BAW-Measurement Programmes on the River Ems

The Ems estuary, located between the North Sea and the tidal limit, is a problematic area. Predominantly anthropogenic influences have led to an increased import of sediment into the estuary in recent decades. This has led to the formation of fluid mud layers up to several metres thick in the Lower Ems. The current condition of the Ems is critical both from the point of view of the economic maintenance of its navigation channel and from an ecological point of view. Therefore, the federal government, the state of Lower Saxony, several districts, enterprises and environmental associations have contractually agreed under the title ‘Masterplan Ems 2050’ to implement measures for a ‘navigable and living river’ by 2050. Since parts of the Ems and the adjoining Dollart Bay are on Dutch state territory, there is a comparable initiative here.

BAW experts are involved in various cooperative projects, some of them also in a leading role, to develop a long-term strategy to resolve the fluid mud problem. To this extend comprehensive measurement programmes have been carried out in recent years. For example, research into the mechanisms causing the immensely high upstream transport of sediment and the exchange processes with the Dollart, is on the agenda of the joint international research project EdoM’18. A total of 16 universities, institutes and authorities from the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, the USA and Germany have participated in two measurement campaigns in the Ems-Dollart area, which are unique in their scope. Besides the BAW, the participants included: Rijkswaterstaat, Deltares (NL), WSA Ems-Nordsee, NLWKN (D), as well as the universities of Oldenburg (D), Wageningen, Delft (NL), Plymouth (UK) and Maine (USA).

For many years, the BAW has been working in a collaboration with the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel (CAU) on research into the physical properties and transport behaviour of fluid mud, e.g. in the currently running project ‘MudMeas’. The results are of great importance for e.g. the development of numerical simulation models since general laws applying to water and soil fail when it comes to assessing the behaviour of fluid mud.