Arctic Legacy of War: Tirpitz Site Project

The Tirpitz salvage site is one of many areas in the Arctic where the legacy of war has resulted in contemporary concerns about effects on the biosphere and broader health and safety risks. Decades after the Royal Air Force sank the German battleship Tirpitz in 1944, and a subsequent salvage operation removed the ship's high-quality steel and operational equipment, hundreds of cubic metres of non-salvaged items remain on the site, along with widespread environmental contamination of the seabed. Current research on the Tirpitz salvage site, utilising remote sensing and robotics, is developing innovative methods to map and monitor the site that can be utilised globally in near-shore environments.