s coastal macroalgal forests may be a far more significant contributor to global carbon storage than previously thought. That is the outcome of a new study co-led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. By combining satellite imagery, ocean drifter trajectories, and high-resolution ocean turbulence models, the international research team demonstrated, how ocean currents and intense mixing events act to push seaweeds – and thus the carbon in their tissues – into the deep ocean. The study was recently published in the Journal Science of the Total Environment.

2026-01-21 02:17 PM

Fungi Infect Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria

Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde

Under the lead of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) the influence of parasitic fungi on the physiology and survival of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea was investigated. Such infections are known from lakes. Due to the high nutrient load in the Baltic Sea, there are high levels of cyanobacteria, some of which are toxic (algal blooms). In addition, the decomposition of algal blooms leads to oxygen depletion. Cyanobacteria are important for the nitrogen cycle, as some fix nitrogen and thus further increase nutrient concentrations in the Baltic Sea. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

2026-01-21 10:50 AM

Dredging sand and silt has consequences for the North Sea

Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon

Through sand extraction and the disposal of dredged harbor silt, around 200 million tons of sediment are relocated every year in the coastal waters of the North Sea. The Wadden Sea is particularly strongly affected. This is the result of a new study by the Helmholtz Centre Hereon, which for the first time evaluated comprehensive data on dredging activities along the North Sea coasts. At the same time, dredged material could potentially be used in the future to help raise the seabed in areas that do not naturally accumulate enough sediment to compensate for rising sea levels. The study was recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

2026-01-20 01:20 PM

Ventilation of the North Atlantic is weakening: Slower renewal of deep waters may signal climate change

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

The renewal of deep waters in the North Atlantic has slowed over the past three decades. This is shown by a new study from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, now published in Nature Communications. The study demonstrates that the “age” of water masses in the North Atlantic has been increasing continuously since the 1990s, indicating a weakening of the Atlantic circulation system. The results suggest that this trend cannot be explained by natural variability alone, but instead represents a signal of anthropogenic climate change. A slowdown in ocean circulation has far-reaching consequences for climate regulation, the ocean’s oxygen supply, and its uptake of carbon.

2026-01-16 10:17 AM

AWI and University of Bremen now able to continue securing endangered climate and environmental data

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

The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and the University of Bremen had already secured extensive data sets from the USA in 2025. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) has now approved around 860,000 euros in funding to systematically identify, secure and store endangered data over the long term, based on the PANGAEA data platform.

2026-01-13 04:26 PM

Time series in the Mediterranean Sea

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

13 January 2026/Kiel/Limassol. Today, Expedition M216 set sail for the Mediterranean Sea with the research vessel METEOR. An international research team led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research will assess the state of the Mediterranean over the coming weeks. The research is conducted as part of a time series that was last carried out in 2018. The data collected now are therefore central to assessing current and future changes in the Mediterranean Sea. Among other things, temperature, salinity, nutrients and trace gases are being investigated. In addition, the focus is on hydrography, i. e. the layering and circulation of water masses.

2026-01-13 11:57 AM

Sailboat measurements improve estimates of ocean CO2 uptake

Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie

During training cruises and regattas, sailors collect valuable data for climate research at sea. A recent study showed that this data can help improve estimates of the marine carbon sink.

2026-01-06 03:35 PM

Organic carbon in a submarine pressure cooker

MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften an der Universität Bremen

Where does hydrogen in the deep sea come from? An international team led by the University of Bremen addressed this question and discovered an unexpected process occurring beneath the sparsely studied hydrothermal fields at extremely slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges that could play an important role. Particularly at sites where liquids circulate through sediments. Samples from the Jøtul Hydrothermal Field off Norway were analyzed for the study. The findings have been published in the professional journal Communications Earth & Environment.

2025-12-18 02:04 PM

Bubbles Enhance the Ocean’s CO2 Uptake More Strongly than Previously Assumed

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

The ocean may have absorbed significantly more carbon dioxide (CO2) than previously calculated. A new study by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory shows that the exchange of gases between air and sea is not symmetric, and that the global ocean has taken up around 15 per cent more CO2 than suggested by conventional estimates. In windy regions, air bubbles entrained by breaking waves substantially enhance the uptake of CO2. The results are based on extensive direct measurements from the ocean and have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.

2025-12-17 05:15 PM

Better understand the volcanic system around Santorini

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

17 December 2025/Kiel/Heraklion. An international research team led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel set sail today to gain new insights into the volcanic system off the Greek island group of Santorini. The focus of the expedition is to test new monitoring systems that will contribute to improved early warning in the future. Immediately after the first expedition of the MULTI-MAREX research project in winter 2024, an intense earthquake swarm with several tens of thousands of earthquakes occurred around Santorini in early 2025. The researchers can now access data from immediately before and during the seismic crisis and compare it with the current measurements.

2025-12-16 03:42 PM

What calling and singing reveal about bowhead whales

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

Bowhead whales likely reproduce beneath the sea ice northwest of Spitsbergen, while using the open water in the eastern Fram Strait as a migration corridor. This conclusion comes from researchers in the Ocean Acoustics Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute, who recorded the calls of bowhead whales using underwater recorders and analysed the records with artificial intelligence. Their study on bowhead whale habitat use in relation to sea-ice cover has now been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

2025-12-15 04:24 PM

How can the Environmental Health of the Baltic Sea be improved? Interreg Project develops Digital Management system

GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel

How can the Baltic Sea be effectively protected and its ecological status improved? This question lies at the heart of the new German-Danish Interreg project, RECOVER, which is developing a digital twin of the south-western Baltic Sea. Using microalgae as sensitive bioindicators, the projects’ aim is a system that will provide near-real time assessments of the environmental health of the Baltic Sea under increasing anthropogenic pressures and of effective restoration measures. Funded by the Interreg programme, the project runs until 2028 and involves businesses, policymakers, farmers, fishermen, local authorities and the public throughout German-Danish border region.

2025-12-15 02:42 PM

How do corals feed? Energy supply from directly ingested food previously underestimated

Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT)

Corals obtain energy in two ways: firstly, through photosynthesis by their symbiotic algae, and secondly by taking up small food particles such as plankton directly from the water. In scientific terms, this process is known as “heterotrophy.” In a study published in Communications Biology, an international research team including Bremen-based scientist Marleen Stuhr (ZMT) reports that the contribution of heterotrophic food intake to energy production in corals has so far often been significantly underestimated. The underlying reason is rooted in the measurement methods themselves.

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