153 research outputs found

    The Variability of Parameters Controlling the Cyanobacteria Bloom Biomass in the Baltic Sea

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    The formation of wintertime excess of dissolved inorganic phosphorus concentration (eDIP) in the surface layer and its influence to the late-summer diazotrophic cyanobacteria development have been evaluated on the base of 30 years nutrients and river runoff monitoring data in different Baltic Sea sub-basins, relatively short satellite chlorophyll a (Chl a) and modelled upper mixed layer depth (UMLD) data. The processes responsible for the formation of the surface and bottom phosphate concentration pools in winter, the exchange processes between the pools and the amount of phosphate transported from the bottom pool to the surface are not fully understood. We did not find any significant correlation between the wintertime bottom layer (BL) DIP and upper mixed layer (UML) DIP for the deeper Baltic Sea sub-basins. Instead, we found a significant correlation between UML DIP and UMLD in winter. With the present considerable trend of decrease of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration (DIN) in the Baltic Proper mainly the DIP variability determines the excess phosphate, which is regarded as the main phosphate source for the late summer cyanobacterial blooms in theJRC.H.3 - Global environement monitorin

    Observation, Parameterization and Simulation of Turbulent Mixing in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea

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    Abstract-Three time series of shear microstructure measurements (duration 13, 24 and 14 h respectively) were performed in 3 different wind forcing regimes as well as in 3 different background density stratification and current velocity shear situations at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, in July 1998. Vertical shear of current velocity was enhanced by near-inertial waves during the first (A1) and third (A3) time series. We compared a Richardson number based parameterization and an estimation using the two equation k-e turbulence closure (General Ocean Turbulence Model, GOTM) with �measured� eddy diffusivities. For two out of the three time series eddy diffusivities calculated via a Richardson number parameterization and via simulation using the k-e model agreed well with the experimental data. However, in the case of relatively high current velocity shear and weak background density stratification (time series A3) both applied methods resulted in a remarkable discrepancy against the measured eddy diffusivity. On the contrary, calculations with a new parameterization scheme, which considers the internal wave kinetic energy fitted well for all three time series. Similarly the modified k-e simulations which considered the internal wave energy level better matched the measured profiles.JRC.H.3 - Global environement monitorin

    A simple tool for the early prediction of the cyanobacteria <i>Nodularia spumigena</i> bloom biomass in the Gulf of Finland

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    A fuzzy logic model for predicting the maximum biomass of thetoxic cyanobacteria Nodularia spumigena bloom in the Gulf ofFinland is suggested. The model bloom biomass depends on thephosphate conditions up to 15 June, including the excess phosphateleft over after the spring bloom and on the phosphate inputsparameterised by wind mixing and upwelling from 1 May to 15 June.The surface layer temperature, set to vary from 14 to 23&#x00BA;C,is regarded as a bloom regulating parameter. The model simulationsshowed that the predicted N. spumigena biomasses differ markedlyfrom year to year and clearly depend on phosphate conditionsup to 15 June

    A Comparison of Parameterized, Simulated and Measured Turbulent Mixing in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea

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    Three time series of shear microstructure measurements (duration 13, 24 and 14 h respectively) have been performed in 3 different wind forcing regimes as well as in 3 different background density stratification and current velocity shear situations at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, in July 1998. Vertical shear of current velocity was enhanced by near-inertial waves during the first (A1) and the third (A3) time series, the background stratification weakened continuously from A1 toward A3. We compared eddy diffusivities based on the Richardson number parameterization and eddy diffusivities simulated using the two equation k-e turbulence closure (General Ocean Turbulence Model, GOTM) with the �measured� ones. For two out of the three time series the eddy diffusivities calculated via the Richardson number parameterization and via the k-e model simulation agreed well with the experimental data. However, summing up the discrepancy of all three time series both methods resulted in a remarkable and consistent bias against the measured eddy diffusivity. On the contrary, the calculations with a new parameterization scheme, which considers the internal wave kinetic energy fitted well for all three time series. Similarly the modified k-e simulations which considered the internal wave energy level matched better the measured profiles.JRC.DDG.H.3 - Global environement monitorin

    An alternative parameterization of eddy diffusivity in the Gulf of Finland based on kinetic energy of high frequency internal wave band

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    In July 1998, Three time series of shear microstructure measurements (duration 13, 24 and 14 h respectively) were performed in 3 different wind forcing regimes as well as in 3 different background density stratification and current velocity shear situations at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. We compared the �measured� eddy diffusivities with the diffusivities parameterized using the Richardson number, the Brunt-Väisäla frequency and with the diffusivities simulated using the two equation k-e turbulence closure. Summing up the discrepancy of all three time series the methods applied resulted in a remarkable and consistent bias against the measured eddy diffusivity. Contrary to this result, the calculations with the new suggested parameterization scheme, which accounts for the internal wave kinetic energy of the super-inertial frequency band, fitted well for all three time series. Similarly, the modified k-e simulations accounting for the super-inertial internal wave energy matched better the measured profiles.JRC.DDG.H.3 - Global environement monitorin

    Yet Another Assessment of Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Area: Breakpoints in Climate Time Serie

