serve as a basis for recommendations concerning environmental policies. 
Moreover, the investigations also create a data basis for partial modelling of plankton 
development in the immediate near-shore zone. R&D work on methods is expected to lead to 
novel, fast, and more precise measurement techniques for operational use in phytoplankton 
monitoring programmes. 
FTZ-P2 Research project ’’Measuring system for ferries (Blue Box System)” 
With respect to operational routine surveillance and monitoring of the European coastal 
waters, which is performed by fixed monitoring stations (e.g. ’’Mermaid” concept) developed 
some time ago, the national and international activities aimed at the implementation of GOOS 
have also led to plans for the development and operation of an autonomous shipboard 
measuring system for ferries. 
These considerations take account of the fact that the European coastal waters from the Baltic 
to the Mediterranean are plied by ferries operating with different frequencies which, after 
installation of suitable measuring systems, could be used for measuring sea surface di ta of the 
coastal waters along the ferry routes on a routine basis, depending on the ferry schedules, 
without incurring major additional operating costs. 
In the Federal Republic of Germany, studies for the development and implementation of a 
prototype ferry-based measuring system (also called Blue Box System) are being performed by 
three co-operating partners: FTZ and the Institute for Applied Physics of Kiel University and 
GKSS, a major research centre which belongs to the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of 
German Research Centres (HGF). From components which already existed at these 
institutions, an experimental set-up was developed and put into operation on the FTZ 
measuring pontoon in the harbour of Busum. It has been demonstrated successfully that the 
basic requirements to be met by a ferry-based sensor system are covered by available 
technology, but that major R&D efforts will be required with respect to system integration, 
data processing and telemetry in order to achieve a satisfactory automation of the measuring 
system. 
Contribution by GKSS Forschungszentrum, Geesthacht 
- GKSS Research Centre - 
Integrating methods for the surveillance of inland and coastal waters 
Objectives 
It is being investigated how conventional monitoring techniques using vessels can be 
supplemented and optimized by use of permanent monitoring stations, sensor arrays on ferries, 
as well as remote-sensing techniques and models. 
Remote sensing techniques are suitable for achieving synoptic coverage of large areas, 
permanent monitoring stations ensure high-resolution spatial recording of variables, also under 
extreme conditions, and ferry sensors provide dense temporal coverage of some selected 
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