Reduce ship emissions - but how?

May 20, 2020

Transdisciplinary research project investigates effects of shipping

Schiffe sind im internationalen Handel das wichtigste Transportmedium. Forscherinnen und Forscher der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel sowie des GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrums für Ozeanforschung Kiel untersuchen im Rahmen des transdisziplinären und internationalen Forschungsprojekt ShipTRASE Auswirkungen der globalen Schifffahrt auf den Ozean und die Gesellschaft. Das Projekt nimmt in diesen Tagen seine Arbeit auf.

Ships are the most important means of transport in international trade. Researchers from the Kiel University and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are investigating the effects of global shipping on the ocean and society as part of the transdisciplinary and international research project ShipTRASE. The project is currently starting its work.

(Joint press release of the Kiel University and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel)

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A sensational discovery: Traces of rainforests in West Antarctica

Apr 09, 2020

Climate History: New study led by AWI and in cooperation with Kiel University provides unexpected evidence for exceptionally warm climate near the South Pole during the Cretaceous
An international team of researchers led by geoscientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have now provided a new and unprecedented perspective on the climate history of Antarctica. In a sediment core collected in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, in February 2017, the team discovered pristinely preserved forest soil from the Cretaceous, including a wealth of plant pollen and spores and a dense network of roots. These plant remains confirm that, roughly 90 million years ago, the coast of West Antarctica was home to temperate, swampy rainforests where the annual mean temperature was ca. 12 degrees Celsius – an exceptionally warm climate for a location near the South Pole. The researchers surmise that this warmth was only possible because there was no Antarctic ice sheet and because the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was significantly higher than indicated by climate models to date. The study, which provides the southernmost directly assessable climate and environmental data from the Cretaceous and poses new challenges for climate modellers around the globe, was released today in the journal NATURE.
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