Home run for the RV Maria S. Merian:
Research vessel sets off towards the Baltic Sea ice
for the "Deep Baltic" mission

From February 25 to March 23, 2021, a team of physicists and geologists from Warnemünde, Kiel and Szczecin will be underway in the northern Baltic Sea to investigate the dynamics of winterly deep water circulation. Besides recording the current hydrodynamic conditions near and under the sea ice of the Gulf of Bothnia, the program includes sedimentological and geophysical studies to investigate sediment erosion and deposition characteristics induced by deep-water movement. A further aim is to reconstruct the history of deep water circulation in the northern Baltic Sea during Holocene climate variations recorded in older sediments.

Press release at the expedition start, February 17, 2021

MSM99 is history

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With echo sounders we can "look" into the seafloor.

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At the bottom of the ice-free Bothnian Sea we find clear signs of sufficient oxygen.

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In the Bothnian Sea we set up a small one-year permanent measuring station to record the deep water processes in the course of one year.

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Working in shifts, oceanographers monitor temperature, salinity and oxygen values in the water beneath the ice at night.

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How students from Kiel University support the mission.

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Biomarkers may help to reconstruct past sea ice conditions in the Baltic Sea.

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"Social distancing" with icebreakers and seals

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About drilling ice holes and cold-sensitive cables.

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Physical oceanographers get the microstructure probe ready. 

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The climate of the Little Ice Age could theoretically have triggered winter convection with ventilation of the deep water in the Gotland Basin. We look for gaps in the sedimentary sequences in question that could prove this. 

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In the Bornholm Basin the witnesses of the end of the last ice age lie partly very shallow under the seafloor. We take a close look at what layers lie above. 

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In the first Baltic Sea basin east of the Darss Sill, which significantly affects the water exchange between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the distinctive features of the latter become increasingly apparent: salinity stratification and oxygen deficiency at the bottom. Here, the expedition's first measuring and sampling takes place. » more

On the way from Emden to the Baltic Sea, we pass very many wind turbines. The first day at sea is also a time to practise safety precautions.

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18 scientists from Kiel and Warnemünde have finished the corona-related isolation before the start of the expedition and are preparing for MSM99 "Deep Baltic".

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