Alzheimer's Prevention Education: If We Build It, Will They Come? www.AlzU.org.

PubMed

Isaacson, R S; Haynes, N; Seifan, A; Larsen, D; Christiansen, S; Berger, J C; Safdieh, J E; Lunde, A M; Luo, A; Kramps, M; McInnis, M; Ochner, C N

2014-01-01

Internet-based educational interventions may be useful for impacting knowledge and behavioral change. However, in AD prevention, little data exists about which educational tools work best in terms of learning and interest in participating in clinical trials. Primary: Assess effectiveness of interactive webinars vs. written blog-posts on AD prevention learning. Secondary: Evaluate the effect of AD prevention education on interest in participating in clinical trials; Assess usability of, and user perceptions about, an online AD education research platform; Classify target populations (demographics, learning needs, interests). Observational. Online. Men/Women, aged 25+, recruited via facebook.com. Alzheimer's Universe (www.AlzU.org) education research platform. Pre/post-test performance, self-reported Likert-scale ratings, completion rates. Over two-weeks, 4268 visits were generated. 503 signed-up for a user account (11.8% join rate), 196 participated in the lessons (39.0%) and 100 completed all beta-testing steps (19.9%). Users randomized to webinar instruction about AD prevention and the stages of AD demonstrated significant increases (p=0.01) in pre vs. post-testing scores compared to blog-post intervention. Upon joining, 42% were interested in participating in a clinical trial in AD prevention. After completing all beta-test activities, interest increased to 86%. Users were primarily women and the largest category was children of AD patients. 66.3% joined to learn more about AD prevention, 65.3% to learn more about AD treatment. Webinar-based education led to significant improvements in learning about AD prevention and the stages of AD. AlzU.org participation more than doubled interest in AD prevention clinical trial participation. Subjects were quickly and cost-effectively recruited, and highly satisfied with the AD education research platform. Based on these data, we will further refine AlzU.org prior to public launch and aim to study the effectiveness of 25

IODP expedition 347: Baltic Sea basin paleoenvironment and biosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrén, T.; Barker Jørgensen, B.; Cotterill, C.; Green, S.; IODP expedition 347 scientific party, the

2015-12-01

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expedition 347 cored sediments from different settings of the Baltic Sea covering the last glacial-interglacial cycle. The main aim was to study the geological development of the Baltic Sea in relation to the extreme climate variability of the region with changing ice cover and major shifts in temperature, salinity, and biological communities. Using the Greatship Manisha as a European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) mission-specific platform, we recovered 1.6 km of core from nine sites of which four were additionally cored for microbiology. The sites covered the gateway to the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, several sub-basins in the southern Baltic Sea, a deep basin in the central Baltic Sea, and a river estuary in the north. The waxing and waning of the Scandinavian ice sheet has profoundly affected the Baltic Sea sediments. During the Weichselian, progressing glaciers reshaped the submarine landscape and displaced sedimentary deposits from earlier Quaternary time. As the glaciers retreated they left a complex pattern of till, sand, and lacustrine clay, which in the basins has since been covered by a thick deposit of Holocene, organic-rich clay. Due to the stratified water column of the brackish Baltic Sea and the recurrent and widespread anoxia, the deeper basins harbor laminated sediments that provide a unique opportunity for high-resolution chronological studies. The Baltic Sea is a eutrophic intra-continental sea that is strongly impacted by terrestrial runoff and nutrient fluxes. The Holocene deposits are recorded today to be up to 50 m deep and geochemically affected by diagenetic alterations driven by organic matter degradation. Many of the cored sequences were highly supersaturated with respect to methane, which caused strong degassing upon core recovery. The depth distributions of conservative sea water ions still reflected the transition at the end of the last glaciation from fresh-water clays to

GeoMapApp, Virtual Ocean, and other Free Data Resources for the 21st Century Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodwillie, A. M.; Ryan, W.; Carbotte, S.; Melkonian, A.; Coplan, J.; Arko, R.; Ferrini, V.; O'Hara, S.; Leung, A.; Bonckzowski, J.

2008-12-01

With funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) (http://www.marine-geo.org/) is developing GeoMapApp (http://www.geomapapp.org) - a computer application that provides wide-ranging map-based visualization and manipulation options for interdisciplinary geosciences research and education. The novelty comes from the use of this visual tool to discover and explore data, with seamless links to further discovery using traditional text-based approaches. Users can generate custom maps and grids and import their own data sets. Built-in functionality allows users to readily explore a broad suite of interactive data sets and interfaces. Examples include multi-resolution global digital models of topography, gravity, sediment thickness, and crustal ages; rock, fluid, biology and sediment sample information; research cruise underway geophysical and multibeam data; earthquake events; submersible dive photos of hydrothermal vents; geochemical analyses; DSDP/ODP core logs; seismic reflection profiles; contouring, shading, profiling of grids; and many more. On-line audio-visual tutorials lead users step-by-step through GeoMapApp functionality (http://www.geomapapp.org/tutorials/). Virtual Ocean (http://www.virtualocean.org/) integrates GeoMapApp with a 3-D earth browser based upon NASA WorldWind, providing yet more powerful capabilities. The searchable MGDS Media Bank (http://media.marine-geo.org/) supports viewing of remarkable images and video from the NSF Ridge 2000 and MARGINS programs. For users familiar with Google Earth (tm), KML files are available for viewing several MGDS data sets (http://www.marine-geo.org/education/kmls.php). Examples of accessing and manipulating a range of geoscience data sets from various NSF-funded programs will be shown. GeoMapApp, Virtual Ocean, the MGDS Media Bank and KML files are free MGDS data resources and work on any type of computer. They are currently used by educators, researchers, school

First measurements with Argo flots in the Southern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walczowski, Waldemar; Goszczko, Ilona; Wieczorek, Piotr; Merchel, Malgorzata; Rak, Daniel

2017-04-01

The Argo programme is one of the most important elements of the ocean observing system. Currently almost 4000 Argo floats profile global oceans and deliver real time data. Originally Argo floats were developed for open ocean observations. Therefore a standard float can dive up to 2000 m and deep Argo floats are under development. However in the last years the shallow shelf seas become also interesting for Argo users. Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) participates in the Euro-Argo research infrastructure, the European contribution to Argo system. A legal and governance framework (Euro-Argo ERIC) was set up in May 2014. For a few years IOPAN has deployed floats mostly in the Nordic Seas and the European Arctic region. In the end of 2016 the first Polish Argo float was deployed in the Southern Baltic Sea. Building on the successful experience with Argo floats deployed by the Finnish oceanographers in the Bothnian Sea and Gotland Basin, the IOPAN float was launched in the Bornholm Deep during the fall cruise of IOPAN research vessel Oceania. The standard APEX float equipped with 2-way Iridium communication was used and different modes of operation, required for the specific conditions in the shallow and low saline Baltic Sea, were tested. Settings for the Baltic float are different than for the oceanic mode and were frequently changed during the mission to find the optimum solution. Changing the float parking depth during the mission allows for the limited control of the float drift direction. Results of a high resolution numerical forecast model for the Baltic Sea proved to be a valuable tool for determining the parking depth of the float in the different flow regimes. Trajectory and drift velocity of the Argo float deployed in the Southern Baltic depended strongly on the atmospheric forcing (in particular wind speed and direction), what was clearly manifested during the 'Axel' storm passing over the deployment area in January 2017. The first

Sea-ice evaluation of NEMO-Nordic 1.0: a NEMO-LIM3.6-based ocean-sea-ice model setup for the North Sea and Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pemberton, Per; Löptien, Ulrike; Hordoir, Robinson; Höglund, Anders; Schimanke, Semjon; Axell, Lars; Haapala, Jari

2017-08-01

The Baltic Sea is a seasonally ice-covered marginal sea in northern Europe with intense wintertime ship traffic and a sensitive ecosystem. Understanding and modeling the evolution of the sea-ice pack is important for climate effect studies and forecasting purposes. Here we present and evaluate the sea-ice component of a new NEMO-LIM3.6-based ocean-sea-ice setup for the North Sea and Baltic Sea region (NEMO-Nordic). The setup includes a new depth-based fast-ice parametrization for the Baltic Sea. The evaluation focuses on long-term statistics, from a 45-year long hindcast, although short-term daily performance is also briefly evaluated. We show that NEMO-Nordic is well suited for simulating the mean sea-ice extent, concentration, and thickness as compared to the best available observational data set. The variability of the annual maximum Baltic Sea ice extent is well in line with the observations, but the 1961-2006 trend is underestimated. Capturing the correct ice thickness distribution is more challenging. Based on the simulated ice thickness distribution we estimate the undeformed and deformed ice thickness and concentration in the Baltic Sea, which compares reasonably well with observations.

A comprehensive validation toolbox for regional ocean models - Outline, implementation and application to the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jandt, Simon; Laagemaa, Priidik; Janssen, Frank

2014-05-01

The systematic and objective comparison between output from a numerical ocean model and a set of observations, called validation in the context of this presentation, is a beneficial activity at several stages, starting from early steps in model development and ending at the quality control of model based products delivered to customers. Even though the importance of this kind of validation work is widely acknowledged it is often not among the most popular tasks in ocean modelling. In order to ease the validation work a comprehensive toolbox has been developed in the framework of the MyOcean-2 project. The objective of this toolbox is to carry out validation integrating different data sources, e.g. time-series at stations, vertical profiles, surface fields or along track satellite data, with one single program call. The validation toolbox, implemented in MATLAB, features all parts of the validation process - ranging from read-in procedures of datasets to the graphical and numerical output of statistical metrics of the comparison. The basic idea is to have only one well-defined validation schedule for all applications, in which all parts of the validation process are executed. Each part, e.g. read-in procedures, forms a module in which all available functions of this particular part are collected. The interface between the functions, the module and the validation schedule is highly standardized. Functions of a module are set up for certain validation tasks, new functions can be implemented into the appropriate module without affecting the functionality of the toolbox. The functions are assigned for each validation task in user specific settings, which are externally stored in so-called namelists and gather all information of the used datasets as well as paths and metadata. In the framework of the MyOcean-2 project the toolbox is frequently used to validate the forecast products of the Baltic Sea Marine Forecasting Centre. Hereby the performance of any new product

Towards an improved mechanistic understanding of major saltwater inflows into the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höflich, Katharina; Lehmann, Andreas; Myrberg, Kai

2017-04-01

The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed water body connected to the North Sea only via the shallow and narrow Danish Straits. Of special importance to the salinity and oxygen dynamics of the Baltic Sea are major Baltic inflows (or highly saline barotropic inflows), that are the only process to effectively ventilate water masses below the permanent halocline. Their occurrence is typically explained by a sequence of easterly winds over a period of several weeks followed by westerly gales during which the highly saline Kattegat water is pushed over the entrance sills. While this explanation is accurate in a descriptive sense, it does not necessarily serve as sufficient explanation for the occurrence of major Baltic inflows. Recently, attempts were made to understand major Baltic inflows in the context of large barotropic inflows and it was found that a sequence of easterly and westerly circulation types forces not only major Baltic inflows but large barotropic inflows in general. Thus, clarification on the factors that are exclusive to the formation of major Baltic inflows is needed. Based on a realistic numerical ocean model setup of the Baltic Sea system and for the period 1979-2015 we investigate on the important ingredients to the occurrence of major Baltic inflows. The analysis is based on the complete set of large barotropic inflows, and both atmospheric and oceanic factors are covered. We find that both, the salinity in the transition area between the North Sea and Baltic Sea, as well as details in the atmospheric circulation during the event, are of importance to the occurrence of major Baltic inflows. Even though excess river runoff is often held responsible for the occurrence of stagnation periods (i.e. extended periods without the occurrence of major Baltic inflows), attempts to classify its role were not made. Therefore, sensitivity experiments with the strong major Baltic inflow of December 2014 were performed, where river runoff and salinity in the transition

"WWW.MDTF.ORG": a World Wide Web forum for developing open-architecture, freely distributed, digital teaching file software by participant consensus.

