The picture was taken during the 2015 research cruise HE441 in the southern German Bight, North Sea. It features the research vessel Heincke, on a remarkably calm and warm spring day, forming a seemingly steady wake. The roughly 55 metre long FS Heincke, owned by the German federal government and operated by the Alfred Wegener …[Read More]
North Sea
GeoSciences Column: The dirty business of shipping goods by sea
Shipping goods across the oceans is cost-effective and super-efficient; that’s why over 80% of world trade is carried by sea (according to the International Maritime Organisation). But the shipping industry also contributes significant amounts of air pollutants to marine and coastal environments. A new study, published in the EGU’s open access journal Earth System Dynamics, …[Read More]
GeoSciences Column: Catch of the day – what seabirds can tell us about the marine environment
Off the coast of Germany, a male northern gannet (for ease, we’ll call him Pete) soars above the cold waters of the North Sea. He’s on the hunt for a shoal of fish. Some 40km due south east, Pete’s mate and chick await, patiently, for him to return to the nest with a belly full …[Read More]