The 12th Sternfahrt of the ElbeXtreme and MOSES projects took place in 2024 from September 02 to 13, within the area of the German Bight (North Sea). Its objective was to get a more systematic grid of sampling data by spatially integrated onboard sensors. Therefore, the MOSES-laboratory container was installed again. Water samples were taken from the surface with a rosette or via Niskin bottles. The first part of the cruise was conducted by the research vessel (RV) Ludwig Prandtl, starting on the 2nd of September on Heligoland. From there, the crew navigated towards Cuxhaven covering some stations from previous MOSES cruises. For the next days, the ship followed a rectangular track, shifting northward each day, heading towards Heligoland again. Due to strong winds, the sampling stations were reduced to three on the last day. On Heligoland the RV Mya II took over the laboratory container and other sampling equipment for the second part of the cruise. Persistent strong winds delayed the start of the cruise until September 11. Since most of the planned stations were already covered from the RV Ludwig Prandtl, the crew decided to expand the sampling area using a more systematic zig-zag line. With the return of Mya II in the afternoon of the 13th September 2024, the campaign was successfully finished.
The Sternfahrt-10 of the MOSES campaign, from 29th August until the 15th of September 2023, had two objectives. One was to follow the dispersion of pollutants transported by the Elbe water into the North Sea, previously observed during the Elbe-Freshwater and Elbe-Tidal cruises. And second the distribution of the Elbe water within the German Bight. Therefore, drifter groups were deployed to follow individual water parcels. Those drifters were followed subsequently by three ships (RV Ludwig Prandtl, RV Littorina, RV Mya II), to extend the time period of measurements. Along the tracks, water samples were taken close to the drifters, alternatively at stations from previous cruises, resulting in 12 to 24 sampling points per week. In terms to detect the concentration of a variety of nutrients and carbon compounds from the south-eastern North Sea up to the island Amrum. Additionally, basic hydrographic parameters and greenhouse gases were sampled continuously throughout the whole cruise. Those results are not part of the present dataset, but can be found here, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.971874. To ensure the comparability of the measured parameters a transportable container laboratory was passed from ship to ship always equipped with the same sensor systems. Just for specific water samples some special equipment was added. A map of the different tracks as well as information about the used sensors and data treatment, you can find in the additional material. For more detailed information about the MOSES Project and the cruise Sternfahrt-10, see the article cited in references.
The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2020 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile "Metadata_description_heluwobs_data_2020.pdf"
This dataset contains annual oceanographic observations collected at the Helgoland underwater observatory (54°11.594′ N, 07°52.762′ E; WGS84) from 2013 onwards. Measurements include water temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll-a concentration, and turbidity. The observatory is located at a water depth of approximately 10 m (± tidal variation) and is equipped with one or more sensors for each measured parameter. Observations are recorded at an hourly temporal resolution. All data have undergone quality control using the four-step plausibility and quality assurance procedure described by Waldmann et al. (2022). The cabled observatory infrastructure and sensor configuration are described in detail on the AWI COSYNA underwater observatory webpage. For comprehensive information on instrumentation, sensor deployment, calibration procedures, and data processing, please refer to the annual metadata documents entitled metadata_heluwobs_yyyy_hydrography.pdf associated with each yearly dataset.
The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2024 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile metadata_heluwobs_2024_hydrography.pdf.
