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Institute for Geology

Photo: Thorben Amann

FINGNUTS

Anthropogenic fingerprints in east China marginal seas: investigation of the hydrodynamics and nutrient dynamics

The project “FINGNUTS” is a subproject of “MEGAPOL- Megacitys fingerprint in Chinese marginal seas: Investigation of pollutant fingerprints and dispersal”. The major aim of this Sino-German project is to carry out a comprehensive survey of the so called megacity´s impact on coastal zones and shelf seas.

Continental shelves account for only 7% of the ocean’s surface and less than 0.5% of the oceans volume but are highly productive regions. They providing up to 14% of total global ocean production along with up to 90% of the new production. Additionally, rising nutrient loads and pollutants of the fast growing anthropogenic transformation of their catchments heavily impact shelf and marginal seas. Their role as traps of anthropogenic material with fast turnover rates of matter or as conduits of material in interaction with the open ocean need to be understood and quantified. In an interdisciplinary approach institutes from China and Germany study the effects of climate variability and anthropogenic stressors on biogeochemical cycling in the highly sensitive ecosystems from the Yellow and Bohai Seas to the South China Sea and in the North Sea.

Within the subproject FINGNUTS based at the Institute for Geology and the Institute of Marine Research of the University of Hamburg we determine nutrient and organic matter sources and their gradients from the river mouths across the shelf and slope into the deep sea. A hydrodynamic model with an ecosystem and pollutant transport model will be used to describe and predict nutrient and pollutant dynamics under different scenarios. Aims are: 

  • to better understand the impact of climate change, land use change and industrial activity on nutrient supply and dynamics;   
  • to study the impact of basin configuration and circulation on nutrient cycling and hydrodynamic structures of the marginal       seas and their interaction with the open ocean;
  • and to estimate the impact of megacities on productivity, element transport and sedimentation in the marginal seas and the     adjacent open ocean. 

Partner Institutes:

  • Yantai Inst. of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Acad. of Sciences, Yantai, China
  • The Second Institute of Oceanography (SIO), SOA, Hangzhou, China
  • National Marine Environmental Monitoring Centre, SOA, Dalian, China
  • Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institut für Küstenforschung (HZG), Germany

Coordination of MEGAPOL: Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde (IOW), Germany

Duration: 2017-2020

Information about this project: Dr. Birgit Gaye, Shichao Tian.