Spontaneous winter expedition
„ElbeXtreme campaign“ tracks the Elbe flood wave down to the North Sea and collects data
The flood wave that has rolled down the Elbe into the North Sea since Christmas has been monitored and sampled by researchers from four Helmholtz Centers in a coordinated effort – a rare opportunity to study its effects on the river and estuary. The data obtained will help to better understand future risks and make predictions. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon is also involved.
Helmholtz researchers have been investigating the condition of the Elbe from its source to its mouth for several years as part of the MOSES (Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems) measurement program. From this year, the new ElbeXtreme project will focus on extreme events as part of the mareXtreme research mission of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM).
Now, before the turn of the year, there was a rare opportunity to carry out the investigations during a flood event. An ad hoc MOSES campaign was launched during the Christmas holidays in 2023, which tracked and sampled the flood wave from the Czech border to its mouth in the North Sea. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) are involved in this campaign.
The question was: How do extreme events such as floods change the composition of the water? The investigations included measurements of conductivity and water temperature using sensor probes. At the same time, water samples were taken and analyzed in the laboratory for biogeochemical parameters such as carbon compounds, greenhouse gases, nutrients, micropollutants, metals and pigments. How these and other components dissolved in river water change with different water levels, is still one of the unsolved key questions in coastal and marine research.
Downstream of the Geesthacht weir, the Hereon researchers took over the flood wave monitoring in the tidal Elbe. Despite the short lead time, their investigations were actively supported by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the Glückstadt-Wischhafen ferry company (FRS), which made the targeted sampling along the tidal river possible in the first place, says Hereon physicist Dr Götz Flöser. (Source: Hereon Press Release)
Read the complete Hereon press release:
