Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research

The Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research is a scientific organization located in Bremerhaven, Germany. The institute was founded in 1980 and is named after revolutionary meteorologist climatologist, and geologist Alfred Wegener. The Alfred Wegener Institute is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

Structure of the institute

The institute has four major departments:

• Climate System Department, which studies oceans, ice and atmosphere as physical and chemical systems.
• Pelagic Ecosystems Department, which studies the ecology of plankton with regard to sea ice and sea shelf systems.
• Benthic Ecosystems Department, which studies the biology of ocean floors at a variety of depths.
• Geosystems Department, which studies climate development, especially as revealed by sediments.

Research facilities

Besides its main site in Bremerhaven, the institute has research stations in Potsdam, Helgoland, Sylt, the Arctic and Antarctic, and a research vessel, the PFS Polarstern.

Polar 3

On 24 February 1985, the Polar 3, a research airplane of the institute of the type Dornier 228, was shot down by guerrillas of the Polisario Front over West Sahara. All three crew members died. Polar 3, together with unharmed Polar 2, was on its way back from Antarctica and had taken off in Dakar, Senegal, to reach Arrecife, Canary Islands.^[1]

External links

• Official website

References