PaRCA 2026 Spring Workshop in Sehlendorf 

In March 2026 the PaRCA-Team met in Sehlendorf at the Baltic Sea for a three-day workshop. Everybody used the opportunity to present their current research in the project. Questions and fruitful discussions helped shaping aspects for further research. The approaches and chances of interdisciplinary work between the different work packages were discussed extensively among the participants. The cooking sessions and long beach walks really boosted the team spirit. To end the workshop, we ate pizza on the terrace as the sun set. 
We are grateful for the team of the Walther-Schücking-Institute at Kiel University for helping us arrange our stay at the Dr. Otto Bagge Kolleg. 

PaRCA @ 16th ISWSS in Groningen

The 16th International Scientific Wadden Sea Symposium took place in the last week of October. Researchers and stakeholders from Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark joined in Groningen to discuss the impacts of natural and human-induced factors on the Wadden Sea. The interaction between researchers and stakeholders was very valuable, as the goal of the symposium is to incorporate the newest scientific insights in to policy, during the next governmental meeting in 2026. Furthermore, there were different disciplines present, ecologists, social scientists, engineers, lawyers, and many more, and it was interesting to learn from each other. ParCA was represented by Marthe Wassink, Robert Lepper, Amin Rahdarian and Bas van Maren, who presented posters and talks.

PaRCA fieldwork on Schiermonnikoog

In the third week of August, the PaRCA team gathered on the beautiful island of Schiermonnikoog in the Dutch Wadden Sea to conduct another round of field sampling and surveys. The NIOZ team with Johan van de Koppel, Tim Grandjean, Divyashri Varadharajan and MSc student Niharika Narendranath, surveyed intertidal mussel beds, lugworm habitats, salt marshes and dune fields on the island. Much of the survey was focused on understanding the extent of open and closed dune fields on the island. The SENCKENBERG team with Ira Kapshyna and Gritta Veit-Köhler continued with their meiofauna sampling study and expanded on their work in Sylt last month. It was an enriching experience that gave us many opportunities to learn about the interaction between ecological and sediment dynamics on the Wadden Islands. We are grateful to the staff at the University of Groningen for helping us arrange our stay at the field station ‘De Herdershut’. 

PaRCA @ RCEM2025 in Barcelona

The 14th Symposium on River, Coastal, and Estuarine Morphodynamics, RCEM2025, took place in Barcelona, Spain, from 1-5 September 2025. The biennial meeting joins sediment transport and morphodynamics enthusiasts from all over the world.

A group from our project was participating, showing and discussing different studies, also about preliminary results from PaRCA. On the group picture see (fltr) Zheng Bing Wang, Christian Winter, Johan van de Koppel, Bas van Maren, Marthe Wassink and Jannek Gundlach.

PaRCA Fieldwork and young scientist meeting on the Island of Sylt 

From 28 July to 1 August 2025, eleven members of our PaRCA team from the Netherlands and Germany gathered on the island of Sylt. The Wadden Sea Station in List, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, provided the perfect base for our excursions and sampling efforts. 

Divya Varadharajan, Tim Grandjean and Johan van de Koppel (NIOZ) explored the intertidal zone and the dunes. Together with Amin Rahdarian and Arne Knies (CAU), the group revisited the beach and subtidal sites that had been sampled in spring. Marthe Wassink (TU Delft) and Jannek Gundlach (BAW) joined Iryna Kapshyna and Gritta Veit-Köhler (SaM) to collect meiofauna samples from various habitats. 

The team was completed by Alexander Pechmann (GCF), who carried out several interviews for his social science study, and Eva Sinemus (Law and Policy, CAU). They both joined the biologists' and geologists' field sampling to learn about this part of the study. 

During this short but intense week, we enjoyed fruitful discussions and cooked delicious meals at the AWI guest house. We are grateful to the colleagues at the Wadden Sea Station of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in List, Sylt, especially Timm Kress and Petra Kadel, who helped with logistics, and to Captain Valentin Hildebrandt and Boatswain Raymond Becker, who facilitated the sampling on board the RV Mya II. 

First joint PaRCA Sampling Campaign

In March 2025 we realised our first joint field campaign on the Island of Sylt, Germany. The Senckenberg scientists Iryna Kapshyna, Jule Wilsenack and Gritta Veit-Köhler sampled meiofauna from different habitats and sediments in the backbarrier tidal flats. Amin Rahdarian and Arne Knies from the University of Kiel (CAU) made DGPS measurements at an exposed beach and together we had a one-day sampling trip with RV MYA II.
We are grateful to the colleagues of the Wadden Sea Station of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in List, Sylt who let us use RV MYA II, helped with logistics and offered lab space.

Auftakt zur Internationalen Wattenmeerforschung

29 January 2025 | Das Wattenmeer hat eine herausragende Bedeutung für die Artenvielfalt. Doch Klimawandel, Nutzungsdruck und Nährstoffeinträge setzen dem Ökosystem zu. Diese Veränderungen des Wattenmeeres werden in fünf Forschungsprojekten untersucht, an denen Partner aus Deutschland und den Niederlanden beteiligt sind. Die Projekte wurden heute mit einer Kick-off-Veranstaltung in Groningen offiziell gestartet. Der Projektträger Jülich (PTJ) ist Mitorganisator der Veranstaltung und betreut die fünf Verbundprojekte auf deutscher Seite.

Five applications awarded for research about the Wadden Sea

8 May 2024 | The Netherlands and Germany have invested 15 million euros in five research projects that will study the relation between sediment, ecology, human co-use, flood safety and effective protection and management in the Wadden Sea.