idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
10 July 2025/Kiel. Since 2016, scientists at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have been researching legacy munitions in the sea – from mapping and analyzing chemical contamination to developing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). With the launch of the CAMMera project, the next phase begins: the preparation and scientific testing of large-scale clearance. The three-year project is led by Prof Dr Jens Greinert, marine geologist at GEOMAR, and is funded by the European Union with 5.6 million euros.
More than 1.6 million tonnes of old munitions are stored at the bottom of the North and Baltic Seas. The CAMMera project (Clearance Activities for Marine Munition through Efficient Remediation Approaches) aims to develop the necessary advanced technologies and guidelines to finally remove the old munitions from European seas. Previous GEOMAR projects such as BASTA, ExPloTect and CONMAR have laid the foundation for this. They focussed on the identification of environmental hazards, the development of chemical analysis devices or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The final and decisive phase has so far remained open: the final clearance and disposal of difficult-to-handle ammunition objects on an industrial scale. This is where the CAMMera project comes in. The GEOMAR-coordinated project brings together industry partners from several European countries.
"No one really knows how much ammunition lies on the seafloor. But we have a responsibility to remove it - safely, efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way. After years of preparatory work, the CAMMera project now focuses on practical implementation. The aim is to further develop methods and technologies in order to recover old munitions on an industrial scale and thus set an international example," says Professor Dr Jens Greinert, head of the project, marine geologist and expert on old munitions at GEOMAR.
Strategies for Safe and Environmentally Friendly Disposal
In previous projects, experts have already identified strategies for dealing with old munitions. These technologies will now be further developed. Autonomous and unmanned underwater vehicles are helping to recover objects directly from the sea floor. The project partners are also working on methods for the environmentally friendly disposal of open explosives and broken shells, automatic monitoring of clearance sites and disposal on an industrial scale. The results will be used to develop and provide examples of best practice.
A total of seven project objectives were defined:
1. Develop gripping robots: The aim is to develop and test an unmanned vehicle that can efficiently clear munitions piles both from the water surface and directly underwater.
2. Salvage of large or damaged munitions: The project aims to develop environmentally friendly methods for retrieving heavily corroded munitions with exposed explosives.
3. Security and protection concept: Since ammunition dumps are often located in coastal, heavily trafficked areas frequented by tourists and may even be potential targets for hostile action, the focus is on developing a comprehensive protection concept. It should help to identify risks at an early stage and enable safe, transparent clearance process.
4. Automation of pre-sorting: The project is working on the design of an automated dismantling system that can sort and cut up small and medium-calibre ammunition directly at sea for thermal destruction. This addresses a key bottleneck in automation – in particular the opening of boxes, the pre-sorting of small-calibre ammunition and the dismantling of medium-sized ammunition.
5. Aftercare and monitoring: The goal is to systematically check cleared areas to ensure that no munitions remain in the sediment or that the targeted level of clearance has been achieved. In addition, environmental monitoring will be set up to protect water and sediments from contaminants.
6. Knowledge consolidation: The experts analyse national and international projects on munitions clearance and consolidate the findings in a comprehensive guideline.
7. Economic feasibility: The project is developing viable business models and economic analyses to shape munitions clearance in European seas in the long term.
Background: Hazard on the sea floor
After the end of the Second World War, munitions were dumped in the sea – and most of them are still there. Old munitions on the seafloor can be potentially harmful to the ocean. Explosive chemicals such as TNT or toxic substances such as mercury and lead accumulate in fish and mussels, for example. They have a carcinogenic effect and can alter genetic material. As corrosion progresses, these substances are released more quickly. Rising temperatures and storms, which are partly caused by climate change, accelerate the decay of ammunition. Individual unexploded ordnance has already been removed, for example when wind turbines or data cables are built in the sea. The CAMMera project focuses on preparing for the large-scale clearance of entire munitions dumps. Thousands of ammunition crates, sea mines and other objects are stored in large quantities and in confined spaces.
Background: Projects on munitions in the sea at GEOMAR
Researchers at GEOMAR have already carried out several successful projects on munitions in the sea in recent years. The knowledge gained is now being incorporated into the CAMMera project.
From 2019 to 2022, the ExPloTect (Ex-situ, near-real-time exPlosive compound deTection in seawater) project developed technologies to detect chemicals originating from dumped munitions.
In parallel, the BASTA project (Boost Applied munition detection through Smart data inTegration and AI workflows) developed strategies for collecting and analysing data on old munitions in the sea.
As part of the CONMAR project (CONcepts for conventional MArine Munition Remediation in the German North and Baltic Sea), the participants are pooling their knowledge about risks, strategies and approaches for dealing with old munitions. The project entered its second phase in 2024 and is scheduled to run until 2027. CONMAR is one of several joint projects of the DAM research mission sustainMare.
Funding:
The CAMMera project is scheduled to run for three years and is funded by the European Union within the Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions programme (PPPA) with 5.6 million euros.
http://www.geomar.de/n9948 Image material
https://www.geomar.de/en/discover/munitions-in-the-sea Munitions in the Sea
https://www.geomar.de/en/research/ongoing-projects/project-details/prj/377439 Project ExPloTect
https://www.geomar.de/forschen/aktuelle-projekte/detailansicht/prj/357340 Project BASTA
https://conmar-munition.eu/de/ Project CONMAR
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Environment / ecology, Oceanology / climate
transregional, national
Research projects
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
