One of DHI’s yellow watchmen (EMSi) monitors conditions for the benefit of future constructions and the local environment.
The Storstrøm Bridge connects the Danish islands Zealand and Falster, forming one part of a major axis between Germany, Denmark’s capital Copenhagen and the rest of Scandinavia. It is the third longest bridge in Denmark, and also one of the oldest Danish bridges, opened in 1937. And for quite some years, it was the longest road bridge in Europe.
However, it seems like the bridge’s days are numbered. It is believed that a new bridge will be required in this area due to increased train traffic from the currently constructed Femern connection between Denmark and Germany. To ensure a lasting and environmentally safe construction of this new bridge, detailed knowledge of the conditions in Storstrøm is required. Therefore, on April 12, a team from DHI’s survey group deployed one of its Environmental Monitoring Stations (EMSi) next to the old Storstrøm Bridge. 
The EMSi is 10 meters long, weighs 550 kg and is equipped with a 4 ton concrete mooring block. The buoy will record water quality data in four different water depths. Parameters include temperature, depth, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence and turbidity. The system also includes a bottom mounted ADCP that records water current parameters throughout the water column. 
All data is transmitted hourly to DHI's Data Handling Centre in Hørsholm where it is subjected to a thorough quality check, backed up in the DIMS database and presented on a website. The Data Handling Centre also checks the status of the EMSi - and sends out alarms via email and SMS if the diagnosis system reports problems.
Besides the current activities, the Storstrøm EMSi will be used as a test platform for future monitoring solutions for acoustics and light.
If you require further information or have equipment you’d like to deploy at our test-site – don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Survey and Monitoring team.