The pollution of the oceans with plastic has increasingly become the focus of public and scientific attention in recent years. In particular, rivers play a special role as entry pathways for plastic waste into the oceans. Within the framework of the research project, the drift of plastic waste in the three large German rivers Ems/Weser/Elbe and their estuaries will be investigated in more detail.

First, a hydrodynamic model of individual rivers will be created and validated. In a second step, the drift of plastic waste within these rivers will be modelled. Here, the focus will be on the interaction with different types of river banks and the question of what proportion of the litter will eventually reach the North Sea.

In the context of this work, knowledge in the theory and use of ocean models as well as Lagrangian particle tracking will be gained. Previous knowledge of Matlab and the principles of ocean models would be helpful to complete the tasks, but is not a prerequisite.

The pollution of the oceans with plastic has increasingly become the focus of public and scientific attention in recent years. Shipping routes are under discussion as possible entry points for plastic waste into the oceans. Within the framework of the research project, the drift of plastic waste from shipping routes in the German Bight will be investigated in more detail. In particular, potential landfall sites will be considered.

First, a hydrodynamic model for the German Bight will be created and validated. In a second step, the drift of plastic waste within the German Bight will be modelled.

In the course of this work, knowledge in the theory and use of ocean models as well as Lagrangian particle tracking will be gained. Previous knowledge of Matlab and the principles of ocean models would be helpful to complete the tasks; however, this is not a prerequisite.

The exact calculation of water levels and currents for concrete points in time in the German Bight is important for various reasons. One method that can be used to bring numerical predictions closer to reality is the method of data assimilation. This method is used in ocean models as well as in weather forecast models.

In this work, this method will be tested using the unstructured ocean model FVCOM for the German Bight. It will be investigated whether the model results can be improved with the help of this method.

In the course of this work, knowledge in the theory of data assimilation as well as in the use of the model FVCOM will be acquired. Previous knowledge of Matlab and the principles of ocean models would be helpful to complete the tasks; however, it is not a prerequisite.

There are countless municipal and industrial direct dischargers of various pollutants along the North Sea coast and estuaries of Lower Saxony. Approval authorities are now faced with the task of assessing the impact of existing and planned discharges on the ecosystem and, if necessary, imposing restrictions or conditions.

Within the framework of this work, a management tool is to be developed with the help of the unstructured ocean model FVCOM, which will enable approval authorities to obtain a first well-founded assessment of the pollutant distributions in the German Bight.

Knowledge of Matlab and the principles of ocean models would be helpful to complete the tasks, but is not a prerequisite.