Ammunition remnants and chemical warfare agents dumped in the oceans, especially after the two world wars, are increasingly becoming a danger to humans and the environment. In addition to the risk of explosion, for example during offshore work, there is still the problem that the advancing corrosion of the metal casings is increasingly causing toxic substances to enter the sea, where they endanger the health of animals and ultimately humans.
It is therefore becoming increasingly important to recover munitions residues from the seas. However, since not all dumping areas are known, techniques are needed to locate them. The AMMOTRACe project is focused on developing such a technique. In contrast to geophysical methods, the detection will be based on the chemical detection of ammunition compounds and chemical warfare agents using mass spectrometry. The basic tasks include the evaluation of ionization schemes and measurement parameters for the detection, of the substances used in the past, in aqueous systems.