Sea, sea level, ocean

Under the ocean floor, there are huge deposits of methane hydrate. The compound is unstable and can release the climate killer methane under certain conditions – such as higher water temperatures. Using a new type of “thermometer”, researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and University of...

Though it constitutes a major portion of the oceans, the deep sea remains largely unexplored. At a depth of more than 3,000 meters, Dr. Anne-Nina Lörz and her team discovered a new species on the ocean floor near Iceland.

The tiny amphipod, measuring ca. 4 cm long, is officially called...

The eruption of the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga in 2022 was the most explosive eruption of the past decades. Dr. Ákos Horváth used geostationary satellite imagery with a time resolution of  1 minute to characterize the generated atmospheric waves more accurately than previous studies. The...

Jellyfish are notoriously difficult to study because they are extremely fragile and therefore difficult to catch intact with nets. As a result, the contribution of jellyfish to the oceanic food web remains largely unexplored. An international expedition with experts from different fields of...

A new study shows that cyanobacteria can be transported from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. This was demonstrated by a team led by Dr Bettina Martin from the CEN at the University of Hamburg for the Benguela upwelling area in the South Atlantic and published in the journal Scientific...

In the future, what can we do with CO2 to ensure it doesn’t reach the atmosphere? One option is subterranean sequestration: CO2 is captured during industrial production, liquefied, transported to a suitable site and stored underground, preventing it from worsening global warming. In Europe...

Like a very, very low note: Seismologists have been puzzling over vibrations originating beneath the sea in the Gulf of Guinea since the 1960s. The signal can even be picked up all over the world. Dr. Charlotte Bruland and Prof. Céline Hadziioannou have embarked on a study in search of clues...

Though never seen so far north before, tuna and mackerel can now be found in the waters off Greenland. Climate change is affecting living conditions in the ocean, driving many species to migrate to new habitats. The fishing sector and political decision-makers have to respond – partly in order...

Europe’s fishing sector relies on many biological assumptions underlying current fish stock assessment methods. The PANDORA project has created a new online tool that contains assessments and projections of 30 fish species found in Europe’s waters, integrating the latest biological knowledge...

They reduce the Earth’s greenhouse effect and perform enormously valuable services for the climate: the oceans. In addition, they absorb a massive percentage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. In addition to chemical uptake, there is a biologically driven process. It begins with the...

Ex­ped­i­tion M180 SON­ETT (Syn­op­tic Obser­va­tions - a Nes­ted ap­proach to study Energy Trans­fer & Tur­bu­lence in the ocean) is a key part of the ocean ob­ser­va­tions in the second phase of TRR181 'En­ergy trans­fers in At­mo­sphere and Ocean'. The ex­ped­i­tion will take sci­ent­ists to...

Santorini is a picturesque archipelago in the southern Aegean. The islands encircle a massive volcanic caldera, which the ocean has long-since covered over. Some speculate that Santorini is all that’s left of Atlantis – the fabled, highly advanced island empire that suddenly vanished. The fact...

Film meets marine research: cinematic insight into life on board

Fifteen scientists from the University of Hamburg and CEN were on board in September and October 2020 when the research vessel METEOR set off on expedition "M166" in the North Atlantic to investigate the connections between the...

Cod stocks in the Western Baltic have collapsed. A new study led by Christian Möllmann from Universität Hamburg’s CEN has shown that the “tipping point” for this population has already been exceeded. When such a tipping point is reached, it is highly unlikely that stocks will recover rapidly...

Until now, fisheries have set catch levels a year in advance. Long-term influences such as changes in water temperatures are not taken into account. In an international project, researchers from the Center of Earth System Science and Sustainability (CEN) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon have now...

Cod and herring are not faring well. Recently, the European Union once again adjusted the fishing quotas for Germany’s Baltic coast. As a result, many fishers have been forced to temporarily quit fishing or to sell their boats. Christian Möllmann is a fishery expert at Universität Hamburg’s...

Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass are common along many coasts around the globe. They form unique ecosystems, which absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and oceans, and store it in their leaves, stems, branches and roots, as well as in the sediments below. However...

In Hamburg’s port, you can sometimes see fish gasping for air just below the water’s surface. This is a sign that there isn’t much oxygen in the water. This becomes life-threatening for them when the level falls below three milligrams of oxygen per liter. In summer 2014, the level was below...

The Atlantic is generally considered to be Europe’s “weather kitchen” – bringing heat from the tropics to our coasts, it plays a critical role in predicting the weather. Nevertheless, it usually takes a backseat when it comes to forecasting: though atmospheric processes are closely monitored...

One major consequence of global warming is the rising sea level. A study conducted at Universität Hamburg’s Cluster of Excellence for climate research CLICCS now shows: if we assume that sea-level rise is the most critical effect of climate change, then it is not only more sensible, but also...

The garfish has a long, pointed nose and grass-green bones. It is a predatory fish in the Baltic Sea, where it has almost no natural predators itself. If the size of its population changes, it affects other fish and organisms in the food web, e.g. the herring. The ties between predator and prey...

A team of researchers has mapped out how much waves are likely to change around the globe under climate change and found that if we can limit warming to 2 degrees, signals of wave climate change are likely to stay within the range of natural climate variability. The study was just published in...

What shape are our oceans in? Which protective measures are sensible? A new computer model promises to help find the best assessment criteria.

According to the targets set by the European Union, by 2020 our oceans are meant to be clean, healthy and productive; a laudable goal. In order to...

The research project “SeaLevel” recently received approval for a second phase of funding, amounting to six million euros, which it will use to improve the accuracy of regional forecasting for future sea-level changes and their consequences for local populaces. The decision was recently...

Although more than 16 percent of all national waters are now protected, many ecoregions and countries are not included. The current reserve system is just as expensive as it is inefficient, as Dr. Kerstin Jantke and her team show in a study recently released by Universität Hamburg’s Center for...

We have a powerful ally against climate change: the oceans. The world’s oceans take up a third of the greenhouse gases that humans pump into the atmosphere as a result of industry and traffic, curbing their effect and buffering climate change. But they are paying the price – the oceans are...