European waters are strongly contaminated with underwater munition (UM). The majority of UM originates from dumping activities during and after WWI and WWII to eliminate large quantities of war remnants, including conventional and chemical weapons. The UM includes 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.
AMMORACe draws together European companies and research organisations 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. AMMOTRACe aims to develop new shipboard and in situ measurement approaches to detect in real time conventional and chemical warfare munition compounds (MCs) in coastal systems, and demonstrate the chemical techniques alongside traditional geophysical measurements at munition dumping sites and regions with presence of munitions. The project will develop new laser photoionisation mass spectrometry (PIMS) and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) based approaches, by combining the latest laser, ion detector, platform and communication technologies to be used for marine munition detection and clearance.
AMMOTRACe is a transdisciplinary project, involving science, engineering and companies across a range of disciplines to develop new solutions beyond disciplinary perspectives. The project has been co-designed with companies marketing environmental monitoring instrumentation and conducting marine EOD operations, and AMMOTRACe aims to co-produce its technologies and thereby facilitate a smooth technology transfer to companies and society.
Coordinator
Prof Eric Achterberg, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
Consortium
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Research institute, Germany
DEME nv. Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering, Large scale enterprise, Belgium
CTM Centrum Techniki Morskiej S.A., SME, Poland
IOPAN Institute of Oceanology, Research institute, Poland
University of Rostock, University, Germany
Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Research institute, Germany
Photonion Airsense, SME, Germany
Innolas Laser GmbH, SME, Germany