The southwestern Baltic Sea is under pressure. Among those anthropogenic pressures are climate warming, eutrophication, acidification and litter. Many efforts have recently been undertaken under the different official frameworks and laws including the MSFD (EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive) or HELCOM (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission) to improve the Baltic Seas’ health. However, the Baltic Sea is still far from the “Good Environmental Status” (GES). Many indicators that are officially monitored are even getting worse such as the concentration of oxygen, which has been decreasing strongly threatening ecosystem integrity.
Since 2013, the WG Microbial Biogeochemistry is actively participating in the Boknis Eck time series station. The data that we acquire feed into several projects that aim at understanding the drivers of biogeochemical processes in the Southwestern Baltic Sea with emphasis on microbial interactions. Furthermore, several projects aim at developing new indicators and methods for assessment of the Baltic Sea in order to improve the GES. In several of these projects, we work together with different stakeholders for better implementation of the developed methods. Among these stakeholders are administrative monitoring agencies (e.g. Landesamt für Umwelt Schleswig-Holstein, LfU) but also environmental partners such as the Ostsee Info-Center Eckernförde.
CoastSens (2017 – 2019)
The CoastSens project funded by the WT.SH aimed at extending the Boknis Eck underwater observatory (UWO) with a biogeochemical component. Using fluorescence, we identified two components that are connected to phytoplankton blooms and microbial oxygen decrease. Two sensors were developed together with companies to monitor these components in high frequency. The sensor housing structure was deployed in 2019. Unfortunately, due to the loss of the UWO, a thorough assessment of the sensors could not be executed. The new deployment of the UWO is now planned for November 2024.
CREATE I (2021 – 2024)
The BMBF-funded project CREATE (“Concepts for reducing the impact of anthropogenic pressures and uses on marine ecosystems and biodiversity”) is part of the DAM sustainMare mission (“Protection & Sustainable Use of Marine Areas”). During CREATE I, three so-called “living labs” were established with the aim to develop socially-acceptable solutions for environmental issues in the living lab. We are part of the Eckernförde Bay living lab where one of our main foci is the increased occurrence of so-called oxygen minimum events in the Eckernfördy Bay in recent years. We established a link between warming, stratification and and increase in microbial metabolic activities, which counteract the reductions in nutrient inputs. Solutions for this issue will be investigated in CREATE II.
Faktencheck Artenvielfalt (2021 – 2024)
We contributed to one of the most comprehensive reports of biodiversity in Germany with the knowledge that we gain from the Boknis Eck time-series station. The “Faktencheck Artenvielfalt” is funded by the BMBF-Forschungsinitiative zum Erhalt der Artenvielfalt (FEdA). As contributing lead authors of the chapter „Coasts and Coastal Waters”, we provided input of bacterial and phytoplankton biodiversity in the Baltic Sea. The report was published on October 1st 2024.
INSYST (2023 – 2026)
The project INSYST (INtelligentes SYSTem zum Küstengewässer-Monitoring mithilfe Künstlicher Intelligenz) aims at testing the potential of methods of artificial intelligence (AI) for environmental monitoring and assessment. The project is funded by the KI-Landesinitiative Schleswig-Holstein. We evaluate the necessary prerequisites for building a “Digital Twin” in the future together with our project partner from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. These methods have large potential to increase the effectiveness of applied improvement measures by providing a tool to test these measures digitally. The results of the project will be exhibited in the Ostsee Info-Center Eckernförde and will be available through new communications concepts developed by the Science Communication Lab.
Developing operational biodiversity targets (2023 – 2024)
We participate in the HELMHOLTZ Changing Earth SynCom project “Developing operational biodiversity targets” where we add our knowledge on monitoring and assessment of the Southwestern Baltic Sea.
MOIN4Herbie (2024 – 2026)
The project Helmholtz Metadata project MOIN4Herbie aims at developing a digital metadata lab notebook for environmental sensor data. We participate in the project for the case study UWO Boknis Eck.
CREATE II (2024 – 2027)
Phase II of the sustainMare mission was recently funded with CREATE continuing in the second phase. Based on our investigations in CREATE I, we aim at testing and evaluating nutrient thresholds in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, we will test and assess new camera-based and sensor-based systems for determining phytoplankton biomass and its’ composition. GEOMAR will contribute to the planed eDNA bioarchive.
![[Translate to English:] M&A](/fileadmin/content/forschen/fb2/bi/Monitoring_and_Assessment_BO.jpg)