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    The aim of the present study is to assess changes in the Baltic Sea climate based on different available meteorological data sources (ERA40 and ERA-INTERIM) and various published Baltic Sea climate indices. This regional assessment will be presented in relation to global climate change and assessments available from the literature. The climate of the Baltic Sea which is located between 50N and 70N is mainly influenced by the competition of westerly humid air flow and easterly continental type air masses and is therefore highly variable. We are investigating air temperature, wind speed, cloud cover, solar radiation and precipitation. Comparisons to climate indices of general relevance as the Baltic ice cover will be conducted. Using regression analysis we could confirm the following basic trends, increase in air temperature, increase in precipitation, increase in cloudiness. The increase in air temperature in the Baltic Sea area (0.02K/year) is much more rapid then the warming trend for the global air temperature (0.005K/year). The increase in cloudiness has resulted in an effective reduction of incoming solar radiation therefore the accelerated warming is not a result of increased solar radiation, but likely due to an increased net long wave radiation input. Further it has to be mentioned that not all available data sets confirmed the trend in cloudiness, ERA40 data show a nonsignificant decrease instead. No clear trend in the wind velocities could be detected, but wind velocities from ERA40 reanalysis project show an insignificant increase in wind speeds. Results from model runs with the GETM model (General Estuarine Transport Model, http://getm.eu) show sea surface warming consistent with the increase in heat flux forcing and with satellite observations. The warmer sea surface without an adequate warming in the deeper parts results in a much stronger vertical density stratification and consequently to reduced vertical mixing. A more thorough inspection of the available regional and global data provides some reasonable doubt concerning the application of least square regression analysis to the available time series. Indeed it can be shown by a test based on the F statistics that most of the analyzed time series cannot be considered as stationary and therefore drawing simple regression lines trough these datasets is statistically incorrect. Testing for structural breakpoints in these time series reveals for many investigated parameters and also for many tested climate indices the existence of such breakpoints in the 70-80ties of the last century. Therefore it has to be concluded that the simple trend estimation for many climate parameters is statistically incorrect. Instead for statistical investigations it has to be assumed that there exist either 2 different climate states with either 2 different means or alternatively with 2 different trends which have to be estimated separately.JRC.DDG.H.3 - Global environement monitorin

    Currents and CTD measurements data in the vicinity of Keri Island in 2018

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    &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Data description of currents and temperature and salinity profiles in the vicinity of Keri Island in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea in summer/autumn 2018.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oceanographic measurements, encompassing currents, water temperature, and salinity, were conducted at two proximate locations near Keri Island. The bottom-mounted ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, Workhorse Sentinel, Teledyne RDI, 300 kHz) measured current profiles for two months, from August to September 2018, at the KeriN measurement station, approximately 2 km north of Keri Island. Simultaneously, temperature and salinity profiles were recorded for nearly one month by a bottom-mounted autonomous CTD profiler (Flydog Solutions) at the KeriN from 26 July 2018 to 17 August 2018. CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) profiles were recorded from 3 to 98 meters at 3-hour intervals and ADCP data from 8 to 106 meters at 1-hour intervals. The horizontal separation between the locations of CTD and ADCP profilers was 60 m.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bottom-mounted RDCP (Recording Doppler Current Meter, Aanderaa Data Instruments AS) measured current profiles for one month, spanning 28 August to 2 October 2018, at the KeriS measurement station, approximately 1.1 km east of the island. Simultaneously, temperature and salinity profiles were obtained for two months by a buoy-mounted automatic CTD profiler (Idronaut) at the KeriS from 28 August 2018 to 5 October 2018. CTD data, available at 6-hour intervals, covered depths from 2 to 44 meters, and RDCP data spanned depths from 6.8 to 42 meters at 1-hour intervals. The separation between the locations of CTD and RDCP profilers was 300 m.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;High-resolution wind data for the measurement period were obtained from the Tallinnamadal Lighthouse, about 20 km west of the measurement site. Wind speed and direction sensors (Aanderaa) at a height of 31 m recorded data every 5 minutes.&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt

    The Regime Shift in the Baltic Sea area – caused by the change of the NAO sign?

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    In the Baltic Sea area during the late 1980s air and sea surface temperature increased. A longer growing season and increases in phytoplankton biomass as well as changes in the zooplankton and fish communities accompanied this. These changes are supposed to represent a regime shift in the ecology of the central Baltic Sea that could have been caused by a related sign change in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. But the NAO has changed sign more frequently and most of the time no corresponding regime shift did occur therefore we should check this hypothesis more thorough. We investigated additional to the NAO a broad range of variables including air temperature, sea surface temperature, phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass, fish abundance and oxygen. The time series data are analyzed with respect to autocorrelation, linear trends and the occurrence of breakpoints whereby always tests for statistical significance are conducted. Tests for structural breakpoints in these time series reveal for some of the investigated variables the existence of such breakpoints in the 70-80ties of the last century. But surprisingly in many physical and biological variables and in the most common climate indices no clear breakpoints can be identified. Specifically the change of the NAO sign around 1987, which is proposed to be the reason for an ecological regime shift in the Baltic Sea is not statistically significant. The coincidence of the sign change and an ecological regime shift could just be pure random, but even the evidence for a clear ecological regime shift is missing. In summary we strongly advocate to apply sound statistical procedures for detecting regime shifts instead of eye fitting and qualitative descriptions. A strong hypothesis like the postulation of a regime shift 1987 caused by the change in the NAO sign does require strong evidence, but it seems we might not have that.JRC.H.1 - Water Resource
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