First regular hydrographic measurements (salinity and water temperature) have been made off Eckernförde (Eckernförde Bay) and off Friedrichsort (Kiel Fjord) on a daily basis from 1876 to 1893. These measurements were part of a network of observation stations along the German coasts of the North and Baltic Seas:

Map of the German and Danish stations for hydrographic observations. The German stations are marked by names, the Danish by Numbers (Karsten (1884) in W. Matthäus, 'Germany and the investigations of the Baltic Sea during the 19th and early 20th century',  Meereswissenschaftliche Berichte/Mar. Sci. Rep., No. 83, IOW, Warnemünde, 2010).

The network was run by the 'Ministerial-Kommission zur Untersuchung der deutschen Meere in Kiel'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boknis Eck Time Series was initiated by Johannes Krey, a professor for marine planktology at the Institut für Meereskunde in Kiel (IfM). The first measurements were performed on 30 April 1957 and were continued until 1975 with the research vessels Hermann Wattenberg and Alkor. Since 1975 sampling at Boknis Eck is mainly performed with the research vessel Littorina.

From 1971 - 1982 the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 95 "Seawater-sediment interactions processes" had its experiemental site ("Hausgarten") just a few meters away from the Boknis Eck Time Series Station site.

During the next two decades (1979 - 1999) the regular sampling was resumed and became part of the Baltic Sea monitoring programme of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM).

A large joint German/US study to characterize and model the gassy sediments of Eckernförde Bay was conducted between 1993 and 1999.

Since 1999 sampling is coordinated by the Chemical Oceanography Research Unit of the IfM (since 2012 GEOMAR).

In 2010 the Boknis Eck time series station was included in the list of affiliated projects of the International Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) programme (now: Future Earth Coasts).

In October 2014 Boknis Eck became a member of the International Group for Marine Ecological Time Series (IGMETS).

In March 2015 Boknis Eck became a member of the German Long-Term Ecosystem Research Network (LTER-D).

Since April 2016 Boknis Eck is a member of the Coastal Observing System for Northern and Arctic Seas (COSYNA).

In September 2018 Boknis Eck was endorsed as a Baltic Earth Project.

In July 2020 Boknis Eck was endorsed as SOLAS (Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study) time-series site.


Research vessel "Littorina"

Research vessel "Hermann Wattenberg"

  

Water sampling on board research vessel "Alkor"