PubMed

Katzman, G L; Morris, D; Lauman, J; Cochella, C; Goede, P; Harnsberger, H R

2001-06-01

To foster a community supported evaluation processes for open-source digital teaching file (DTF) development and maintenance. The mechanisms used to support this process will include standard web browsers, web servers, forum software, and custom additions to the forum software to potentially enable a mediated voting protocol. The web server will also serve as a focal point for beta and release software distribution, which is the desired end-goal of this process. We foresee that www.mdtf.org will provide for widespread distribution of open source DTF software that will include function and interface design decisions from community participation on the website forums.

Marine Science and Education in one Word: "planeetzee.org"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seys, J.; Copejans, E.; Ameije, K.

2009-04-01

It is a major challenge to bring science and technology to the public at large and more particular to young people. This is even more true for marine sciences, due to the very nature of the study field and the fact that the underwater world is difficult to experience and communicate. Therefore it is not surprising that in Europe there are only few examples of marine educational projects that try to go beyond the ‘observe and describe' approach. In 2004 SHE Consultancy, the Flanders Marine Institute VLIZ and DAB Vloot developed a first Belgian e-learning programme dedicated to oceans and seas, with the support of the Flemish government ("Action plan Science Communication"). This programme ‘Expedition Zeeleeuw' (www.expeditiezeeleeuw.be), ran from 2005 till 2007 and challenged some 3000 Flemish students of 16-18 years old all over Flanders to find creative solutions for 10 major marine issues at the Belgian coast. The class that could convince the jury to have discovered the most creative and intelligent solutions, wan a one-week scientific expedition at sea on board the vessel Zeeleeuw. As a successor to ‘Expedition Zeeleeuw', a new e-learning project on marine science was developed in 2007: ‘Planeet Zee' i.e. ‘Planet Ocean' (www.planeetzee.org; info via info@planeetzee.org + demo-site in English available at www.planetocean.eu). The new marine and coastal e-learning project is presented as a virtual sailing trip on the Atlantic Ocean. It follows the adventures of two youngsters "borrowing" the yacht of their father and getting into trouble on the open ocean. On this journey they face 21 problems (eg. out of food, drinking water or fuel, fear for whales, Bermuda triangle, tsunami's etc… ), each of them introduced by a short movie clip. When they realize they can not solve the problem, they ask for radio help and - what a surprise! - get interesting answers from the Zeeleeuw research vessel and its 21 marine scientists on board, that appears to be in the

arXiv.org and Physics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramlo, Susan

2007-01-01

The website arXiv.org (pronounced "archive") is a free online resource for full-text articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear science, and quantitative biology that has existed for about 15 years. Available directly at http://www.arXiv.org, this e-print archive is searchable. As of Jan. 3, 2007, arXiv had open…

Collaborative Oceanographic Research Opportunities with Schmidt Ocean Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zykov, V.

2014-12-01

Schmidt Ocean Institute (http://www.schmidtocean.org/) was founded by Dr. Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt in 2009 to support frontier oceanographic research and exploration to expand the understanding of the world's oceans through technological advancement, intelligent, data-rich observation and analysis, and open sharing of information. Schmidt Ocean Institute operates a state-of-the-art globally capable research vessel Falkor (http://www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/47). After two years of scientific operations in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Eastern and Central Pacific, R/V Falkor is now preparing to support research in the Western Pacific and Eastern Indian Oceans in 2015 and 2016. As part of the long term research program development for Schmidt Ocean Institute, we aim to identify initiatives and projects that demonstrate strong alignment with our strategic interests. We focus on scientific opportunities that highlight effective use of innovative technologies to better understand the oceans, such as, for example, research enabled with remotely operated and autonomous vehicles, acoustics, in-situ sensing, telepresence, etc. Our technology-first approach to ocean science gave rise to infrastructure development initiatives, such as the development of a new full ocean depth Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle, new 6000m scientific Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, live HD video streaming from the ship to YouTube, shipboard high performance supercomputing, etc. We also support projects focusing on oceanographic technology research and development onboard R/V Falkor. We provide our collaborators with access to all of R/V Falkor's facilities and instrumentation in exchange for a commitment to make the resulting scientific data openly available to the international oceanographic community. This presentation aims to expand awareness about the interests and capabilities of Schmidt Ocean Institute and R/V Falkor among our scientific audiences and further

A Catalyst for Ocean Acidification Research and Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benway, Heather M.; Cooley, Sarah R.; Doney, Scott C.

2010-03-01

Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Short Course on Ocean Acidification; Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 2-13 November 2009; The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program is a coordinating body for the U.S. research community that focuses on the ocean's role in the global Earth system, bringing together research in geochemistry, ocean physics, and ecology. With support from its federal sponsors (U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) and the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA), the OCB Project Office coordinated and hosted a hands-on ocean acidification short course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The OCB Ocean Acidification Subcommittee (http://www.us-ocb.org/about.html), chaired by Joan Kleypas (National Center for Atmospheric Research) and Richard Feely (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA), provided critical guidance on the course scope, curriculum, and instructors.

Attribution of the 1995 and 2006 storm surge events in the southern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klehmet, K.; Rockel, B.; von Storch, H.

2016-12-01

In November 1995 and 2006, the German Baltic Sea coast experienced severe storm surge conditions. Exceptional water level heights of about 1.8m above mean sea level were measured at German tide gauges. Extreme event attribution poses unique challenges trying to distinguish the role of anthropogenic influence, as e.g. greenhouse gas emissions or land-use changes, from natural variability. This study, which is part of the EUCLEIA project (EUropean CLimate and weather Events: Interpretation and Attribution, www. eucleia.eu), aims to estimate how the contribution of anthropogenic drivers has altered the probability of single extreme events such as the 1995 and 2006 storm surge events. We explore these aspects using two 7-member ensembles of Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 3-A (HadGEM3-A), the atmosphere only component of the HadGEM3, provided by the Met Office Hadley Centre. The ensemble of HadGEM3-A consists of two multi-decadal experiments from 1960-2013 - one with anthropogenic forcing factors and natural forcings representing the actual climate. The second experiment represents the natural climate including only natural forcing factors. These two 7-member ensembles of about 60km spatial resolution are used as atmospheric forcing data to drive the regional ocean model TRIM-NP in order to calculate water level in the Baltic Sea in 12.8km spatial resolution. Findings indicate some limitations of the regional model ensemble to reproduce the magnitude of extreme water levels well. It is tested whether increased spatial resolution of atmospheric forcing fields can improve the representation of Baltic Sea extreme water levels along the coast and thus add value in the attribution analysis.

Baltic Earth - Earth System Science for the Baltic Sea Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, Markus; Rutgersson, Anna; Lehmann, Andreas; Reckermann, Marcus

2014-05-01

The Baltic Sea region, defined as its river catchment basin, spans different climate and population zones, from a temperate, highly populated, industrialized south with intensive agriculture to a boreal, rural north. It encompasses most of the Scandinavian Peninsula in the west; most of Finland and parts of Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic states in the east; and Poland and small parts of Germany and Denmark in the south. The region represents an old cultural landscape, and the Baltic Sea itself is among the most studied sea areas of the world. Baltic Earth is the new Earth system research network for the Baltic Sea region. It is the successor to BALTEX, which was terminated in June 2013 after 20 years and two successful phases. Baltic Earth stands for the vision to achieve an improved Earth system understanding of the Baltic Sea region. This means that the research disciplines of BALTEX continue to be relevant, i.e. atmospheric and climate sciences, hydrology, oceanography and biogeochemistry, but a more holistic view of the Earth system encompassing processes in the atmosphere, on land and in the sea as well as in the anthroposphere shall gain in importance in Baltic Earth. Specific grand research challenges have been formulated, representing interdisciplinary research questions to be tackled in the coming years. A major means will be scientific assessments of particular research topics by expert groups, similar to the BACC approach, which shall help to identify knowledge gaps and develop research strategies. Preliminary grand challenges and topics for which Working Groups have been installed include: • Salinity dynamics in the Baltic Sea • Land-Sea biogeochemical feedbacks in the Baltic Sea region • Natural hazards and extreme events in the Baltic Sea region • Understanding sea level dynamics in the Baltic Sea • Understanding regional variability of water and energy exchange • Utility of Regional Climate Models • Assessment of Scenario Simulations

New bipartisan Senate Oceans Caucus announced

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhlenbrock, Kristan

2011-10-01

The U.S. Senate has a new Oceans Caucus, which held its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, 13 September 2011, when it announced its focus: to “increase awareness and find common ground in responding to issues facing the oceans and coasts, which support millions of jobs in America.” The House of Representatives has had an Oceans Caucus for almost 10 years. Caucus members are listed below. The caucus is looking for additional senators to join, especially those representing the Great Lakes region. If your senators are not members of the caucus and you would like them to be, contact their office and let them know. AGU public affairs can provide you with more information on how to connect with your senators; check us out at http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/

U.S. ocean acidification researchers: First national meeting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooley, Sarah R.; Kleypas, Joan; Benway, Heather

2011-09-01

Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program Ocean Acidification Principal Investigators' Meeting; Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 22-24 March 2011 ; Ocean acidification (OA) is the progressive decrease in seawater pH and change in inorganic carbon chemistry caused by uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Marine species respond to OA in multiple ways that could profoundly alter ocean ecosystems and the goods and services they provide to human communities. With major support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and additional support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Naval Postgraduate School, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Project Office and Ocean Acidification Subcommittee (http://www.us-ocb.org/about/subcommittees.html) held the first multidisciplinary workshop for U.S. OA researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The 112 attendees included ecologists, paleoceanographers, instrumentation specialists, chemists, biologists, economists, ocean and ecosystem modelers, and communications specialists.

Future Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bøssing Christensen, Ole; Kjellström, Erik; Zorita, Eduardo; Sonnenborg, Torben; Meier, Markus; Grinsted, Aslak

2015-04-01

Regional climate models have been used extensively since the first assessment of climate change in the Baltic Sea region published in 2008, not the least for studies of Europe (and including the Baltic Sea catchment area). Therefore, conclusions regarding climate model results have a better foundation than was the case for the first BACC report of 2008. This presentation will report model results regarding future climate. What is the state of understanding about future human-driven climate change? We will cover regional models, statistical downscaling, hydrological modelling, ocean modelling and sea-level change as it is projected for the Baltic Sea region. Collections of regional model simulations from the ENSEMBLES project for example, financed through the European 5th Framework Programme and the World Climate Research Programme Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment, have made it possible to obtain an increasingly robust estimation of model uncertainty. While the first Baltic Sea assessment mainly used four simulations from the European 5th Framework Programme PRUDENCE project, an ensemble of 13 transient regional simulations with twice the horizontal resolution reaching the end of the 21st century has been available from the ENSEMBLES project; therefore it has been possible to obtain more quantitative assessments of model uncertainty. The literature about future climate change in the Baltic Sea region is largely built upon the ENSEMBLES project. Also within statistical downscaling, a considerable number of papers have been published, encompassing now the application of non-linear statistical models, projected changes in extremes and correction of climate model biases. The uncertainty of hydrological change has received increasing attention since the previous Baltic Sea assessment. Several studies on the propagation of uncertainties originating in GCMs, RCMs, and emission scenarios are presented. The number of studies on uncertainties related to

A 35-year hindcast for the Baltic Sea (1980-2014) - a statistical analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gräwe, Ulf; Holtermann, Peter

2015-04-01

The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea with limited water exchange. The most important process that leads to deep water renewal of the Baltic Sea are inflows of dense, saline North Sea water. These water masses have to pass narrow channels and sills in the Danish Straits and three basins with increasing depth. Along this path, the inflowing gravity currents are subject to entrainment, vertical and horizontal mixing. Thus, physical and numerical mixing are crucial for the proper propagation of these inflows. Additionally, a permanent halocline and a summer thermocline are challenging for state of the art ocean models. Moreover, Holtermann et al (2014) could show, that boundary mixing in the deep basins dominates the vertical mixing of tracers. To tackle these challenges, we used the General Estuarine Transport Model (GETM) to give a state estimate for the Baltic Sea for the period 1980-2014. The setup has a horizontal resolution of 1 nm. In the vertical, terain following coordinates are used. A special feature of GETM is that it can run with vertical adaptive coordinates. Here we use an adaptation towards stratification. The minimum layer thickness is limited to 30 cm. We also include the effects of wind waves (by radiation stresses, and changes in the bottom stresses) into our simulations. The atmospheric forcing is taken from the global reanalysis of the NCEP-CFSR (Saha et al 2011) with a spatial resolution of 30 km and hourly values. The model validation at selected stations in the Baltic Sea shows an average Bias of ±0.15 psu and a RMSE of 0.4 psu. These values are similar to the data assimilation runs of Fu et al (2011) or Liu et al (2013). However, one has to note that our simulations are free runs without any nudging or data assimilation. Driven by the good performance of the model, we use the model output to provide a state estimate of the actual climate period (1980-2010). The analysis includes a quantification and estimation of: surge levels with a 30-year

A new website to aid the interpretation of antemortem dental records:www.internationaldentalcharts.org.

