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Introduction (G.A. Becker) 
"German Bight" is the name of the southeastern area of 
the North Sea which is limited in the south and in the 
east by the East Frisian and North Frisian coasts. In 
the north the German Bight is limited by the line Blaa- 
vandshuk - Hornsrev - Doggerbank (up to 55°N 5°E) and 
in the west by the line Doggerbank - Terschelling. 
The topography of the German Bight is determined by the 
indentation Of the coasts and tidal flats as well as 
by the old post-glacial valley of the River Elbe which 
runs across the German Bight in northwestern direction 
(Stocks, 1957). The hydrographic observations submitted 
below have been made in the inner part of the German 
Bight which is also called "Helgoland Bight". 
Fig. 1 shows a simplified bathymetric chart of the in- 
vestigated area. The course of the 6 m - and 10 m depth 
contours shows the strongly disturbed topography be- 
tween the shallow coastal and tidal flat areas and the 
Helgoland Bight. The old valley of the Elbe River and 
the island of Helgoland with the stony grounds east of 
it and the "Helgoländer Loch" influence the hydrography 
in the German Bight to a considerable extent. 
The knowledge of the hydrographic structure of the German 
Bight has been compiled and extended by Zorell (1935), 
v. Schubert (1936), Kalle (1956) and Goedecke (1951). In 
the German Bight thefresh water run-off from the conti- 
nent (44 km? ” a7l or 1383 m} . 71, respectively) mixes 
ith the North Sea water. According to the definition 
5y Cameron and Pritchard (1965) the German Bight is 
therefore of an estuary type. At least two specifically 
lifferent water bodies, the "western North Sea water" 
and the "eastern coastal water" - determine the hydrog-