In January 2022, the German team successfully completed its first sampling campaign in the Elbe river.
Sampling sites
Sampling sites at Elbe river basin
13: Elbe estuary (coincides with HOTMIC sampling site)
14: Central Hamburg (urban)
15: Elbstorf: Downstream tidal limit
16: Dömitz upstream tidal limit
17: Tributary: Mulde/Elbe confluence: industrial influence
18: Klöden: rural influence
Campaign procedure
Researchers from the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) sampled seven sites in the Elbe river. The samples in the estuary were taken in Cuxhaven, the samples in the tidal part of the Elbe in Hamburg and Geesthacht (up- and downstream of the barrage and tidal limit). Freshwater samples included the sites of Dömitz, Dessau and Wittenberg. A cooperation with the Federal Water and Shipway administration enabled the researchers to be on vessel and to sample in the middle of the river.
Sampling methodology
Small microplastics were collected with a filter cascade and a submersible pump (10 µm to 1000 µm), microplastics >335 µm with a Manta net and sediments with a Van-Veen grabber from the edge of the river where fine-grained particles accumulate. Moreover, water samples for zooplankton and nanoplastics were taken during fieldwork.
