After WWI and WWII, large amounts of conventional and chemical weapons were dumped in European seas to eliminate the overwhelming quantities of war remnants. Today, European waters are strongly contaminated with underwater munition (UM), including hundreds of thousands of de-fused shells, mines, and aerial bombs. Furthermore, unexploded ordnance (UXO), sunken underwater mine barriers, and wrecks of military vessels carrying munitions contribute to the problem as well. It is estimated that the German portions of the North Sea and Baltic Sea alone contain approx. 1.6 Mio. tons of UM, which can be often found in relatively shallow waters, in areas of active fishing, or near major shipping routes. Today, all dumping sites represent a serious threat to marine environments, human activities, and seafood provision. Explosion risks, in particular, apply to increasing ship traffic and water sports in general as well as to intensified dredging and offshore work. Moreover, munition shells corrode over time, allowing the release of munition compounds (MC) as well as the slow alteration of explosive materials upon seawater exposure, making them more sensitive to detonation. Released chemicals associated with conventional explosives and chemical warfare agents have cytotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic properties and can enter into the marine food chain up to human consumption. Therefore, safe, reliable, and cost-effective localization and clearance of UM in coastal waters are ecologically, economically, and socio-politically important. Commonly applied techniques for the localization of dumping sites include geophysical techniques, discrete sample collection with subsequent lab analysis, and chemical sensing technologies. However, despite the clear need for fast and reliable as well as in situ chemical detection technologies, successful methods for broad application remain unrealized.

This project draws together European companies and research organizations that develop analytical techniques and instruments for environmental contaminant measurements, design and build hardware for underwater operations in marine systems, assess the presence of historic munitions in marine waters and sediments, and conduct underwater munition clearance operations

• GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (GEO, Germany)
• Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW, Germany)
• University of Rostock (UR, Germany)
• Institute of Oceanology Department of Marine Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOPAN, Poland)
• Photonion
• Innolas (IN, Germany)
• Dredging
• Environmental & Marine Engineering (DEME, Belgium),
• Centrum Techniki Morskiej (CTM, Poland).

Funded by the European Comission (MarTera, ERA-NET-Cofund).