News of the institute for coastal research

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are industrial chemicals showing special physical and chemical properties such as water, oil, and soil repellence. Therefore, they are used in various consumer products (e.g., coatings of paper, leather and textiles), in the fluoropolymer production and in fire-fighting foams. On the other hand, they are known to be highly persistent, compose adverse health effects, to bioaccumulate in the (marine) environment and to undergo long-range transport.

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Hans von Storch was awarded the IMSC achievement award at the 11IMSC in Edinburgh, 2010 to recognize his key contributions to statistical downscaling, reconstruction of temperature series, analyses of climatic variability, and detection and attribution of climate change.

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The Stanley Jackson Award for the best published paper contributing to atmospheric and oceanic sciences in South Africa during 2009 has been awarded to E.-G. Brunke, C. Labuschagne, R. Ebinghaus, H. H. Kock, and F. Slemr for the paper "Gaseous elemental mercury depletion events observed at Cape Point during 2007–2008" which was published in "Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics".

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Three sessions related to the topic gelatinous zooplankton were held during the ASLO Aquatic Science Meeting 2009. Selected presentations of this complex theme have now been published in a special issue of the journal Hydrobiologia Vol 645 “Jellyfish Blooms: New Problems and Solutions”. The Department for Marine Bioanalytical Chemistry is represented with three contributions.

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Last week, the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico reached the US coast and is threatening to become one of the biggest oil accidents ever. To respond swiftly in the event of a pollutant accident, precautionary planning by the Coast Guard is essential. For the precautionary planning in respect of the Northern German Wadden Sea, coastal researchers at the GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht developed the Sensitivity Grid North German Sea Coast II, which shows the different sensitivity of coastal areas and river estuaries depending on season.

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