Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment

The Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) is an interdisciplinary Institute at the University of Oldenburg with locations in Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven. It is the only university institute in Lower Saxony that covers broad areas of marine sciences, both in research and in teaching. Currently, 14 working groups of various scientific disciplines - including biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and engineering - belong to the institute. ICBM operates the coastal observatory Spiekeroog and is the home institute of the research vessel Sonne.

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News

Die einzelnen Sektionen eines der untersuchten Sedimentkerne. Da Letztere bis zu 30 Meter lang sein können, werden sie in der Regel zerlegt [Foto: Katharina Pahnke / Universität Oldenburg].
Marine Science

A jigsaw puzzle made of ancient dust

From a South Pacific expedition, a research team led by geoscientist Dr Torben Struve brought back a research object which had travelled far before…

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A colleague of the project participating Laboratoire d'Océanographie in Villefranche-sur-mer (LOV), France, while deploying the RAMSES equipped float [Image: LOV].
Marine Science

First ICBM-Hyperspectral Float Deployed in the Mediterranean

Recently, scientists deployed a so-called BGC float of the ICBM research group Marine Sensorsystems in the Mediterranean, between Nizza and the island…

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Fish, corals and more - Biodiversity in a coral reef [Image: Peter Schupp, ICBM]
Marine Science

Between lab bench and coral reefs

As of late, the ICBM research group Environmental Biochemistry presents itself in a video short portrait. Prof. Dr. Peter Schupp, head of the group,…

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Marine Science

Are tipping points suitable concepts for developing environmental policies?

Environmental policy decisions are often based on so-called tipping points. A research team led by the biodiversity expert Helmut Hillebrand from the…

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Marine Science

Diving buoys with "sharpened sight"

A new pilot study within the scope of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded project DArgo2025 aims at diving buoys with…

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Marine Science

Towards an improved montoring of pollutant releases at sea

In an EU Project headed by ICBM marine chemist Prof. Dr. Oliver Wurl, a German-French team of scientists is going to establish a monitoring network in…

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Marine Science

How plastic litter ends up in the seas

A well-known glass recipient in the wrong place and wooden drifters brought together Dr. Rosanna Schöneich-Argent of the ICBM research group…

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Marine Science

Slime Film

Slimy remnants and excretions of marine organisms form a wafer-thin surface layer almost everywhere on the global oceans. This delicate pellicle is…

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Marine Science

Environmentally more friendly ships and more reliable measurements through „sea cucumber technology“?

Scientists of the ICBM research group Environmental Biochemistry, headed by Prof. Dr. Peter Schupp, investigate marine animals which manage to prevent…

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Marine Science

8 June: UN World Oceans Day

In 1992, the Government of Canada proposed setting a World Ocean day during the so-called Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and…

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Marine Science

A return trip with obstacles

Since 22 February, Prof. Dr. Bettina Meyer was on the move for science in the Southern Polar Sea aboard the Norwegian krill harvesting vessel…

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Marine Science

Covid-19: University supports laboratory medicine

Usually, the ICBM research group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology around Prof. Dr. Thorsten Brinkhoff employs a so-called LightCycler exclusively for…

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Marine Science

Test area for marine and maritime technologies opens near Heligoland

From today onwards it will be open for operation: the test area a few sea miles off the red sand stone rocks of the Test Center for Maritime…

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Marine Science

Sink during Winter – Source in Summer

A team of scientists around ICBM doctoral candidate Janis Ahrens and inorganic geochemist Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Brumsack together with colleagues from…

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Marine Science

Kimberley Peters appointed Professor of Marine Governance

Dr. Kimberley Peters has been appointed to a joint professorship for Marine Governance at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine…

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Events

Brief notes

Floats autonomously survey the oceans
About one half of the volume of the global oceans is considered to be unexplored. Therefore, autonomous diving buoys (so-called floats) are employed all around the world to fix that gap of knowledge. Germany participates in the global efforts with, to date, about 160 of these particulate buoys. At present, the ICBM and further German institutions for marine research work on a new generation of floats. They  are equipped particularly with biogeochemical sensors and will in future increasingly be deployed.

Also see BMBF news (German only)

ICBM Time Series Station

Current Data (24 hours)
(Changed: 2020-08-19)