Complex Movement of Plates decoded

16.09.2019/Wellington/Kiel. One of the most active plate boundaries on Earth lies North of New Zealand. As part of the Pacific Ring of Fire one seafloor volcano joins another. A New Zealand-German research team has now decoded the genesis of this geologically still very young and extremely complex r...

In the Miocene the land bridge near modern Panama was not yet closed. Relatively fresh water from the Pacific reached the Caribbean. This has been shown, for example, by studies in the Central Caribbean (ODP1000). Sediment samples taken from ODP1006 now show, however, that between 11.5 and 9.5 million years before today this relatively low-salt water did not leave the Caribbean and thus could not influence the North Atlantic circulation. Graphic: Anne Osborne/GEOMAR

Strong Gulfstream System in the Miocene does not contradict Models

06 September 2019 / Kiel. Differences in salinity of water masses drive the global ocean circulation. Model simulations show that the circulation can be weakened by high freshwater input in key regions. Until now, a strong Gulf Stream system in the Miocene about ten million years ago seemed to contr...

Prof. Dr. Lisa Beal during the "Marie Tharp Lecture". Photo: Nikolas Linke/GEOMAR

Western border currents in climate change

03.09.2019/Kiel.Western boundary currents, such as the Gulf Stream, transport large quantities of heat to higher latitudes and, thus, strongly influence climate and weather events. Will these current systems tend to weaken or intensify under the influence of global climate change? What do climate mo...

The racing yacht Mailzia was built to compete in the Vendée Globe, a one-handed endurance race around the world. Since 2018, it has been equipped with sensors that collect important oceanographic data at sea. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr, www.andreaslindlahr.com

Ocean Observations for Climate Science with the SY Malizia

28 August 2019 / Kiel, Hamburg. After about three thousand nautical miles across the Atlantic, racing yacht Malizia with skipper Boris Herrmann reaches New York this week. This ocean crossing attracted a lot of attention because of a special passenger: The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and her fat...