Of the activities of DWD (German Weather Service) within the Global Climate Observing 
System (GCOS), only the marine meteorological activities are described here because they are 
directly related to GOOS and are routinely co-ordinated with the oceanographic monitoring 
system. 
Contribution by the Bundesamt für Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH), 
Hamburg and Rostock 
- Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency - 
For the time being, the BSH’s contribution covers the following three programme areas: 
BSH-P1: Physical and chemical long-term monitoring of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, 
including influences from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean 
BSH-P2: Climate related monitoring in the North Atlantic Ocean 
BSH-P3: Operational oceanographic services, e.g. water level and storm surge 
forecasting services and ice service, and German Oceanographic Data Centre 
(DOD) 
The BSH's GOOS contribution comprises only programmes carried out within the framework 
of its statutory tasks or international commitments, which means that no additional costs are 
incurred in the initial phase of GOOS. 
BSH-P1 - Physical and chemical long-term monitoring of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, 
including influences from the Northeast Atlantic 
Objectives 
This part of the BSH’s contribution to GOOS has the following objectives: 
(1) to describe and assess the present physical and chemical states, 
(2) to describe and assess the temporal development of the physical and chemical states, 
(3) to describe and assess the fate of substances in the individual compartments (water, 
suspended particulate matter (SPM), sediment), 
(4) to monitor the open boundaries of the North Sea (possibly in co-operation with foreign 
partners) 
Present scientific knowledge 
Hydrographic conditions in the North Sea are determined by transports of heat, dissolved and 
suspended matter across its boundaries, by freshwater input from continental rivers and by 
local interactions with the atmosphere and sediment. The mean hydrographic state of the 
German Bight in terms of temperature and salinity, mean currents and waves as well as their 
variability is sufficiently well known. However, an adequate amount of recent data is only 
available for sea temperature, mainly surface temperature. The only routinely recorded 
temperature data from deeper layers suitable for GOOS purposes presently is provided by the 
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