From 24.-31.10.2022 a team of technician, engineers and researchers the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Senckenberg am Meer Marine Research Institute joined a cruise (AL583) to the Western Baltic Sea on RV #ALKOR. In the framework of the projects BASTA, CONMAR and ExPloTect, we successfully continued our multidisciplinary research concerning marine UXO and explosive compounds detection methods. For the first time we achieved that our backseat driver algorithm of Girona500 AUV "Luise" successfully managed to autonomously locate and examine an individual UXO object solely based on in-situ magnetic anomaly detections. Regarding the biochemical research, dozens of van Veen grab samples were collected inside and outside of munition dump sites. CTDs were run at more than 50 stations along the coast at various depths.The analysis will help to answer, inter alia, the following questions: What influence do munition compounds have on the species diversity and abundance of the benthic fauna in the Baltic Sea? Which munition compounds can be detected where and in which concentrations? Do the compounds accumulate in the sediment?
Daniela Henkel, GEOMAR
