STATE OF THE ART – AIS BASED EMISSION CALCULATIONS FOR THE BALTIC SEA SHIPPING

A system utilizing the Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages is used to estimate the exhaust emissions of ship traffic in the Baltic Sea area. Data analysis for 2006-2007 indicates that existing emission inventories underestimate annual NOx release and fuel consumption of maritime traffic

The year 2005 – An environmental status report of the Baltic Sea

BANSAI - The BAltic and North Sea marine environmental modelling Assessment Initiative Two numerical ecosystem models are used to analyse the ecosystem health of the Baltic Sea in the year 2005 in relation to the target and reference levels in the planned Baltic Sea Action Plan of HELCOM. The results of models run at Finnish Institute of Marine Research (FIMR) and Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) show that in all Baltic Sea regions there are locations which can be considered as eutrophication problem areas based on HELCOM (2006) classification. The same conclusion can be drawn also according to a comparison with Alg@line results from sea areas as Arkona Basin, Bornholm Basin, Eastern Gotland Basin, Northern Gotland Basin and Gulf of Finland. The winter concentrations of dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) were high in all Baltic Sea regions except Bothnian Bay (and Bothnian Sea according to the SMHI model). In the Arkona Basin and the Bornholm Basin the DIP concentrations were exceptionally high according to Alg@line measurements. According to the models, the algae blooming was remarkable approximately on 30 % of summer days in the Arkona Basin, eastern regions of Eastern Gotland Basin (including Lithuanian open waters and Gdansk Deep), Gulf of Finland and northern Bothnian Bay. The chlorophyll a concentration of 2 mg m-3 (exceeding the HELCOM acceptable deviation levels) the concentration of 3 mg m-(indicating remarkable algal bloom) was exceeded for more than 60% and 30% of summer days, respectively, in the Arkona Basin, eastern regions of Eastern Gotland Basin (including Lithuanian open waters and Gdansk Deep), Gulf of Finland and northern Bothnian Bay according to both models. Alg@line 2005 chlorophyll a concentrations were lower than the Alg@line-references in the Arkona and Bornholm Basin, but higher than on Alg@line-references in other regions. The oxygen concentration in the bottom layers was under the critical limit (of 2 mg/l) for living organisms most of the year in northern parts of the Eastern and Western Gotland Basins and in the Northern Gotland basin

The Year 2006 An Eutrophication Status Report of the North Sea, Skagerrak Kattegat and the Baltic Sea : A demonstration Project

This is the third year joint status report for the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Baltic Sea area (Fig. 1) carried out by SMHI, IMR, DHI and FIMR as a part of the project BANSAI, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Sea and Air Group. The aim of the demonstration project is to integrate marine observations and eutrophication model simulations in an annual eutrophication assessment of the Baltic and the North seas. The present report is mainly based on model estimates of some of the indicators suggested by the OSPAR Common Procedure (c.f. Appendix) for the identification of the eutrophication status of the maritime area (OSPAR, 2005). This report serve as a basis for the on-going discussions about the ecological quality indicators included in the assessment, and the way to merge results from different models and observations for the assessment.Estimations of river discharges and model results are used to describe the degree of nutrient enrichment (Category I) defined by the riverine loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus, and winter surface concentrations and ratios of DIN and DIP. The direct effects of nutrient enrichment during the growing season (Category II) are described in terms of the mean and maximum chlorophyll-a concentrations and model estimations of primary production. The ratio between diatoms and flagellates is used as an indicator of region specific phytoplankton indicator species (Category II). The indirect effects of nutrient enrichment (Category III) are discussed in terms of oxygen depletion in bottom waters. Estimations of region specific background concentrations and threshold values are gathered from the literature (Helcom, 2006; OSPAR, 2005) and used for the model assessment. The four model systems used for the joint assessment (Fig. 2) cover different parts of the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Baltic Sea area. Detailed descriptions of the models may be found on the web-sites presented below the figure.In section 2 the key messages from this assessment will be presented. In section 3, each country gives a brief observations overview for 2006 and some references to other sources and reports that might be useful for the readers. The methods of the assessment are described in section 4. Statistical characteristics of model results and in-situ data are presented in section 5 and the model assessment of eutrophication status is done in section 6. Conclusions and comments to the assessment are presented in section 7