AWI - The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

As a Helmholtz Centre for polar and marine research, the Alfred Wegener Institute investigates the rapidly changing Arctic and its central role in the Earth system. Nowhere else is climate change advancing faster—or with greater global consequences.

By integrating observations, paleoclimate reconstructions, and state-of-the-art Earth system models, we explore Arctic climate dynamics across past, present, and future. Our research reveals how natural variability and human forcing interact, how feedbacks amplify Arctic warming, and how changes in ice, ocean, and atmosphere drive climate extremes, marine heatwaves, ecosystem responses, and the stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet—shaping ocean–atmosphere circulation far beyond the polar regions and advancing climate predictability across timescales.