PubMed

Manica, Scheila

2014-12-01

The INTERPOL (International Police Organization) Disaster Victim Identification forms represent a global standard for mass disasters and the collection of international ante-mortem dental records. These records can now be interpreted more easily with the help of a new online dictionary of dental terminology for translating dental charts from several languages into English. The free website launched in 2013 (www.internationaldentalcharts.org) is the result of a M.Sc project on international dental charts: Guide of International Dental Charts translated into English decoding international ante-mortem dental charts for INTERPOL's Ante-mortem (AM) Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) forms (Section F2), completed in 2011. The aim of this study was to analyze the tooth numbering system, symbols and abbreviations used on dental charting worldwide. A letter was sent to the national dental associations of the 188 INTERPOL member countries, addressing the goals of the project and asking for samples of dental charts. A total of 45 countries replied and 32 common dental alterations were selected for translation, such as: decay, filling and extraction. Their symbols and/or abbreviations used were summarized in various languages. More than one system of dental notations was used in the same country whereas there was an absence of standard systems in other countries. Some of the samples of charts received were of little value. However, a fair amount of useful information and detail was found in most of them. This free consultation website could be useful when the handwriting, symbols, and abbreviations on the ante-mortem dental charts are not clear. It will be particularly applicable when ante-mortem xrays and casts are not available.

MERIS observations of phytoplankton phenology in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Zhang, Daoxi; Lavender, Samantha; Muller, Jan-Peter; Walton, David; Zou, Xi; Shi, Fang

2018-06-13

The historical data from the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) is an invaluable archive for studying global waters from inland lakes to open oceans. Although the MERIS sensor ceased to operate in April 2012, the data capacities are now re-established through the recently launched Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI). The development of a consistent time series for investigating phytoplankton phenology features is crucial if the potential of MERIS and OLCI data is to be fully exploited for inland water monitoring. This study presents a time series of phytoplankton abundance and bloom spatial extent for the highly eutrophic inland water of the Baltic Sea using the 10-year MERIS archive (2002-2011) and a chlorophyll-a based Summed Positive Peaks (SPP) algorithm. A gradient approach in conjunction with the histogram analysis was used to determine a global threshold from the entire collection of SPP images for identifying phytoplankton blooms. This allows spatio-temporal dynamics of daily bloom coverage, timing, phytoplankton abundance and spatial extent to be investigated for each Baltic basin. Furthermore, a number of meteorological and hydrological variables, including spring excess phosphate, summer sea surface temperature and photosynthetically active radiation, were explored using boosted regression trees and generalised additive models to understand the ecological response of phytoplankton assemblages to environmental perturbations and potential predictor variables of summer blooms. The results indicate that the surface layer excess phosphate available in February and March had paramount importance over all other variables considered in governing summer bloom abundance in the major Baltic basins. This finding allows new insights into the development of early warning systems for summer phytoplankton blooms in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sea spray aerosol fluxes in the Baltic Sea region: Comparison of the WAM model with measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markuszewski, Piotr; Kosecki, Szymon; Petelski, Tomasz

2017-08-01

Sea spray aerosol flux is an important element of sub-regional climate modeling. The majority of works related to this topic concentrate on open ocean research rather than on smaller, inland seas, e.g., the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish inland seas by area, where major inflows of oceanic waters are rare. Furthermore, surface waves in the Baltic Sea have a relatively shorter lifespan in comparison with oceanic waves. Therefore, emission of sea spray aerosol may differ greatly from what is known from oceanic research and should be investigated. This article presents a comparison of sea spray aerosol measurements carried out on-board the s/y Oceania research ship with data calculated in accordance to the WAM model. The measurements were conducted in the southern region of the Baltic Sea during four scientific cruises. The gradient method was used to determinate aerosol fluxes. The fluxes were calculated for particles of diameter in range of 0.5-47 μm. The correlation between wind speed measured and simulated has a good agreement (correlation in range of 0.8). The comparison encompasses three different sea spray generation models. First, function proposed by Massel (2006) which is based only on wave parameters, such as significant wave height and peak frequency. Second, Callaghan (2013) which is based on Gong (2003) model (wind speed relation), and a thorough experimental analysis of whitecaps. Third, Petelski et al. (2014) which is based on in-situ gradient measurements with the function dependent on wind speed. The two first models which based on whitecaps analysis are insufficient. Moreover, the research shows strong relation between aerosol emission and wind speed history.

Regional genetic differentiation in the blue mussel from the Baltic Sea area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsson, J.; Lind, E. E.; Corell, H.; Grahn, M.; Smolarz, K.; Lönn, M.

2017-08-01

Connectivity plays an important role in shaping the genetic structure and in evolution of local adaptation. In the marine environment barriers to gene flow are in most cases caused by gradients in environmental factors, ocean circulation and/or larval behavior. Despite the long pelagic larval stages, with high potential for dispersal many marine organisms have been shown to have a fine scale genetic structuring. In this study, by using a combination of high-resolution genetic markers, species hybridization data and biophysical modeling we can present a comprehensive picture of the evolutionary landscape for a keystone species in the Baltic Sea, the blue mussel. We identified distinct genetic differentiation between the West Coast, Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea regions, with lower gene diversity in the Bothnian Sea. Oceanographic connectivity together with salinity and to some extent species identity provides explanations for the genetic differentiation between the West Coast and the Baltic Sea (Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea). The genetic differentiation between the Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea cannot be directly explained by oceanographic connectivity, species identity or salinity, while the lower connectivity to the Bothnian Sea may explain the lower gene diversity.

Towards uncertainty estimation for operational forecast products - a multi-model-ensemble approach for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Golbeck, Inga; Li, Xin; Janssen, Frank

2014-05-01

Several independent operational ocean models provide forecasts of the ocean state (e.g. sea level, temperature, salinity and ice cover) in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea on a daily basis. These forecasts are the primary source of information for a variety of information and emergency response systems used e.g. to issue sea level warnings or carry out oil drift forecast. The forecasts are of course highly valuable as such, but often suffer from a lack of information on their uncertainty. With the aim of augmenting the existing operational ocean forecasts in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea by a measure of uncertainty a multi-model-ensemble (MME) system for sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS) and water transports has been set up in the framework of the MyOcean-2 project. Members of MyOcean-2, the NOOS² and HIROMB/BOOS³ communities provide 48h-forecasts serving as inputs. Different variables are processed separately due to their different physical characteristics. Based on the so far collected daily MME products of SST and SSS, a statistical method, Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis is applied to assess their spatial and temporal variability. For sea surface currents, progressive vector diagrams at specific points are consulted to estimate the performance of the circulation models especially in hydrodynamic important areas, e.g. inflow/outflow of the Baltic Sea, Norwegian trench and English Channel. For further versions of the MME system, it is planned to extend the MME to other variables like e.g. sea level, ocean currents or ice cover based on the needs of the model providers and their customers. It is also planned to include in-situ data to augment the uncertainty information and for validation purposes. Additionally, weighting methods will be implemented into the MME system to develop more complex uncertainty measures. The methodology used to create the MME will be outlined and different ensemble products will be presented. In

DMI's Baltic Sea Coastal operational forecasting system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murawski, Jens; Berg, Per; Weismann Poulsen, Jacob

2017-04-01

Operational forecasting is challenged with bridging the gap between the large scales of the driving weather systems and the local, human scales of the model applications. The limit of what can be represented by local model has been continuously shifted to higher and higher spatial resolution, with the aim to better resolve the local dynamic and to make it possible to describe processes that could only be parameterised in older versions, with the ultimate goal to improve the quality of the forecast. Current hardware trends demand a str onger focus on the development of efficient, highly parallelised software and require a refactoring of the code with a solid focus on portable performance. The gained performance can be used for running high resolution model with a larger coverage. Together with the development of efficient two-way nesting routines, this has made it possible to approach the near-coastal zone with model applications that can run in a time effective way. Denmarks Meteorological Institute uses the HBM(1) ocean circulation model for applications that covers the entire Baltic Sea and North Sea with an integrated model set-up that spans the range of horizontal resolution from 1nm for the entire Baltic Sea to approx. 200m resolution in local fjords (Limfjord). For the next model generation, the high resolution set-ups are going to be extended and new high resolution domains in coastal zones are either implemented or tested for operational use. For the first time it will be possible to cover large stretches of the Baltic coastal zone with sufficiently high resolution to model the local hydrodynamic adequately. (1) HBM stands for HIROMB-BOOS-Model, whereas HIROMB stands for "High Resolution Model for the Baltic Sea" and BOOS stands for "Baltic Operational Oceanography System".

Baltic Development and Engagement with the Commonwealth of Independent States

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-19

of theory are interrelated, changes in one can influence the others. Immanuel Kant is one of the founders of modern liberalism. In his treatises on...Organizations (New York: Norton, 2001), 9. 7 Immanuel Kant , “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,” available from <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel...the real power politics in the Baltics. Conflict Studies Research Centre, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 2002. Kant , Immanuel Perpetual Peace: A

Deoxygenation of the Baltic Sea during the last century

PubMed Central

Carstensen, Jacob; Andersen, Jesper H.; Gustafsson, Bo G.; Conley, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

Deoxygenation is a global problem in coastal and open regions of the ocean, and has led to expanding areas of oxygen minimum zones and coastal hypoxia. The recent expansion of hypoxia in coastal ecosystems has been primarily attributed to global warming and enhanced nutrient input from land and atmosphere. The largest anthropogenically induced hypoxic area in the world is the Baltic Sea, where the relative importance of physical forcing versus eutrophication is still debated. We have analyzed water column oxygen and salinity profiles to reconstruct oxygen and stratification conditions over the last 115 y and compare the influence of both climate and anthropogenic forcing on hypoxia. We report a 10-fold increase of hypoxia in the Baltic Sea and show that this is primarily linked to increased inputs of nutrients from land, although increased respiration from higher temperatures during the last two decades has contributed to worsening oxygen conditions. Although shifts in climate and physical circulation are important factors modulating the extent of hypoxia, further nutrient reductions in the Baltic Sea will be necessary to reduce the ecosystems impacts of deoxygenation. PMID:24706804

Attorneys for the Ocean - Graduate Training in the Transatlantic Helmholtz Research School for Ocean System Science and Technology (HOSST/TOSST)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Bogaard, Christel; Dullo, Christian; Devey, Colin; Kienast, Markus; Wallace, Douglas

2016-04-01

ideological and institutional boundaries. The combination of both will define the spirit of cross-disciplinary research that HOSST and TOSST fellows are expected to imbibe. Initiated in 2012, the joint school currently has 38 PhD students on both sides of the Atlantic. The students are jointly supervised by Canadian and German PI's, and take part in 4 to 6-month research stays at the partner institutes, weekly seminars, annual summer schools and meetings, as well as in structured training in expert and transferable skills. An early contact with the job market outside academia and applied sciences is fostered. Further details about HOSST/TOSST are available at: www.HOSST.org; www.TOSST.org

Structure and functioning of the acid-base system in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuliński, Karol; Schneider, Bernd; Szymczycha, Beata; Stokowski, Marcin

2017-12-01

The marine acid-base system is relatively well understood for oceanic waters. Its structure and functioning is less obvious for the coastal and shelf seas due to a number of regionally specific anomalies. In this review article we collect and integrate existing knowledge of the acid-base system in the Baltic Sea. Hydrographical and biogeochemical characteristics of the Baltic Sea, as manifested in horizontal and vertical salinity gradients, permanent stratification of the water column, eutrophication, high organic-matter concentrations and high anthropogenic pressure, make the acid-base system complex. In this study, we summarize the general knowledge of the marine acid-base system as well as describe the peculiarities identified and reported for the Baltic Sea specifically. In this context we discuss issues such as dissociation constants in brackish water, different chemical alkalinity models including contributions by organic acid-base systems, long-term changes in total alkalinity, anomalies of borate alkalinity, and the acid-base effects of biomass production and mineralization. Finally, we identify research gaps and specify limitations concerning the Baltic Sea acid-base system.

