Coastal Summer School
After two weeks, the Coastal Summer School 2024 on Helgoland came to an end. The focus was also on research in the context of the DAM research mission “sustainMare”
The 21st Coastal Summer School, which brought 17 young researchers from eight countries to the Biological Institute Helgoland, came to an end. This year, the participants delved deep into topics relating to offshore wind farms and got an idea of how they can be integrated into ecosystems in various ways. The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), together with other research institutions, gave participants theoretical and practical insights into their projects, while an industry partner presented their day-to-day operations and environmental monitoring at an offshore wind farm. The Summer School took place from September 2 to 13.
Every year since 2002, the AWI, the Hereon and the IOW have invited young scientists from all over the world to spend two weeks working intensively on various key topics of coastal research. This year, the Coastal Summer School took place at the Biological Institute Helgoland (BAH) of the AWI, on the topic of offshore wind farms. ln group work and lectures, the 17 international participants were able to study the effects of wind farms and to discuss so-called multi-use concepts and ideas on how offshore wind farms could be combined with other projects. For example, the area around the wind turbines could also be used for the aquaculture of mussels and macroalgae.
In addition to around 20 lecturers from the scientific research institutions, a partner from the industry provided insights into day-to-day operations and environmental monitoring at an offshore wind farm. The young researchers also had the opportunity to do some practical work: using wind turbine construction kits, they were able to understand the construction of a single wind turbine and a wind farm. They collected plankton samples and analyzed them under the microscope. The participants were also able to explore the Helgoland site on two short excursions to the rocky intertidal and the Helgoland Dune and study the local fauna and flora. (Source: Hereon Press Release)
Read the complete Hereon Press Release:
