Water quality

Recording water quality parameters
Implementing the 'FerryBox' on FINO3

Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH
Operationelle Systeme – In-Situ-Verfahren

The water quality in coastal areas depends on the material transported from the rivers, on mixing processes and biochemical processes. There are gaps in our knowledge as to how the nutrient masses are specifically distributed in the North Sea and how they impact the growth of algae in different areas. The “In-situ-Verfahren” [“In situ Processes”] Department of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Centre for Materials and Coastal Research has therefore specialised in the development and qualification of new measuring systems and sensors on buoys, measuring posts and ships.

Automated analysis techniques are being used, such as those in the EU “Ferrybox” project, in which ships on various European ferry routes have been equipped with measuring devices that analyse the water automatically during the voyage. Alongside classic parameters such as temperature and salt content, the sensors developed can directly determine the water turbidity, the oxygen and nutrient contents, and the algae contained in the water, for example.

The systems are meanwhile routinely used to observe water quality on various ships in the North Sea. In the winter of 2010 another Ferrybox is to go into operation on FINO3. The systems are an important part of the new “COSYNA” observation system (Coastal Observing System for Northern and Arctic Seas). A further emphasis of the work is to use the data measured for the mathematical description of processes.

‘FerryBox' functionality
‘FerryBox' functionality


Ferrybox measured data
The Ferrybox measured data on FINO3 can be viewed on the following website of the Helmholtz-Zentrum-Geesthacht.

To the Ferrybox measured data

View the Ferrybox measured data on the HZG website.