Salinity and hypoxia in the Baltic Sea since A.D. 1500

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansson, Daniel; Gustafsson, Erik

2011-03-01

Over the past century, large salinity variability and deteriorating oxygen conditions have been observed in the Baltic Sea. These long-term changes were investigated in the central Baltic Sea using an ocean climate model with meteorological forcing based on seasonal temperature and pressure reconstructions covering the period 1500-1995. The results indicate that the salinity has slowly increased by 0.5 salinity units since 1500, peaking in the middle eighteenth century. Oxygen concentration is negatively correlated with salinity in the major part of the water column, indicating improved ventilation during a fresher state of the Baltic Sea. It is suggested that anoxic conditions have occurred in the deep water several times per century since 1500. However, since the middle twentieth century, increased oxygen consumption that is most likely the effect of anthropogenic nutrient release has resulted in a persistent oxygen deficiency in the water below 125 m. Within the limitations of our model formulation we suggest that the contemporary severe oxygen conditions are unprecedented since 1500.

Application of a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model to the Himmerfjärden, Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolov, Alexander

2014-05-01

Himmerfjärden is a coastal fjord-like bay situated in the north-western part of the Baltic Sea. The fjord has a mean depth of 17 m and a maximum depth of 52 m. The water is brackish (6 psu) with small salinity fluctuation (±2 psu). A sewage treatment plant, which serves about 300 000 people, discharges into the inner part of Himmerfjärden. This area is the subject of a long-term monitoring program. We are planning to develop a publicly available modelling system for this area, which will perform short-term forecast predictions of pertinent parameters (e.g., water-levels, currents, salinity, temperature) and disseminate them to users. A key component of the system is a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The open source Delft3D Flow system (http://www.deltaressystems.com/hydro) has been applied to model the Himmerfjärden area. Two different curvilinear grids were used to approximate the modelling domain (25 km × 50 km × 60 m). One grid has low horizontal resolution (cell size varies from 250 to 450 m) to perform long-term numerical experiments (modelling period of several months), while another grid has higher resolution (cell size varies from 120 to 250 m) to model short-term situations. In vertical direction both z-level (50 layers) and sigma coordinate (20 layers) were used. Modelling results obtained with different horizontal resolution and vertical discretisation will be presented. This model will be a part of the operational system which provides automated integration of data streams from several information sources: meteorological forecast based on the HIRLAM model from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/open-data), oceanographic forecast based on the HIROMB-BOOS Model developed within the Baltic community and provided by the MyOcean Project (http://www.myocean.eu), riverine discharge from the HYPE model provided by the Swedish Meteorological Hydrological Institute (http://vattenwebb.smhi.se/modelarea/).

Climate change can cause complex responses in Baltic Sea macroalgae: A systematic review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takolander, Antti; Cabeza, Mar; Leskinen, Elina

2017-05-01

Estuarine macroalgae are important primary producers in aquatic ecosystems, and often foundation species providing structurally complex habitat. Climate change alters many abiotic factors that affect their long-term persistence and distribution. Here, we review the existing scientific literature on the tolerance of key macroalgal species in the Baltic Sea, the world's largest brackish water body. Elevated temperature is expected to intensify coastal eutrophication, further promoting growth of opportunistic, filamentous species, especially green algae, which are often species associated with intensive filamentous algal blooms. Declining salinities will push the distributions of marine species towards south, which may alter the Baltic Sea community compositions towards a more limnic state. Together with increasing eutrophication trends this may cause losses in marine-originating foundation species such as Fucus, causing severe biodiversity impacts. Experimental results on ocean acidification effects on macroalgae are mixed, with only few studies conducted in the Baltic Sea. We conclude that climate change can alter the structure and functioning of macroalgal ecosystems especially in the northern Baltic coastal areas, and can potentially act synergistically with eutrophication. We briefly discuss potential adaptation measures.

[New international networks in radiology graduate and continuing education: www.eurorad.org--a EAR Project for online publication of radiological data].

PubMed

Vorwerk, D

2002-02-01

Eurorad (www.eurorad.org) is a joint project of EAR and has support of 27 national and 8 subspeciality radiology societies. Eurorad is the first noncommercial radiological publication that is exclusively based on the internet as a communication line with all steps of submission, reviewing and publication being performed online. Eurorad wants to build up a huge and exhaustive case file of diagnostic and interventional radiology. Like all scientific publications, Eurorad bases on an editor in chief and 13 section editors who are responsible for organizing each section of Eurorad. Each section has a number of peer reviewer with an overall total of more than 100. For submission and publication, all cases are structured in the same manner with case report, method and discussion. For the time being, Eurorad hosts 779 cases, of whom 346 are free available on the net. The actual rejection rate is 4.5%, other cases are under review.

Nutrient transports in the Baltic Sea - results from a 30-year physical-biogeochemical reanalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ye; Meier, H. E. Markus; Eilola, Kari

2017-04-01

Long-term oxygen and nutrient transports in the Baltic Sea are reconstructed using the Swedish Coastal and Ocean Biogeochemical model (SCOBI) coupled to the Rossby Centre Ocean model (RCO). Two simulations with and without data assimilation covering the period 1970-1999 are carried out. Here, the weakly coupled scheme with the Ensemble Optimal Interpolation (EnOI) method is adopted to assimilate observed profiles in the reanalysis system. The reanalysis shows considerable improvement in the simulation of both oxygen and nutrient concentrations relative to the free run. Further, the results suggest that the assimilation of biogeochemical observations has a significant effect on the simulation of the oxygen-dependent dynamics of biogeochemical cycles. From the reanalysis, nutrient transports between sub-basins, between the coastal zone and the open sea, and across latitudinal and longitudinal cross sections are calculated. Further, the spatial distributions of regions with nutrient import or export are examined. Our results emphasize the important role of the Baltic proper for the entire Baltic Sea, with large net transport (export minus import) of nutrients from the Baltic proper into the surrounding sub-basins (except the net phosphorus import from the Gulf of Riga and the net nitrogen import from the Gulf of Riga and Danish Straits). In agreement with previous studies, we found that the Bothnian Sea imports large amounts of phosphorus from the Baltic proper that are retained in this sub-basin. For the calculation of sub-basin budgets, the location of the lateral borders of the sub-basins is crucial, because net transports may change sign with the location of the border. Although the overall transport patterns resemble the results of previous studies, our calculated estimates differ in detail considerably.

The radiopurity.org material database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooley, J.; Loach, J. C.; Poon, A. W. P.

2018-01-01

The database at http://www.radiopurity.org is the world's largest public database of material radio-purity mea-surements. These measurements are used by members of the low-background physics community to build experiments that search for neutrinos, neutrinoless double-beta decay, WIMP dark matter, and other exciting physics. This paper summarizes the current status and the future plan of this database.

Promoting Ocean Literacy through American Meteorological Society Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, Michael; Abshire, Wendy; Weinbeck, Robert; Geer, Ira; Mills, Elizabeth

2017-04-01

American Meteorological Society Education Programs provide course materials, online and physical resources, educator instruction, and specialized training in ocean, weather, and climate sciences (https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/). Ocean Science literacy efforts are supported through the Maury Project, DataStreme Ocean, and AMS Ocean Studies. The Maury Project is a summer professional development program held at the US Naval Academy designed to enhance effective teaching of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics of oceanography. DataStreme Ocean is a semester-long course offered twice a year to participants nationwide. Created and sustained with major support from NOAA, DS Ocean explores key concepts in marine geology, physical and chemical oceanography, marine biology, and climate change. It utilizes electronically-transmitted text readings, investigations and current environmental data. AMS Ocean Studies provides complete packages for undergraduate courses. These include online textbooks, investigations manuals, RealTime Ocean Portal (course website), and course management system-compatible files. It can be offered in traditional lecture/laboratory, completely online, and hybrid learning environments. Assistance from AMS staff and other course users is available.

Baltic Linguistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magner, Thomas F., Ed.; Schmalstieg, William R., Ed.

The 20 papers in this collection are: "The Dative of Subordination in Baltic and Slavic"--H. Andersen; "The Vocalic Phonemes of the Old Prussian Elbing Vocabulary"--M.L. Burwell; "The Nominative Plural and Preterit Singular of the Active Participles in Baltic"--W. Cowgill; "The State of Linguistics in Soviet…

Thanks to 70 years of Inter American Statistical cooperation, the world's largest integrated census microdata dissemination site www.ipums.org/international.

PubMed

McCAA, Robert

2013-06-01

Seventy years of Inter American Statistical cooperation, symbolized by the 70 th anniversary of Estadística , made possible the construction of IPUMS-International, the world's largest integrated census microdata dissemination site, www.ipums.org/international. Currently, the site offers access to 238 samples totaling over 540 million person records representing 74 countries. The Americas, which account for only about one-seventh of the world's population, amount to over one-third (36%) of the person records in the IPUMS-International database. Likewise, 35% of the citations in the IPUMS-International bibliography are for studies focused on Latin America, with about half of these analyzing a single Latin American country. This article discusses salient features of the IPUMS integration methods and system. National Statistical Institutes that have not yet entrusted 2010 census microdata to the initiative are invited to do so. Researchers and teachers are invited to use the data freely in analysis and teaching. Setenta años de cooperación estadística inter-Americana, simbolizada por el 70 aniversario de la revista Estadística , han hecho posible la construcción de IPUMS-internacional, la base en línea de microdatos censales harmonizados más grande del mundo, www.ipums.org/international. Actualmente, IPUMS proporciona acceso a 238 muestras con más de 540 millones de registros individuales de 74 países. Las Américas, que albergan una séptima parte de la población mundial, representan más de un tercio (36%) de todos los registros individuales en la base de datos IPUMS-internacional. Asimismo, el 35% de todas las referencias en la bibliografía de IPUMS son de estudios realizados sobre América Latina, la mitad de éstas basadas en un sólo país de la región. Este artículo presenta las principales características del sistema de integración y difusión de datos de IPUMS. Los Institutos Nacionales de Estadísticas que todavía no ha entregado la muestra

The Baltic Sea natural long-term variability of salinity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schimanke, Semjon; Markus Meier, H. E.

2015-04-01

The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish sea areas of the world. The sensitive state of the Baltic Sea is sustained by a fresh-water surplus by river discharge and precipitation on one hand as well as inflows of highly saline and oxygen-rich water masses from the North Sea on the other. Major inflows which are crucial for the renewal of the deep water occur very intermittent with a mean frequency of approximately one per year. Stagnation periods (periods without major inflows) lead for instance to a reduction of oxygen concentration in the deep Baltic Sea spreading hypoxic conditions. Depending on the amount of salt water inflow and fresh-water supply the deep water salinity of the Baltic Sea varies between 11 to 14 PSU on the decadal scale. The goal of this study is to understand the contribution of different driving factors for the decadal to multi-decadal variability of salinity in the Baltic Sea. Continuous measurement series of salinity exist from the 1950 but are not sufficiently long for the investigation of long-term fluctuations. Therefore, a climate simulation of more than 800 years has been carried out with the Rossby Center Ocean model (RCO). RCO is a biogeochemical regional climate model which covers the entire Baltic Sea. It is driven with atmospheric data dynamical downscaled from a GCM mimicking natural climate variability. The analysis focus on the role of variations in river discharge and precipitation, changes in wind speed and direction, fluctuations in temperature and shifts in large scale pressure patterns (e.g. NAO). Hereby, the length of the simulation will allow to identify mechanisms working on decadal to multi-decadal time scales. Moreover, it will be discussed how likely long stagnation periods are under natural climate variability and if the observed exceptional long stagnation period between 1983-1993 might be related to beginning climate change.

