Research cutter Uthörn

For many budding marine biologists, the trip on the AWI research cutter Uthörn is a test in more ways than one - not necessarily to the students' delight. The trip on the rocking cutter is an opportunity to put what they have learnt into practice, but also a challenge for every stomach.

Every week during the summer months, the cutter sails out into the German Bight for such training trips. But that is not the only task of the research cutter Uthörn: it is central to the collection of sample material from the North Sea for in-house and guest research.

To do this, the cutter's crew uses its own on-board equipment: bottom trawl, plankton net and a crab trawl, dredges and various grabs. The collected biological research material is also sent to scientists at universities throughout Germany on request. On the spacious deck of the research cutter Uthörn, the crew has enough space to sort the catch - a sorting device helps with this. There is also a wet and a dry laboratory on Uthörn, which can be equipped with additional devices depending on the research project.

Uthörn is at sea an average of 140 days a year. Another important task is a long-term monitoring programme in the German Bight. Water samples are taken from on board Uthörn on so-called transect cruises. Scientists analyse, for example, the nutrient and salt content, turbidity and temperature of the seawater. For these measurements, the research cutter is travelling in the inflow area of the Eider and Elbe to the west of Helgoland.