Die Küste, 81 (2014), 369-392 
372 
The “Functional Seabed Model” FSM was initially set up to build a consistent bathy 
metric and sediment database, to test the suite of numeric morphodynamic models which 
are used in AufMod, including aspects of validation, and to facilitate critical discussion of 
first results, namely sediment transport pathways in the German Bight from different 
model runs. AufMod takes a combined data-based and process-based modelling ap 
proach to die investigation of long-term sediment transport. 
Figure 1: Conceptional model of AufMod. 
2 Study site 
The project focuses on the German Bight, which is located in the southeastern part of 
the North Sea where semidiurnal tides enter from the west (The Netherlands) and propa 
gate counter clockwise along the coastline of the German Bight towards the Danish wa 
ters under the influence of Coriolis accelerations. The tidal range varies from app. 1.5 m 
(Islands Borkum and Sylt) to app. 3.5 m (in the Elbe river mouth). 
The seabed is dominated by different sand deposits which are prone to sedimentation 
and erosion under the recent hydrodynamic regime. Coarser sediments occur in the tidal 
channels, where current speed reaches up to 1.5 m sT Coarse sands and gravels also oc 
cur in some parts of the shelf, where they represent relict sediments of the Saalian glacia 
tion and/or fluvio-glacial sediments from the Weichselian.