Giving advice on cost effective measures for a cleaner Baltic Sea: a challenge for science.

PubMed

Wulff, F; Bonsdorff, E; Gren, I M; Johansson, S; Stigebrandt, A

2001-08-01

The Baltic Sea is one of the world's seas that is most severely affected by human activities. Although there is an international agreement that nutrient input to the Baltic should be reduced, the measures taken so far have not resulted in major reductions in nutrient inputs nor in environmental improvements. The reasons for this are partly due to lack of knowledge on large-scale relationships and couplings between physics, biogeochemistry and ecological properties. But there is also a lack of overall drainage basin-wide analyses on cost-effective measures. There is a danger in making the wrong decisions, e.g. implement reduction schemes that are at worst ineffective or at best, far from cost effective. Researchers from many disciplines are faced with a common challenge: To develop a decision-support system, which can be used as the scientific base for cost-effective measures for the entire Baltic Sea. Such an effort is now being made within the research program MARE (http://www.mare.su.se).

Activation of the marine ecosystem model 3D CEMBS for the Baltic Sea in operational mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzierzbicka-Glowacka, Lidia; Jakacki, Jaromir; Janecki, Maciej; Nowicki, Artur

2013-04-01

The paper presents a new marine ecosystem model 3D CEMBS designed for the Baltic Sea. The ecosystem model is incorporated into the 3D POPCICE ocean-ice model. The Current Baltic Sea model is based on the Community Earth System Model (CESM from the National Center for Atmospheric Research) which was adapted for the Baltic Sea as a coupled sea-ice model. It consists of the Community Ice Code (CICE model, version 4.0) and the Parallel Ocean Program (version 2.1). The ecosystem model is a biological submodel of the 3D CEMBS. It consists of eleven mass conservation equations. There are eleven partial second-order differential equations of the diffusion type with the advective term for phytoplankton, zooplankton, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved and particulate organic matter. This model is an effective tool for solving the problem of ecosystem bioproductivity. The model is forced by 48-hour atmospheric forecasts provided by the UM model from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling of Warsaw University (ICM). The study was financially supported by the Polish State Committee of Scientific Research (grants: No N N305 111636, N N306 353239). The partial support for this study was also provided by the project Satellite Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Environment - SatBaltyk founded by European Union through European Regional Development Fund contract no. POIG 01.01.02-22-011/09. Calculations were carried out at the Academy Computer Centre in Gdańsk.

Producing a Climate-Quality Database of Global Upper Ocean Profile Temperatures - The IQuOD (International Quality-controlled Ocean Database) Project.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprintall, J.; Cowley, R.; Palmer, M. D.; Domingues, C. M.; Suzuki, T.; Ishii, M.; Boyer, T.; Goni, G. J.; Gouretski, V. V.; Macdonald, A. M.; Thresher, A.; Good, S. A.; Diggs, S. C.

2016-02-01

Historical ocean temperature profile observations provide a critical element for a host of ocean and climate research activities. These include providing initial conditions for seasonal-to-decadal prediction systems, evaluating past variations in sea level and Earth's energy imbalance, ocean state estimation for studying variability and change, and climate model evaluation and development. The International Quality controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD) initiative represents a community effort to create the most globally complete temperature profile dataset, with (intelligent) metadata and assigned uncertainties. With an internationally coordinated effort organized by oceanographers, with data and ocean instrumentation expertise, and in close consultation with end users (e.g., climate modelers), the IQuOD initiative will assess and maximize the potential of an irreplaceable collection of ocean temperature observations (tens of millions of profiles collected at a cost of tens of billions of dollars, since 1772) to fulfil the demand for a climate-quality global database that can be used with greater confidence in a vast range of climate change related research and services of societal benefit. Progress towards version 1 of the IQuOD database, ongoing and future work will be presented. More information on IQuOD is available at www.iquod.org.

Composition and transformation of dissolved organic matter in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seidel, Michael; Manecki, Marcus; Herlemann, Daniel P. R.; Deutsch, Barbara; Schulz-Bull, Detlef; Jürgens, Klaus; Dittmar, Thorsten

2017-05-01

The processing of terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) in coastal shelf seas is an important part of the global carbon cycle, yet, it is still not well understood. One of the largest brackish shelf seas, the Baltic Sea in northern Europe, is characterized by high freshwater input from sub-arctic rivers and limited water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean via the North Sea. We studied the molecular and isotopic composition and turnover of solid-phase extractable (SPE) DOM and its transformation along the salinity and redox continuum of the Baltic Sea during spring and autumn. We applied ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and other geochemical and biological approaches. Our data demonstrate a large influx of terrestrial riverine DOM, especially into the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The DOM composition in the central Baltic Sea changed seasonally and was mainly related to autochthonous production by phytoplankton in spring. Especially in the northern, river-dominated basins, a major fraction of riverine DOM was removed, likely by bio- and photo-degradation. We estimate that the removal rate of terrestrial DOM in the Baltic Sea (Bothnian Bay to the Danish Straits/Kattegat area) is 1.6 - 1.9 Tg C per year which is 43 to 51% of the total riverine input. The export of terrestrial DOM from the Danish Straits/Kattegat area towards the North Sea is 1.8 - 2.1 Tg C per year. Due to the long residence time of terrestrial DOM in the Baltic Sea (total of ca. 12 years), seasonal variations caused by bio- and photo-transformations and riverine discharge are dampened, resulting in a relatively invariant DOM molecular and isotopic signature exported to the North Sea. In the deep stagnant basins of the Baltic Sea, the DOM composition and dissolved organic nitrogen concentrations changed seasonally, likely because of vertical particle transport and subsequent degradation releasing DOM. DOM in the deep anoxic basins was also enriched in sulfur-containing organic molecules

Update on TAO moored ORG array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freitag, H. Paul

1994-01-01

During the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) six TAO moorings were equipped with optical rain gauges (ORG's). In late 1993 moorings deployed on the equator at 154E and 157.5E were recovered and not redeployed as they were augmentations to the TAO array for COARE only. In December 1993, four TAO moorings were equipped with ORG's: one each at 2N, 156E and 2S, 156E and ORG doublets on the equator at 0, 156E and 0, 165E. The 2N, 156E mooring has been lost. By the end of April all sites will have been serviced and six refurbished sensors will again be deployed in the same locations.

Effect of ocean acidification and elevated fCO2 on trace gas production by a Baltic Sea summer phytoplankton community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webb, Alison L.; Leedham-Elvidge, Emma; Hughes, Claire; Hopkins, Frances E.; Malin, Gill; Bach, Lennart T.; Schulz, Kai; Crawfurd, Kate; Brussaard, Corina P. D.; Stuhr, Annegret; Riebesell, Ulf; Liss, Peter S.

2016-08-01

The Baltic Sea is a unique environment as the largest body of brackish water in the world. Acidification of the surface oceans due to absorption of anthropogenic CO2 emissions is an additional stressor facing the pelagic community of the already challenging Baltic Sea. To investigate its impact on trace gas biogeochemistry, a large-scale mesocosm experiment was performed off Tvärminne Research Station, Finland, in summer 2012. During the second half of the experiment, dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations in the highest-fCO2 mesocosms (1075-1333 µatm) were 34 % lower than at ambient CO2 (350 µatm). However, the net production (as measured by concentration change) of seven halocarbons analysed was not significantly affected by even the highest CO2 levels after 5 weeks' exposure. Methyl iodide (CH3I) and diiodomethane (CH2I2) showed 15 and 57 % increases in mean mesocosm concentration (3.8 ± 0.6 increasing to 4.3 ± 0.4 pmol L-1 and 87.4 ± 14.9 increasing to 134.4 ± 24.1 pmol L-1 respectively) during Phase II of the experiment, which were unrelated to CO2 and corresponded to 30 % lower Chl a concentrations compared to Phase I. No other iodocarbons increased or showed a peak, with mean chloroiodomethane (CH2ClI) concentrations measured at 5.3 (±0.9) pmol L-1 and iodoethane (C2H5I) at 0.5 (±0.1) pmol L-1. Of the concentrations of bromoform (CHBr3; mean 88.1 ± 13.2 pmol L-1), dibromomethane (CH2Br2; mean 5.3 ± 0.8 pmol L-1), and dibromochloromethane (CHBr2Cl, mean 3.0 ± 0.5 pmol L-1), only CH2Br2 showed a decrease of 17 % between Phases I and II, with CHBr3 and CHBr2Cl showing similar mean concentrations in both phases. Outside the mesocosms, an upwelling event was responsible for bringing colder, high-CO2, low-pH water to the surface starting on day t16 of the experiment; this variable CO2 system with frequent upwelling events implies that the community of the Baltic Sea is acclimated to regular significant declines in pH caused by up to 800 µatm fCO2. After

Thanks to 70 years of Inter American Statistical cooperation, the world’s largest integrated census microdata dissemination site www.ipums.org/international

PubMed Central

McCAA, ROBERT

2014-01-01

Seventy years of Inter American Statistical cooperation, symbolized by the 70th anniversary of Estadística, made possible the construction of IPUMS-International, the world’s largest integrated census microdata dissemination site, www.ipums.org/international. Currently, the site offers access to 238 samples totaling over 540 million person records representing 74 countries. The Americas, which account for only about one-seventh of the world’s population, amount to over one-third (36%) of the person records in the IPUMS-International database. Likewise, 35% of the citations in the IPUMS-International bibliography are for studies focused on Latin America, with about half of these analyzing a single Latin American country. This article discusses salient features of the IPUMS integration methods and system. National Statistical Institutes that have not yet entrusted 2010 census microdata to the initiative are invited to do so. Researchers and teachers are invited to use the data freely in analysis and teaching. Setenta años de cooperación estadística inter-Americana, simbolizada por el 70 aniversario de la revista Estadística, han hecho posible la construcción de IPUMS-internacional, la base en línea de microdatos censales harmonizados más grande del mundo, www.ipums.org/international. Actualmente, IPUMS proporciona acceso a 238 muestras con más de 540 millones de registros individuales de 74 países. Las Américas, que albergan una séptima parte de la población mundial, representan más de un tercio (36%) de todos los registros individuales en la base de datos IPUMS-internacional. Asimismo, el 35% de todas las referencias en la bibliografía de IPUMS son de estudios realizados sobre América Latina, la mitad de éstas basadas en un sólo país de la región. Este artículo presenta las principales características del sistema de integración y difusión de datos de IPUMS. Los Institutos Nacionales de Estadísticas que todavía no ha entregado la muestra

An interactive HTML ocean nowcast GUI based on Perl and JavaScript

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakalaukus, Peter J.; Fox, Daniel N.; Louise Perkins, A.; Smedstad, Lucy F.

1999-02-01

We describe the use of Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), JavaScript code, and Perl I/O to create and validate forms in an Internet-based graphical user interface (GUI) for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Ocean models and Assimilation Demonstration System (NOMADS). The resulting nowcast system can be operated from any compatible browser across the Internet, for although the GUI was prepared in a Netscape browser, it used no Netscape extensions. Code available at: http://www.iamg.org/CGEditor/index.htm

11th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: Our Changing Oceans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peter Saundry

2012-04-17

On January 19-21, 2011, The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) successfully convened its 11th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Our Changing Oceans in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Over 1,247 participants attended the conference, representing federal, state and local governments, university and colleges across the US, civil society organizations, the business community, and international entities. In addition, the conference was webcast to an audience across several states. The conference provided a forum to examine the profound changes our ocean will undergo over the next 25-50 years and sharemore » various perspectives on the new research, tools, and policy initiatives to protect and sustain our ocean. Conference highlights and recommendations are available to the public on NCSE's conference website, www.OurChangingOceans.org.« less

Ocean acidification and desalination: climate-driven change in a Baltic Sea summer microplanktonic community.

