CTM-Elbe (2022 - 2025)

The contamination of the fluvial Elbe sediments with pollutants restricts sediment management in the tidal Elbe and the options for sediment relocation. The prediction of expected pollutant drift will play a greater role in the approval of future relocation measures, particularly for the implementation of the WFD (Water Framework Directive) and MSFD (Marine Strategy Framework Directive) objectives. In view of the increasing importance of pollutant dispersion in sediment management strategies, predictive methods are needed to calculate the drift and accumulation of selected organic and inorganic pollutants. The aim of the BAW within the CTM-Elbe (Contaminant transport modelling in the Elbe) project is to further develop existing numerical methods for the 3D simulation of the transport routes and transport quantities of pollutants, as the process descriptions of suspended matter dynamics and pollutant distribution in the dissolved and particle-bound phase are still very simplified in the model tools currently in use. There is a need for both validation and development, which is why a chemical-material data basis must be created for this.

The aim of this project is to create an informative data basis for modeling the transport behavior and adsorption processes of pollutants relevant to the Elbe under estuarine conditions. The selected pollutants in the relevant target compartments (water, suspended matter, sediment) are to be recorded by laboratory and in-situ measurements using modern chemical-analytical analysis methods in order to investigate the main factors influencing the transport and distribution behaviour of selected pollutants relevant to the Elbe in the tidal Elbe and thus create the data basis for their parameterization in a numerical HN model procedure.


The following questions in particular will be addressed: