Winter Insights: Revealing Oceanography, Climate History, and Environmental Pollutant Concentrations in the Northern Baltic Sea

• Applicants: Dr. Marion Kanwischer; Dr. Volker Mohrholz; Dr. Matthias Moros, Ph.D.; Dr. Svenja Papenmeier
• Subject Area: Geology ; Oceanography
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 564897376

The proposed project will utilise hydrographic and geophysical measurements as well as sea-ice, water and sediment sampling, which will be conducted during a corresponding winter cruise to the northern Baltic Sea. The three major research topics are: 1) detailed study of the modern winter-time oceanography in the northern Baltic Sea and beneath the sea-ice, 2) reconstructing past changes in ocean circulation in the central and northern Baltic Sea, and 3) values for environmental pollutants in seawater and sea-ice. The research of Topics 1 and 2 will fill fundamental gaps in our knowledge related to Holocene changes in the water budget (isostatic uplift and climate controlled) as well as winter-time deep water formation, and in water column stratification and its effect on the ecosystem. The result will provide better constraints for identifying and modelling the natural drivers of Baltic Sea anoxia and general functioning of the Baltic Sea´s ecosystem. In addition, a standardized protocol will be developed for a solid evaluation of geophysical sub-bottom profile data using sediment cores, which will enable a basin wide reconstruction of Holocene organic carbon (matter) burial rates. Topic 3 provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the Baltic Sea and the history (archived in the sediment) regarding a number of legacy contaminants and selected emerging contaminants that are a current focus of environmental pollution research and water policy. Their quantities will be analysed mainly in the Baltic Sea water (but also in sub-surface sediment samples), their distribution from land to the open Sea and their potential transport will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2520: Infrastructure area - Research Vessels
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Michael Naumann; Dr. Mischa Reineccius-Schönke