PubMed

Wulff, Angela; Karlberg, Maria; Olofsson, Malin; Torstensson, Anders; Riemann, Lasse; Steinhoff, Franciska S; Mohlin, Malin; Ekstrand, Nina; Chierici, Melissa

2018-01-01

Helcom scenario modelling suggests that the Baltic Sea, one of the largest brackish-water bodies in the world, could expect increased precipitation (decreased salinity) and increased concentration of atmospheric CO 2 over the next 100 years. These changes are expected to affect the microplanktonic food web, and thereby nutrient and carbon cycling, in a complex and possibly synergistic manner. In the Baltic Proper, the extensive summer blooms dominated by the filamentous cyanobacteria Aphanizomenon sp., Dolichospermum spp. and the toxic Nodularia spumigena contribute up to 30% of the yearly new nitrogen and carbon exported to the sediment. In a 12 days outdoor microcosm experiment, we tested the combined effects of decreased salinity (from 6 to 3) and elevated CO 2 concentrations (380 and 960 µatm) on a natural summer microplanktonic community, focusing on diazotrophic filamentous cyanobacteria. Elevated p CO 2 had no significant effects on the natural microplanktonic community except for higher biovolume of Dolichospermum spp. and lower biomass of heterotrophic bacteria. At the end of the experimental period, heterotrophic bacterial abundance was correlated to the biovolume of N. spumigena. Lower salinity significantly affected cyanobacteria together with biovolumes of dinoflagellates, diatoms, ciliates and heterotrophic bacteria, with higher biovolume of Dolichospermum spp. and lower biovolume of N. spumigena , dinoflagellates, diatoms, ciliates and heterotrophic bacteria in reduced salinity. Although the salinity effects on diatoms were apparent, they could not clearly be separated from the influence of inorganic nutrients. We found a clear diurnal cycle in photosynthetic activity and pH, but without significant treatment effects. The same diurnal pattern was also observed in situ ( p CO 2 , pH). Thus, considering the Baltic Proper, we do not expect any dramatic effects of increased p CO 2 in combination with decreased salinity on the microplanktonic food web

Lower paleozoic of Baltic Area

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haselton, T.M.; Surlyk, F.

The Baltic Sea offers a new and exciting petroleum play in northwestern Europe. The Kaliningrad province in the Soviet Union, which borders the Baltic Sea to the east, contains an estimated 3.5 billion bbl of recoverable oil from lower Paleozoic sandstones. To the south, in Poland, oil and gas fields are present along a trend that projects offshore into the Baltic. Two recent Petrobaltic wells in the southern Baltic have tested hydrocarbons from lower Paleozoic sandstone. Minor production comes from Ordovician reefs on the Swedish island of Gotland in the western Baltic. The Baltic synclise, which began subsiding in themore » late Precambrian, is a depression in the East European platform. Strate dip gently to the south where the Baltic Synclise terminates against a structurally complex border zone. Depth to the metamorphosed Precambrian basement is up to 4,000 m. Overlying basement is 200-300 m of upper Precambrian arkosic sandstone. The Lower Cambrian consists of shallow marine quartzites. During Middle and Late Camnbrian, restricted circulation resulted in anoxic conditions and the deposition of Alum shale. The Lower Ordovician consists of quartzites and shale. The Upper Ordovician includes sandstones and algal reefs. The Silurian contains marginal carbonates and shales. For the last 25 years, exploration in northwest Europe has concentrated on well-known Permian sandstone, Jurassic sandstone, and Cretaceous chalk plays. Extrapolation of trends known and exploited in eastern Europe could open an entirely new oil province in the lower Paleozoic in the Baltic.« less

Investigation of PCB Release Rates from Selected Shipboard Solid Materials Under Laboratory-Simulated Shallow Ocean (Artificial Reef) Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-04-01

11August 2000, Honolulu, HI. http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Plastics-Impacts-Marine-Andrady6aug00.htm Atlas , R. M. and R. Bartha . 1998. Microbial ...1981; Andrady, 2000; Atlas and Bartha , 1998; Colton, Knapp, and Burns, 1974; Cundell, 1974; Gregory and Andrady, 2003; Heap and Morrell, 1968...represent environmentally significant (toxicologically persistent) PCBs to assess ecological and human health risks. Total PCBs (tPCBs) were empirically

Biomagnification of PBDEs and PCBs in food webs from the Baltic Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean.

PubMed

Burreau, Sven; Zebühr, Yngve; Broman, Dag; Ishaq, Rasha

2006-08-01

Biomagnification of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) in food webs from the Baltic Sea and the northern Atlantic Sea was investigated. For this, we used PCB and PBDE concentration data, together with data on fish body weight and delta15N of fish and zooplankton as a measure of trophic position. In the Baltic Sea material, consisting of zooplankton, sprat, herring and salmon, we report biomagnification of all PCB congeners but PCB #209 and of PBDEs with 3-6 or 7 bromine atoms. Higher brominated PBDEs and PCB 209 did not biomagnify likely due to their high molecular weights or sizes and subsequent inefficient dietary uptake in fish. If salmon was excluded from the statistical analysis, strong biomagnification of PCB #209 was evident, indicating species differences in biomagnification. In the Baltic Sea material delta15N and body weight covaried. In the Atlantic Sea material, consisting of fish samples (herring and salmon) of larger body sizes, we show positive correlation between concentrations of most PCBs and PBDEs and body weight without increasing delta15N. This shows that biomagnification in some cases depends on body size and not trophic position. We conclude that there probably is trophic position dependence in biomagnification, which was manifested in a food chain from zooplankton to piscivores, but no further trophic position influence on biomagnification in fish at the highest trophic levels. In these fish, there was a body size effect leading to biomagnification, probably due to slower clearance in larger fish. PCB concentrations were generally between 2 and 6 times higher in Baltic Sea salmon than in Atlantic Sea salmon. Higher PBDE concentrations in the Baltic compared to the Atlantic Sea salmon were also found, but with a larger variation between congeners. Nona- to deca-BDEs were found in most investigated samples, which illustrates the bioavailability of these compounds. Unidentified penta-, hexa-, hepta-, and

Satellite Ocean Data Tools in the high school classroom.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tweedie, M.; Snyder, H. D.

2007-12-01

The NASA-sponsored Ocean Motion website (http://www.oceanmotion.org) documents the story of humankind's interest in and observations of surface currents from the early seafaring Polynesians to present day satellite observations. Ocean surface current patterns impact our lives through their influences on the weather, climate, commerce, natural disasters and sea life. The Ocean Motion web site provides inquiry based, classroom ready materials for high school teachers and students to study ocean surface currents. In addition to the information resources posted on the website, there are also investigations that lead students to explore patterns and relationships through data products (color- coded map images, time series graphs and data tables). These investigations are done through an interactive browser interface that provides access to a wealth of oceanography data. This presentation focuses on use of surface current data and models in student investigations to illustrate application of basic science principles found in high school science curriculum. Skills developed using data to discover patterns and relationships will serve students in other courses as well as empower them to become stewards of the Earths environment.

Surface wind mixing in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, Robin; Hartlipp, Paul

2017-12-01

Mixing at the ocean surface is key for atmosphere-ocean interactions and the distribution of heat, energy, and gases in the upper ocean. Winds are the primary force for surface mixing. To properly simulate upper ocean dynamics and the flux of these quantities within the upper ocean, models must reproduce mixing in the upper ocean. To evaluate the performance of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) in replicating the surface mixing, the results of four different vertical mixing parameterizations were compared against observations, using the surface mixed layer depth, the temperature fields, and observed diffusivities for comparisons. The vertical mixing parameterizations investigated were Mellor- Yamada 2.5 level turbulent closure (MY), Large- McWilliams- Doney Kpp (LMD), Nakanishi- Niino (NN), and the generic length scale (GLS) schemes. This was done for one temperate site in deep water in the Eastern Pacific and three shallow water sites in the Baltic Sea. The model reproduced the surface mixed layer depth reasonably well for all sites; however, the temperature fields were reproduced well for the deep site, but not for the shallow Baltic Sea sites. In the Baltic Sea, the models overmixed the water column after a few days. Vertical temperature diffusivities were higher than those observed and did not show the temporal fluctuations present in the observations. The best performance was by NN and MY; however, MY became unstable in two of the shallow simulations with high winds. The performance of GLS nearly as good as NN and MY. LMD had the poorest performance as it generated temperature diffusivities that were too high and induced too much mixing. Further observational comparisons are needed to evaluate the effects of different stratification and wind conditions and the limitations on the vertical mixing parameterizations.

The pathways of Marine Plastic into the Ocean Garbage Patches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Sebille, E.; England, M. H.; Froyland, G.

2013-12-01

Much of the plastic debris in the near-surface ocean collects in so-called garbage patches where, due to convergence of the surface flow, the debris is trapped for decades to millennia. Here, we use observational data from the Global Drifter Program in a particle-trajectory tracer approach to study the fate of marine debris in the open ocean from coastal regions around the world on interannual to centennial time scales. We find that garbage patches emerge in each of the five subtropical basins. The evolution of each of the five patches is markedly different, however. With the exception of the North Pacific, all patches are much more dispersive than expected from linear ocean circulation theory, suggesting that on centennial time scales the different basins are much better connected than previously thought and that inter-ocean exchanges play a large role in the spreading of marine debris. In order to increase public awareness on this issue of sustainability in the ocean, we have used the methods and data of this study to create a public website at www.adrift.org.au where all interested can investigate the spread of tracer from any and all points on the ocean surface.

Seeing the doctor without fear: www.doctortea.org for the desensitization for medical visits in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

PubMed

Boada, Leticia; Parellada, Mara

Doctor Tea is an online website designed to facilitate medical visits for those with autism spectrum disorder and other disabilities. People diagnosed with autism not only have greater medical needs than the general population, but also have particular characteristics that are often not accommodated by medical services. This lack of medical accommodation often creates a very complicated, and sometimes traumatic experience, when visiting medical facilities. Individuals with autism have great difficulty understanding social situations and contexts, such as medical tests or consultations, as well as difficulty in tolerating new situations and atypical sensory thresholds. Doctor Tea aims to reduce anxiety before medical consultations and procedures from a safe and well-known environment (school, home, etc.). The website, www.doctortea.org, provides information and materials (videos, cartoon, 3D animations, pictogram sequences, etc.) about the most frequent medical procedures and practices for patients with autism. The website also offers information to the doctors and families of patients with autism about the most common medical problems associated with autism. A total of 17,199 different users visited the website during 2015, with a total of 23,348 online visitors from more than 70 different countries since the website's release in November 2014. The familiarisation with the medical procedures and its environment appears to decrease the anxiety in patients with disabilities during medical visits, as well as optimising the effectiveness of their medical visits and tests. Copyright © 2016 SEP y SEPB. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Iceberg ploughmark features on bottom surface of the South-Eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorokhov, Dmitry; Sivkov, Vadim; Dorokhova, Evgenia; Krechik, Viktor

2016-04-01

A detail swath bathymetry, side-scan sonar and acoustic profiling combined with sediment sampling during the 64th cruise of RV "Academic Mstislav Keldysh" (October 2015) allowed to identify new geomorphological features of the South-Eastern Baltic Sea bottom surface. The extended chaotic ploughmarks (furrows) in most cases filled with thin layer of mud were discovered on surface of the Gdansk-Gotland sill glacial deposits. They are observed on the depth of more than 70 m and have depth and width from 1 to 10 m. Most of them are v- or u-shaped stepped depressions. The side-scan records of similar geomorpholoical features are extensively reported from Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica (Goodwin et al., 1985; Dowdeswell et al., 1993). Ploughmarks are attributed to the action of icebergs scouring into the sediment as they touch bottom. We are suggest that furrows discovered in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea are also the result of iceberg scouring during the Baltic Ice Lake stage (more than 11 600 cal yr BP (Bjorck, 2008)). This assumption confirmed by occurrence of fragmental stones and boulders on the sea bottom surface which are good indicators of iceberg rafting (Lisitzin, 2003). Ice ploughmarks at sea bottom surface were not occurred before in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea. The study was financed by Russian Scientific Fund, grant number 14-37-00047. References Bjorck S. The late Quaternary development of the Baltic Sea Basin. In: The BACC Author Team (eds) Assessment of climate change for the Baltic Sea Basin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. 2008. Dowdeswell J. A., Villinger H., Whittington R. J., Marienfeld P. Iceberg scouring in Scoresby Sund and on the East Greenland continental shelf // Marine Geology. V. 111. N. 1-2. 1993. P. 37-53. Goodwin C. R., Finley J. C., Howard L. M. Ice scour bibliography. Environmental Studies Revolving Funds Report No. 010. Ottawa. 1985. 99 pp. Lisitzin A. P. Sea-Ice and Iceberg Sedimentation in the Ocean: Recent and Past. Springer

Baltic Eye: Focusing on Science and Communication to Improve Policy Making for the Baltic Sea Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCrackin, M. L.

