Germany Launches Cleanup to Remove Dumped Munitions From WWI and WWII
Germany has embarked on an immediate project to recover tons of munitions that were scattered on the floor of the North and Baltic seas at the end of World Wars I and II. The discarded bombs and shells are becoming a threat to the marine environment due to the release of toxic chemicals.
More than 1.5 million tons of ordnance were intentionally dumped in German waters at the end of WWII, with around 300,000 tons of unexploded ordnance lying in the German Baltic Sea and the rest in the German North Sea.
A study by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel last year found that the ordnance was increasingly becoming a risk to the marine environment owing to corrosion and the release of toxic chemicals. Ammunition-related chemicals were detected in water samples collected from the Baltic Sea, with concentrations in some samples approaching critical toxicological thresholds. (The concentrations in most samples were well below all relevant limits for health and safety, including drinking water limits.)
As corrosion progresses, contamination is expected to increase, raising the risk to the environment. The threat is exacerbated by rising temperatures and increased storm activity due to climate change, which further accelerate the release of chemicals.
Following a push for the dumped ordnance to be classified as “historical contaminants of emerging concern,” the German federal government has launched a project to remove the munitions. As an immediate task, the government has contracted for the construction and operation of a platform that will be used to remove dumped ordnance.
As part of the project, the research vessel Heincke has also been deployed on a two-week expedition to visit several dumping sites in the German Bight to map hidden munitions under the sand and prepare a pilot recovery operation. The research team aboard the 55-meter vessel, which is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), will also investigate how chemicals released by the munitions are affecting marine life by sampling water and sediments around wrecks lying on the seabed, most of which have been mapped and documented.
During the expedition, the team intends to survey the wreck of SMS Mainz, a German World War I light cruiser that sank in the North Sea in August 1914 during the Battle of Heligoland Bight and is among the wrecks that have already been the subject of research. The team will also visit the wreck of the battle cruiser Blücher. For both wrecks, the researchers will analyze their condition, and specifically the threat their munitions pose to the marine environment.
“After over 100 years on the sea floor, there is a heightened risk that the wrecks will collapse. That is why it’s important to monitor their condition. In addition, with increasing corrosion, toxic and carcinogenic explosives are released from the remaining munitions. These pollutants pose a threat to marine life, food safety and human health,” said Matthias Brenner, leader of the REMARCO project.
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As part of a further project dubbed CONMAR, Heincke will subsequently be deployed to seven munitions dumping sites in the German Bight. Previous research has shown that the munitions lie beneath the sand and can be mapped using magnetometry.
Scientists contend that Germany’s munitions clearance operations could serve as a model for the removal of such hazardous waste around the world.
