ALKOR AL642

During the 14-day expedition, researchers will investigate the ecological consequences of old munitions stocks, how new technologies perform in practice, and what effects the first trial clearances have on the environment in three areas of operation: the Polish and Bornholm basins, the Bay of Lübeck, and the Kleiner Belt.
Autonomous and remote-controlled underwater robots will be used to acoustically map the seabed, provide high-resolution images and videos, and take water samples. On board, the samples can be examined for explosive residues such as TNT or RDX using a specially developed mobile analysis device. One focus of the expedition is the further development of the underwater vehicles. In the future, these will be able to independently recognize and classify objects and adapt their mapping strategies in real time.

The expeditions support several major research projects, including CONMAR-C, MuniRisk, and MMinE-SwEEPER. Partner institutes from Germany and Poland are participating. The results will be incorporated into national and European strategies for dealing with contaminated ammunition sites.