2016-12-01

In order to better communicate relevant scientific knowledge to policy- and decision makers, Stockholm University and the Baltic Sea 2020 Foundation partnered to create Baltic Eye in 2014. Seven scientists and two communicators constitute the core team of this initiative. The team integrates communications with scientific analysis and synthesis of Baltic Sea environmental issues. In the past year, the team has focused on two main issues: fisheries management and microplastics. Baltic Sea cod stocks are in poor condition, with large numbers of small individuals. Baltic Eye recommended improvements to the European Union's multiannual fisheries plan to better align with ecosystem-based management principles: prioritization of cod stock recovery, greater consideration of natural variability of temperature and salinity (which affects cod spawning success), and inclusion of mechanisms to adjust quotas in the event of major environmental changes. Communications included policy briefs and debate articles targeted to the European Parliament, national government ministries, and non-governmental organizations. Every year, up to 40 tons of microplastics from personal care products are released in the Baltic Sea catchment. Baltic Eye raised awareness of the issue and made recommended ways to reduce microplastic emissions. Communications included a public presentation to journalists, politicians, and representatives of Swedish government ministries. A policy brief was provided Heads of Delegates of the Helsinki Commission (for protrection of the Baltic Sea environment) in advance of a meeting to develop a plan of action for marine litter. Researchers were interviewed for radio, TV, and print media in Sweden, Finland, and Germany. Next steps are to engage with multinational manufacturers about plans to voluntarily phase out microplastics in personal care products.

Baltic Eye: Focusing on Science and Communication to Improve Policy Making for the Baltic Sea Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCrackin, M. L.

2016-02-01

In order to better communicate relevant scientific knowledge to policy- and decision makers, Stockholm University and the Baltic Sea 2020 Foundation partnered to create Baltic Eye in 2014. Seven scientists and two communicators constitute the core team of this initiative. The team integrates communications with scientific analysis and synthesis of Baltic Sea environmental issues. In the past year, the team has focused on two main issues: fisheries management and microplastics. Baltic Sea cod stocks are in poor condition, with large numbers of small individuals. Baltic Eye recommended improvements to the European Union's multiannual fisheries plan to better align with ecosystem-based management principles: prioritization of cod stock recovery, greater consideration of natural variability of temperature and salinity (which affects cod spawning success), and inclusion of mechanisms to adjust quotas in the event of major environmental changes. Communications included policy briefs and debate articles targeted to the European Parliament, national government ministries, and non-governmental organizations. Every year, up to 40 tons of microplastics from personal care products are released in the Baltic Sea catchment. Baltic Eye raised awareness of the issue and made recommended ways to reduce microplastic emissions. Communications included a public presentation to journalists, politicians, and representatives of Swedish government ministries. A policy brief was provided Heads of Delegates of the Helsinki Commission (for protrection of the Baltic Sea environment) in advance of a meeting to develop a plan of action for marine litter. Researchers were interviewed for radio, TV, and print media in Sweden, Finland, and Germany. Next steps are to engage with multinational manufacturers about plans to voluntarily phase out microplastics in personal care products.

Implementation of the NEMO model for estimating the spread of leakage from chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea - the first approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrzejewski, Jan

2017-04-01

After the Second World War, during the Potsdam Conference a decision about demilitarization of Germany was made, and as a consequence, ammunition including chemical warfare agents (CWA) was dumped into the basins of the Baltic Sea. This type of weapon was stored in metal barrels that were under strong influence of electrochemical oxidation, also known as corrosion. Several tens years later, scientists were wondering what consequences for marine ecosystem could a leakage from this weapon bring. Although over 70 years passed since the Second World War, the influence of potential leakage of the CWA has not been properly estimated. Thus, the main goal of this work is to estimate dangerous area caused by potential leakage using the NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) ocean model. The NEMO ocean model is developed by the European Consortium including research institutes from France, England and Italy. The first step of this work is to implement the model for the area of the Baltic Sea. It requires generation of horizontal and vertical grid, bathymetry, atmospheric forces and lateral boundary conditions. Implemented model will have to be checked - it means it will have to pass a validation process. The Baltic Sea is one of the best measured sea in the World - as a consequence a lot of data are freely available for researchers. After validation and tuning up the model, implementation of passive tracer is planned. Passive tracer is the prognostic variable that could represent concentration of potential leakage and does not have influence on the density of the model. Based on distribution of the passive tracer, dangerous areas in the locations of dumpsites will be assessed. The research work was funded by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) under the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2014-2020, project #R013 DAIMON (Decision Aid for Marine Munitions).

Eco-physiological Baltic picoplankton analysis and its implementation in Synechoccocus species life cycle numerical algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cieszyńska, Agata; Śliwińska-Wilczewska, Sylwia

2017-04-01

Picocyanobacteria strain of the genus Synechococcus are extremely important organisms in the world's oceans. Synechococcus sp. is distributed widely in the oceans and freshwater ecosystems. However, the presence of picoplankton and its account for marine biomass were ignored in environmental studies before 1970. This was probably connected with too low accuracy of research equipment for examining such small organisms. In 1979 the picoplankton assemblages were defined to be present en masse in marine environments. Despite its association with open ocean systems, it is becoming increasingly evident in recent years that Synechococcus sp. is a significant contributor to cyanobacterial blooms. Moreover, bloom of picocyanobacteria, accompanied by a drastic ecological crisis was a new phenomenon in Europe, which needed careful investigation. In the Baltic Sea, picocyanobacteria belongs mainly to the genus Synechococcus. Depending on pigment content, they are classified as red strains with phycoerythrin, green strains rich in phycocyanin, and the phycourobilin (brown strains) containing cyanobacteria rich in phycoerythrin. So far, picocyanobacteria in the area of interest have been being studied insufficiently. The knowledge of picocyanobacteria life cycle needs to be improved as these microorganisms can comprise even about 98% of marine biomass and are able to excrete many toxic and harmful substances. Different eco-physiological conditions influence growth of Baltic picocyanobacteria. In this study, three strains of Synechococcus sp. (red: BA-120, green: BA-124 and brown: BA-132) were isolated from the coastal zone of the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea) and analyzed in laboratory under previously determined eco-physiological conditions. These conditions were as follows: temperature from 15 to 25°C, salinity from 3 to 13 and insolation in Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) spectrum from 10 to 190 μmol photons m-2 s-1. Scenarios reflecting all possible

From Scientists to the Public: Communicating Science through Blogs on oceanbites.org and envirobites.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemon, M. G.; McDonough, C. A.; Schifman, L. A.

2017-12-01

Science communication is increasingly important. Our world is facing difficult environmental challenges that can only be addressed if an understanding of the basic scientific principles exists. With this in mind, we founded oceanbites.org in 2013, and recently (August 2017) also started envirobites.org. For both blogs, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and science professionals come together to write and edit easy-to-read, compelling summaries of recent, cutting-edge research papers in environmental science or oceanography and make them accessible to non-experts. We want to share our passion for research with all non-scientists who are interested to learn more about the environment and our oceans: This ranges in scale from identifying science problems and solutions in cities to explaining the complex environmental challenges facing our planet as a whole. Because science is also about identifying and applying technologies to address these challenges, we also cover some success stories! For envirobites.org, topics of posts include science in and for cities, global transport of pollutants, toxic effects of pollution, climate change, and environmental remediation. Oceanbites.org covers topics ranging from chemical, to biological, and physical oceanography. Currently, oceanbites.org has 24 writers and publishes posts daily, whereas envirobites.org has 26 writers and we publish posts on our blog three times per week. We hope to recruit more members and editors, but most of all, increase our readership to make a big splash in the communication of science to the public, whether we reach K-12 classrooms or living rooms.

Multiple stressors threatening the future of the Baltic Sea-Kattegat marine ecosystem: implications for policy and management actions.

PubMed

Jutterström, S; Andersson, H C; Omstedt, A; Malmaeus, J M

2014-09-15

The paper discusses the combined effects of ocean acidification, eutrophication and climate change on the Baltic Sea and the implications for current management strategies. The scientific basis is built on results gathered in the BONUS+ projects Baltic-C and ECOSUPPORT. Model results indicate that the Baltic Sea is likely to be warmer, more hypoxic and more acidic in the future. At present management strategies are not taking into account temporal trends and potential ecosystem change due to warming and/or acidification, and therefore fulfilling the obligations specified within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, OSPAR and HELCOM conventions and national environmental objectives may become significantly more difficult. The paper aims to provide a basis for a discussion on the effectiveness of current policy instruments and possible strategies for setting practical environmental objectives in a changing climate and with multiple stressors. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity of the overturning circulation of the Baltic Sea to climate change, a numerical experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hordoir, Robinson; Höglund, Anders; Pemberton, Per; Schimanke, Semjon

2018-02-01

An ocean model covering the Baltic Sea area is forced by several climate scenarios for a period extending from 1961 to 2100. The Baltic Sea overturning circulation is then analyzed. The analysis shows that this circulation decreases between the end of the 20th century and the end of the 21st century, and that the decrease is amplified in the case of the strongest greenhouse gas emission scenarios, which corresponds with the highest warming cases. The reasons behind this decrease in overturning circulation are investigated. A strong increase of thermal stratification is noticed at the level of the Baltic Sea mixed layer. Based on buoyancy flux considerations, we demonstrate that the decrease in overturning circulation coincides with the increase of thermal stratification. Evidence shows that the underlying process is linked to a smaller erosion of the halocline due to a higher shielding, itself linked with a stronger and longer seasonal thermocline. This theory works if surface wind mixing is not taken into account directly in the computation of buoyancy fluxes.

Revisiting the biogeochemistry of arsenic in the Baltic Sea: Impact of anthropogenic activity.

PubMed

Li, Lei; Pohl, Christa; Ren, Jing-Ling; Schulz-Bull, Detlef; Cao, Xiu-Hong; Nausch, Günther; Zhang, Jing

2018-02-01

With the increase in anthropogenic environmental disruption, the behavior of arsenic in the Baltic Sea has received more scientific attention because of its complex forms and toxicity, and was re-visited to determine if there have been measurable changes recently. A cruise was conducted in 10-19 May 2011 to investigate the species and distribution of total dissolved inorganic arsenic (TDIAs: [TDIAs]=[As(V)]+[As(III)]) revealing links between the hydrographic dynamics and biological/chemical reactions in the Baltic Sea. In addition, long-term (2002-2010) time-series investigations of particulate arsenic in the Gotland Basin were also conducted in February every year for monitoring purposes. The behavior of TDIAs was non-conservative due to the removal and regeneration processes occurring in the Baltic Sea. Biological scavenging plays a dominant role as sink for TDIAs, with removal amount of 3.1±1.6nmol/L above the pycnocline of the Baltic Sea. Significant regeneration of TDIAs was observed below the pycnocline of the Baltic Sea, which was closely related to hypoxia. The decomposition of organic arsenic and release from the sediment by desorption of As-bearing Fe and Mn oxides were thought to be two major sources for TDIAs regeneration. The median concentration of TDIAs (8.4nmol/L) was much lower than in most marginal seas and oceans, including the near-bottom water around a chemical weapon dumpsite (13.9nmol/L). The hypoxia in the deep water contributed to the increase in As(III) concentrations based on the relationship between As(III)/TDIAs ratio and apparent oxygen utilization. If the difference of As(III) profiles (1981 and 2011) actually represents a long-term increase in As(III) concentrations and a shoaling of the As(III) chemocline, these factors could enhance the toxic effects and extend the residence time of arsenic and, hence, potentially have negative impacts on fisheries and ecosystem health in the Baltic Sea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights

An inventory of Arctic Ocean data in the World Ocean Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zweng, Melissa M.; Boyer, Tim P.; Baranova, Olga K.; Reagan, James R.; Seidov, Dan; Smolyar, Igor V.

