Coastal Summerschool 2022

General information

River-Sea Systems, covering whole river basins and the coastal waters that they infl¬uence, are of major importance for food and energy production, transport, and societal wellbeing. Complex and dynamic, they are experiencing natural and anthropogenic pressures - at local, regional and global scales - through pollution, hydraulic engineering, water supply, energy, food control and erosion. Improved understanding of their functioning is essential to avoid irreversible degradation and for restoration.

River-Sea Systems in Europe are among the most impacted globally, after centuries of industrialisation, urbanisation and agricultural intensification. European researchers are pre-eminent in addressing these problems but research – including the transitional zone between freshwaters and the marine environment - has been largely discipline-specific, not addressing the system as a whole. There is an urgent need for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

Experienced scientists from Physical Oceanography, Sedimentology, Biogeochemistry, Coastal Ecology, and Marine Geology will share their knowledge and teach the students by providing state-of-the-art information and hands-on training during ten intense days in the town of Lauenburg and on a daily cruise on the Elbe River on the RV “Ludwig Prandtl”.

The summer school will be realized in cooperation of some of the leading national centres for coastal research in Germany: Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Research Warnemünde, and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. They have been organizing a common annual summer school since 2002 in Sylt, Helgoland, Büsum, Lauenburg and Warnemünde.