Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research reposted this
Sampling at the Wreck of the Tirpitz – Investigating the Environmental Legacy of War As part of the REMARCO project’s fieldwork in Northern Norway, our team carried out a targeted sampling campaign at the wreck of the battleship Tirpitz near Tromsø in late May 2025. The Tirpitz, sunk by British bombers in 1944, salvaged thereafter by Norwegians, remains on the seafloor as both a historical artifact and a potential environmental risk. Working with SeaTerra and VLIZ, we sampled water, sediment, and benthic fauna in close proximity to the wreck – using crawler systems and technical diving to access critical zones. The goal: 🔬 Assessing the chemical and ecological footprint of corroding wartime wrecks and munitions – a largely overlooked but growing issue in marine pollution. Local communities showed strong interest, and the campaign was accompanied by both German (Reschke Fernsehen) and Norwegian film crews, with coverage expected later this summer. By revisiting the wrecks of history with scientific tools, REMARCO helps inform future decisions on monitoring, risk assessment, and environmental protection in post-conflict marine zones. #REMARCO #MarinePollution #WWIIwrecks #Tirpitz #SubmergedMunitions #SamplingCampaign #OceanHealth #ScienceInAction #LegacyOfWar #EnvironmentalScience #SeaTerra #VLIZ #BlueResearch #Munitionsinthesea Interreg North Sea Programme SeaTerra Technologies GmbH Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung © Sven van Haelst, VLIZ 2025. All rights reserved. © Romina Schuster, AWI 2025. All rights reserved.