Munition pile inventory in the German Baltic Sea, 2017 to 2024

The dataset is a spreadsheet of munition piles, their properties (e.g., number of objects, variability, burial state), and the parameters characterizing their environmental (e.g., munition compound concentrations and current velocity) and maritime (e.g., distance to various maritime uses and traffic density) surroundings in the German Baltic Sea. Data were collected over numerous cruises from 2017 to 2024. All munition piles in the dataset are located at Kolberger Heide (close to Kiel Fjord) or in the Lübeck Bay. The purpose of data acquisition was to understand the distribution and properties of dumped munitions in German waters as well as the hazards and risks they pose to maritime uses. Munition piles were annotated in multibeam echosounder data, assessed in detail in photomosaics, and analyzed using an array of geospatial analysis methods.