The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), is a national research institute of Germany and member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF) with a core budget of roughly 90 m€ and a third party budget of 18.5 m€ . The focus of the institute is on polar research (glaciology, meteorology, geophysics, oceanography, biology) as well as on biology of the wadden sea. The institute operates several aircraft, ships, stations, has facilities in Bremerhaven, Potsdam and on the islands Helgoland and Sylt.The entire Neumayer Station III is built on a platform above the snow-covered surface. Engineers adjust the station’s 16 hydraulic supports on a regular basis, allowing it to adapt to changes in snow cover and constantly remain ca. six metres above the ice – and to avoid the fate of earlier stations, which were gradually deformed by the shifting snow masses.