Automated measuring stations in the German Wadden Sea

Since 1996, GKSS Research Centre operates automated measuring stations in German coastal areas. These stations are equipped with meteorological (wind speed and direction, relative humidity, air temperature and pressure, solar radiation, precipitation) and hydrographical sensors (water velocity, pressure and temperature, turbidity, conductivity, pH, O₂ saturation, fluorescence). From the data, information can be extracted as to water and salt exchange between the German Wadden Sea and the North Sea. Turbidity measurements allow drawing conclusions as to the suspended matter dynamics, and the recently installed oxygen and fluorescence sensors yield information concerning primary production.