After a welcome by Prof. Ilka Parchmann (Vice-President of Kiel University, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education) and a few introductory remarks by the speaker of the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean" Prof. Martin Visbeck, climatologist Prof. Mojib Latif from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel opened the lecture series with a lecture on "The Climate Change Challenge". This was followed by Prof. Visbeck’s talk "Observing the Ocean - The Role of Ocean Currents on Earth's Climate." Visbeck illustrated how tides, wind and solar power influence the ocean currents, and gave insight into modern ocean research with robots. What was particularly impressive for the 400 listeners at the end of the lecture in the Frederik Paulsen Lecture Hall: A simulation of the radioactivity spreading with the ocean currents in the Pacific after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011.
This was followed by a lecture on the natural hazards of the sea: Prof. Sebastian Krastel from the Institute of Geoscience at Kiel University presented how earthquakes, tsunamis and submarine landslides develop. Because 50 percent of people in the world live within 50 km of the coast, this issue is of great importance. After a short break two more presentations followed: "Sea Sponges and Microorganisms - Pioneers of Evolution" by Prof. Ute Hentschel-Humeida (GEOMAR) and "Death in the North Sea - Why Did Sperm Whales Strand on Our Shores?" by Dr. Kristina Lehnert (Foundation School of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, Büsum) and Dr. Uwe Piatkowski (GEOMAR).
The Ocean Day is a joint effort of the Kiel research workshop and the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean". It was held this year at the same time as the international "World Ocean Day," which draws attention to the serious problems facing the ocean. Due to the positive response to the Ocean Day in Kiel, in future it will again take place on the same date as the "World Ocean Day."
Contact
Dr. Katrin Knickmeier, Kieler Forschungswerkstatt, Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean”, tel.: 0431-880-5914
kknickmeier@uv.uni-kiel.de
Friederike Balzereit, Public Outreach, Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean”, tel.: 0431-880-3032
fbalzereit@uv.uni-kiel.de
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