Model structure and content of a comprehensive maritime plan: the case of Kaliningrad

The need for maritime spatial planning is articulated in the Strategy for Marine Development of the Russian Federation until 2030. However, Russian legislation contains no provisions regulating this field. This article presents the results of a study aimed to devise a methodology for developing the model structure of a maritime plan for the Baltic Sea. The study methodology is based on current regulations on marine use and na-ture management as well as international maritime planning practices. Since marine planning is closely connected with spatial planning, the study pays special attention to their convergence in developing maritime plans. The authors stress the need for legislative efforts aimed at integrating marine planning in the current legal framework for the regional authorities of different territorial levels. The structure and contents of the maritime plan and the methodological framework for suggested measures are based on relevant regulations, publications, and maps. The main result of the study is the identification of functional offshore areas of federal, regional, and local significance. The research significance of this study is associated with the further development of strategic planning, namely, marine planning. Its practical significance is in devising the legal and methodological framework for marine spatial planning

Influence of SST in Low Latitudes on the Arctic Warming and Sea Ice

Global climate models, focused on projecting anthropogenic warming, have not detected an increase in sea surface temperature (SST) at low latitudes comparable to the observed one. This appears to be one reason for the discrepancy between the model estimates of warming and reduction of the sea ice extent in the Arctic and the observed changes in the climate system. In previous studies, it was shown that short-term manifestations of the impact of low latitudes on the Arctic climate were identified in 2–3 weeks as a result of strengthening of atmospheric circulation patterns. In this paper, for the first time, a climatic relationship was established among an increase in SST, air temperature, and water vapor content at low latitudes, and a decrease in sea ice extent in the Arctic. ECMWF Re-Analysis data (ERA-Interim, ERA5), Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature data set (HadISST), sea ice archives of the World Centers NSIDC (USA), and Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (Russia), observations of water temperature in the Kola section (33°30’ E), calculated sea ice parameters using the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute coupled ice-ocean circulation model (AARI–IOCM). Methods of multivariate correlation analysis, calculating spectra and coherence, and creating correlation graphs were used to obtain the results. For the first time, estimates of the effect of heat transport from low to high latitudes on climate change and sea ice extent in the Arctic over the past 40 years have been obtained, explaining a significant part of their variability. The increase in heat transport is affected by an increase in SST at low latitudes, where a significant part of the solar heat is accumulated. Due to the increase in SST, the amount of heat transported by the ocean and the atmosphere from low latitudes to the Arctic increases, leading to an increase in the air temperature, water vapor content, downward longwave radiation at high latitudes, and a decrease in the thickness and extent of winter sea ice. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: the role of heat and moisture transport in the Arctic warming, effect of SST at low latitudes on transports, linkage of warming in low latitudes and in shrinking of the Arctic sea ice