The southern North Sea (German Bight) is influenced by the inflowing water in the Tide-Elbe area and how it is further modified. For a better understanding of the different branches of relevant events it is necessary to investigate which are the main impacting factors for the terrestrial and coastal water quality. Therefore, during different cruises between 2019 and 2022 a group of parameters was continuously traced from the Elbe River basin (Czech/German border) to Tide-Elbe and Elbe estuary (Hamburg, Germany) until the German Bight. This dataset is about the cruise "Sternfahrt 5" from August 31 to September 03 in 2020, with the objective to detect the spatial extension of the riverine influence of Elbe and Weser. Therefore, three research vessels have been involved to cover a broad area of the German Bight between Hamburg, Heligoland and Sylt. All three research vessels (Littorina, Ludwig Prandtl and Mya II) started together on the first day from Cuxhaven to Heligoland. The first day and whenever two or three of the ships met, one measuring was made together as inter-calibration station (for more details, see file description), in total four. From the second day the ship Littorina travelled between Heligoland and Büsum, one track each day. The Ludwig Prandtl headed the second day towards Wyk auf Föhr. Afterwards the crew navigated further north towards Sylt and turning back to Wyk on the same day. The last day they went back from there to Cuxhaven meeting with the vessel Littorina for a last inter-calibration station. The vessel Mya II instead was navigating on the second and third day first to Bremerhaven and on a more western track back to Heligoland. To also cover the northern part of the research area, on the last day the crew travelled to Sylt, the home harbour of the vessel. Therefore, it was not participating on the last inter-calibration station off Cuxhaven. All ships took measurements of basic hydrographic parameters (salinity, temperature, oxygen saturation, pH) and atmospheric and dissolved greenhouse gases (methane and carbon dioxide). The parameters were measured continuously on the way by specific sensors submerged in a water reservoir on deck which was supplied with surface water (about 1m depth) from the underway water supply of the vessel. Methane and carbon dioxide were measured in the surface water and in the atmosphere with the sensors "LosGatos" and "Picarro". Ferrybox systems measured physical and chemical oceanographic parameters including salinity, temperature, pH. At specific stations along the tracks additionally vertical profiles were taken as well as water samples from the surface. The respective data can be found in: Bussmann, Ingeborg, Flöser, Götz, Geißler, Felix (2021): Carbon compounds, nutrients and pigments from water samples from MOSES project's cruise Sternfahrt 5. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.934894. Further profile data can be found in the AWI O2A-Database as download. Additional information about the whole campaign and different cruises can be found in the article(s) cited.
The dataset is about temporal variability of dissolved methane along the freshwater-sea continuum in northern Germany. Sensors were installed at fixed stations at in total three sites at different water depths. This dataset is from the station in Heligoland (54.1833 N, 7.8667 E) at about 9-12m depth (depending on the tide). The data was obtained between 27 April and 28 October in high frequency measurements (1 min) with a methane sensor from Kongsberg (4H Jena model CONTROS HydroC CH4,). Methane concentrations were calculated according to manufacturer's instructions, based on temperature and salinity values from UW-node Heligoland (Fischer, Philipp; Happel, Lea; Brand, Markus; Eickelmann, Laura; Lienkämper, Miriam; Bussmann, Ingeborg; Anselm, Norbert; Brix, Holger (2022): Hydrographical time series data of Helgoland, Southern North Sea, 2021. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.950173). A gap in the salinity data was replaced with the median value of the observed time span (31.66). For the quality control of the data a local range of 0.1 – 1000 nmol/L was set, a technical range for the pump power 2 – 8. Watt, a spike and gradient value of 1. For a more detailed description see the article cited in References.
The dataset is about temporal variability of dissolved methane along the freshwater-sea continuum in northern Germany. Sensors were installed at fixed stations at in total three sites at different water depths. This dataset is from the station in Cuxhaven (53.8771 N, 8.7048 E) taken at about 2-7m depth (depending on the tide). The data was obtained between 11 April and 28 August 2021 in high frequency measurements (1 min) with a methane sensor from Kongsberg (4H Jena model CONTROS HydroC CH4). Methane concentrations were calculated according to manufacturer's instructions, based on temperature and salinity values from COSYNA Container Cuxhaven. For the quality control of the data a local range of 0.1 – 1000 nmol/L was set, a technical range for the pump power 2 – 8 Watt, a spike and gradient value of 1. Due to heavy biofouling the external pump of the sensor failed, resulting in data gaps. For a more detailed description see the article cited in References.
The dataset contains temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, chlorophyll a and turbidity data from the Helgoland MarGate underwater observatory from the year 2019 in a temporal resolution of 1 hour. The cabled observatory is located in 10m water depth and comprises single or multiple sensors for a specific parameter (see https://www.awi.de/en/science/biosciences/shelf-sea-system-ecology/main-research-focus/cosyna/underwater-node-helgoland.html). For a detailed description of the data see associated metadatafile "metadata_heluwobs_2019_hydrography.pdf"
Previous Sternfahrten were mainly conducted in spring and summer. To cover the seasonal aspects more thoroughly, including a winter situation, Sternfahrt 13 was conducted in February 2025 (10–12 February). We used the RV Heincke (cruise HE653/2) instead of the RV Uthörn. The Heincke's draught is greater, so we could not reach all of our previous stations. Surface and bottom water samples were taken with a rosette; in the event of stratification in the water column, an additional sample was taken from the middle.
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