The Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde was founded in 1992. It succeeded the Institute for Oceanography, Warnemünde, which was the premiere oceanographic research institute of the German Democratic Republic's German Academy of Sciences. Today, the institute is a member of the Leibniz Association (Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, WGL). The institute's facilities are financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Ministry of Education. The institute is an independent research institution specializing in interdisciplinary study of coastal oceans and marginal seas. In particular, work focuses on the Baltic Sea ecosystem. The institute is divided into four sections: physical oceanography, marine chemistry, biological oceanography, and marine geology. Researchers also teach at the universities of Rostock and Greifswald.

Tasks

The Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) will contribute to the BALTIC GAS project through geophysical as well as biogeochemical work, including:

• Detection of gas prone sediments by single-beam echosounding, combined with sediment core physical property assessment.
• Gas flare imaging using both single and swath bathymetry data.
• Assessment of the transport and fate of dissolved methane using concentration and stable isotopic data.
• Methane air-sea flux measurements of a larger area of the Baltic Sea using a ship of opportunity.

IOW is involved in all 5WPs, and is leading WP3.