ElbeXtreme

Extreme events such as river floods, droughts, heatwaves and storm surges are important risk factors for coastal ecosystems and human communities. Their frequency and intensity are increasing due to global climate change and ecosystem degradation, while coastal population density rises, making societies more exposed and vulnerable to hazards from the sea and rivers/estuaries. 

The main goal of ElbeExtreme is to assess the consequences that extreme events, such as fluvial floods and droughts, heatwaves and storm surges, have on ecosystems and ecosystems services of estuarine and coastal systems. With this basis the project will analyse related and cascading risks on society and economy, and co-design and co-create early warning and adaptation options with stakeholders. 

ElbeXtreme will use the Elbe estuary-coastal system as a Living Lab. The project will mine existing data, develop new observational approaches and generate new data products for physical, chemical and biological states of the Elbe, its estuary and outflow into the North Sea. The analysis of existing and new data using Machine Learning, and their integration into coupled models will provide an Elbe Digital Twin and improve our understanding of changes to ecosystem services and associated risks as a consequence of extreme events.