In view of the increasing problems of waste disposal in the Netherlands, plans were made to pipeline the waste to the Ems-Dollard estuary. To evaluate the practicability a project was started with the aim to implement a simulation model of an estuary ecosystem. This model was based on the knowledge of the hydrology, geochemistry and biology of the Ems estuary. For this approach data of the abiotic and biotic environment were collected in studies of the Ems estuary and are presented in this report. With its comprehensive information of biological processes as food webs, biomass production and nutrient supply, as well as of sedimentological and flux parameters, this book can be considered as a general model of an estuary ecosystem.

Inhalt
I: Description of the Ecosystem.- 1 Modelling the Ecosystem of the Ems Estuary.- 2 The Abiotic Environment.- 3 Biology.- 4 General Features in the Model.- II: The Blueprint of the Model.- 5 The Construction of the Transport Submodel.- 6 The Construction of the Pelagic Submodel.- 7 The Construction of the Benthic Submodel.- 8 The Construction of the Epibenthic Submodel.- III: Results and Analysis.- 9 Running the Model.- 10 Results and Analysis of the Pelagic Submodel.- 11 Results and Analysis of the Benthic Submodel.- 12 Results and Analysis of the Epibenthos Submodel.- 13 Results and Validation of the Transport Submodel.- 14 Model Applications and Limitations.- 15 References.- Appendix A: Parameter Descriptions and Values.- A-1: Parameters of the Physical Submodel.- A-2: Parameters of the Pelagic Submodel.- A-3: Parameters of the Benthic Submodel.- A-4: Parameters of the Epibenthic Submodel.- Appendix B: The FORTRAN Listing of the Submodels.- B-1: Subroutine BAHBOE.- B-2: Subroutine SUBPEL.- B-3: Subroutine SUBBEN.- B-4: Subroutine SUBEPI.- Appendix C: Data Files.- C-1: Data of the Physical Model.- C-2: Data of the Pelagic Model.- C-3: Data of the Benthic Model.- C-4: Data of the Epibenthic Model.- C-5: The Initial Values of the State Variables.