2018-03-01

The World Ocean Database (WOD) contains over 1.3 million oceanographic casts (where cast refers to an oceanographic profile or set of profiles collected concurrently at more than one depth between the ocean surface and ocean bottom) collected in the Arctic Ocean basin and its surrounding marginal seas. The data, collected from 1849 to the present, come from many submitters and countries, and were collected using a variety of instruments and platforms. These data, along with the derived products World Ocean Atlas (WOA) and the Arctic Regional Climatologies, are exceptionally useful - the data are presented in a standardized, easy to use format and include metadata and quality control information. Collecting data in the Arctic Ocean is challenging, and coverage in space and time ranges from excellent to nearly non-existent. WOD continues to compile a comprehensive collection of Arctic Ocean profile data, ideal for oceanographic, environmental and climatic analyses (org/10.7289/V54Q7S16" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.7289/V54Q7S16).

Usage of the www.2aida.org AIDA diabetes software Website: a pilot study.

PubMed

Lehmann, Eldon D

2003-01-01

AIDA is a diabetes-computing program freely available from www.2aida.org on the Web. The software is intended to serve as an educational support tool, and can be used by anyone who has an interest in diabetes, whether they be patients, relatives, health-care professionals, or students. In previous "Diabetes Information Technology & WebWatch" columns various indicators of usage of the AIDA program have been reviewed, and various comments from users of the software have been documented. One aspect of AIDA, though, that has been of considerable interest has been to investigate its Web-based distribution as a wider paradigm for more general medically related usage of the Internet. In this respect we have been keen to understand in general terms: (1) why people are turning to the Web for health-care/diabetes information; (2) more specifically, what sort of people are making use of the AIDA software; and (3) what benefits they feel might accrue from using the program. To answer these types of questions we have been conducting a series of audits/surveys via the AIDA Website, and via the software program itself, to learn as much as possible about who the AIDA end users really are. The rationale for this work is that, in this way, it should be possible to improve the program as well as tailor future versions of the software to the interests and needs of its users. However, a recurring observation is that data collection is easiest if it is as unobtrusive and innocuous as possible. One aspect of learning as much as possible about diabetes Website visitors and users may be to apply techniques that do not necessitate any visitor or user interaction. There are various programs that can monitor what pages visitors are viewing at a site. As these programs do not require visitors to do anything special, over time some interesting insights into Website usage may be obtained. For the current study we have reviewed anonymous logstats data, which are automatically collected at many

The Baltic Klint beneath the central Baltic Sea and its comparison with the North Estonian Klint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuuling, Igor; Flodén, Tom

2016-06-01

Along its contact with the Baltic Shield, the margin of the East European Platform reveals a well-developed, flooded terraced relief. The most striking and consistent set of escarpments at the contact of the Lower Palaeozoic calcareous and terrigenous rocks, known as the Baltic Klint (BK), extends from northwest of Russia to the Swedish island of Öland. Marine seismic reflection profiling in 1990-2004 revealed the central Baltic Sea Klint (BSK) section in detail and enabled comparison of its geology/geomorphology with a classical klint-section onshore, namely the North Estonian Klint (NEK). The conception of the BK onshore, which is based on the land-sea separating terraced relief in northern Estonia, is not fully applicable beneath the sea. Therefore, we consider that the BSK includes the entire terraced Cambrian outcrop. We suggest the term "Baltic Klint Complex" to include the well-terraced margin of the Ordovician limestone outcrop, which is weakly developed in Estonia. Because of a steady lithological framework of the bedrock layers across the southern slope of the Fennoscandian Shield, the central BSK in the western and the NEK in the eastern part of the Baltic Homocline have largely identical morphologies. The North Estonian Ordovician limestone plateau with the calcareous crest of the BK extends across the central Baltic Sea, whereas morphological changes/variations along the Klint base occur due to the east-westerly lithostratigraphic/thickness changes in the siliciclastic Cambrian sequence. The verge of the NEK, located some 30-50 m above sea level, starts to drop in altitude as its east-westerly course turns to northeast-southwest in western Estonia. Further westwards, the BK shifts gradually into southerly deepening (0.1-0.2°) layers as its crest drops to c. 150 m below sea level (b.s.l.) near Gotska Sandön. This course change is accompanied by a considerable decrease in thickness of the platform sedimentary cover, as below the central Baltic Sea the

www.common-metrics.org: a web application to estimate scores from different patient-reported outcome measures on a common scale.

PubMed

Fischer, H Felix; Rose, Matthias

2016-10-19

Recently, a growing number of Item-Response Theory (IRT) models has been published, which allow estimation of a common latent variable from data derived by different Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs). When using data from different PROs, direct estimation of the latent variable has some advantages over the use of sum score conversion tables. It requires substantial proficiency in the field of psychometrics to fit such models using contemporary IRT software. We developed a web application ( http://www.common-metrics.org ), which allows estimation of latent variable scores more easily using IRT models calibrating different measures on instrument independent scales. Currently, the application allows estimation using six different IRT models for Depression, Anxiety, and Physical Function. Based on published item parameters, users of the application can directly estimate latent trait estimates using expected a posteriori (EAP) for sum scores as well as for specific response patterns, Bayes modal (MAP), Weighted likelihood estimation (WLE) and Maximum likelihood (ML) methods and under three different prior distributions. The obtained estimates can be downloaded and analyzed using standard statistical software. This application enhances the usability of IRT modeling for researchers by allowing comparison of the latent trait estimates over different PROs, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression (PHQ-9) and Anxiety (GAD-7) scales, the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), PROMIS Anxiety and Depression Short Forms and others. Advantages of this approach include comparability of data derived with different measures and tolerance against missing values. The validity of the underlying models needs to be investigated in the future.

CitSci.org: A New Model for Managing, Documenting, and Sharing Citizen Science Data

PubMed Central

Wang, Yiwei; Kaplan, Nicole; Newman, Greg; Scarpino, Russell

2015-01-01

Citizen science projects have the potential to advance science by increasing the volume and variety of data, as well as innovation. Yet this potential has not been fully realized, in part because citizen science data are typically not widely shared and reused. To address this and related challenges, we built CitSci.org (see www.citsci.org), a customizable platform that allows users to collect and generate diverse datasets. We hope that CitSci.org will ultimately increase discoverability and confidence in citizen science observations, encouraging scientists to use such data in their own scientific research. PMID:26492521

CitSci.org: A New Model for Managing, Documenting, and Sharing Citizen Science Data.

PubMed

Wang, Yiwei; Kaplan, Nicole; Newman, Greg; Scarpino, Russell

2015-10-01

Citizen science projects have the potential to advance science by increasing the volume and variety of data, as well as innovation. Yet this potential has not been fully realized, in part because citizen science data are typically not widely shared and reused. To address this and related challenges, we built CitSci.org (see www.citsci.org), a customizable platform that allows users to collect and generate diverse datasets. We hope that CitSci.org will ultimately increase discoverability and confidence in citizen science observations, encouraging scientists to use such data in their own scientific research.

Waterspout as a result of the ocean skeletal structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rantsev-Kartinov, Valentin A.

2004-11-01

An analysis of databases of photographic images of oceanic surface, taken from various altitudes and for various types of rough ocean surface, reduced to a revealing the presence of oceanic skeletal structures (OSS) = http://www.arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0401/0401139.pdf [1] Rantsev-Kartinov V.A., Preprint. The OSSs presumably differ from the formerly found skeletal structures (SS) (Phys. Lett. A 306 (2002) 175) only by the fact that OSS are filled in with the closely packed blocks of a smaller size, up to capillary sizes. It is suggested [1] the dust produced by the volcanic activity forms the SS of powerful clouds due to of atmospheric electricity. The fall-out of such SSs on the oceanic surface is a material source of OSS. It is suggested that an OSS block [1] in the form of vertically oriented floating cylinder may be a stimulator of waterspout (WS). The main body of the WS may be interpreted as a special type of atmospheric aerosol dusty plasma, and its column - as a long-lived filament, being formed in the process of electric breakdown between the cloud and oceanic surface. The charged water drops aerosol may behave similar to microdust and lift upward to the cloud by the electrostatic force. Suggested a capillary-electrostatic model of the WS permits to interpret many effects connected with the WS.

Advancing Ocean Science Through Coordination, Community Building, and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benway, H. M.

2016-02-01

The US Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Program (www.us-ocb.org) is a dynamic network of scientists working across disciplines to understand the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and how marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles are responding to environmental change. The OCB Project Office, which is based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), serves as a central information hub for this network, bringing different scientific disciplines together and cultivating partnerships with complementary US and international programs to address high-priority research questions. The OCB Project Office plays multiple important support roles, such as hosting and co-sponsoring workshops, short courses, working groups, and synthesis activities on emerging research issues; engaging with relevant national and international science planning initiatives; and developing education and outreach activities and products with the goal of promoting ocean carbon science to broader audiences. Current scientific focus areas of OCB include ocean observations (shipboard, autonomous, satellite, etc.); changing ocean chemistry (acidification, expanding low-oxygen conditions, etc.); ocean carbon uptake and storage; estuarine and coastal carbon cycling; biological pump and associated biological and biogeochemical processes and carbon fluxes; and marine ecosystem response to environmental and evolutionary changes, including physiological and molecular-level responses of individual organisms, as well as shifts in community structure and function. OCB is a bottom-up organization that responds to the continually evolving priorities and needs of its network and engages marine scientists at all career stages. The scientific leadership of OCB includes a scientific steering committee and subcommittees on ocean time-series, ocean acidification, and ocean fertilization. This presentation will highlight recent OCB activities and products of interest to the ocean science community.

Response of the Baltic and North Seas to river runoff from the Baltic watershed - Physical and biological changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hänninen, Jari; Vuorinen, Ilppo; Rajasilta, Marjut; Reid, Philip C.

2015-11-01

Selected Baltic Sea watershed River Runoff (BSRR) events during 1970-2000 were used as predictor in Generalised Linear Mixed Models (GLIMMIX) for evidence of simultaneous changes/chain of events (including possible time lags) in some chemical, physical and biological variables in the Baltic and North Sea ecosystems. Our aim was to explore for climatic-based explanation for ecological regime shifts that were documented semi-simultaneously in both ecosystems. Certain similarities were identified in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea salinity, oxygen concentration, temperature and phyto- and zooplankton parameters. These findings suggest that BSRR events which originate in the Baltic Sea catchment area modify and contribute to large scale ecosystem changes not only in the Baltic Sea, but also in the adjacent parts of the North Sea. However, the Baltic Sea inter-annual and inter-decadal variabilities of physical and biological parameters are driven by direct atmospheric forcing, typically with a relatively short lag. In contrast, such changes in the North Sea are influenced by both local and direct atmospheric forcing, typically with a longer lag than in the Baltic, and a more regional, indirect forcing from changes in the North Atlantic. We suggest that this interactive system partially is behind large scale ecosystem regime shifts found in both Seas. During our study period two such shifts have been identified independently from us in a study earlier in the Southern and Central Baltic in 1980s and 1990s and a later one in 2001/2002 in the North Sea. As a post hoc test we compared the 0+ year class strength of the North Sea herring with BSRR intensity, and found evidence for higher herring production in high BSRR periods, which further corroborates the idea of a remote effect from the large watershed area of the Baltic. Regime shifts as well as their semi-synchronous appearance in two neighbouring sea areas could be identified. GLIMMIX models provide opportunities for

Remote sensing the sea surface CO2 of the Baltic Sea using the SOMLO methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parard, G.; Charantonis, A. A.; Rutgerson, A.

2015-06-01

Studies of coastal seas in Europe have noted the high variability of the CO2 system. This high variability, generated by the complex mechanisms driving the CO2 fluxes, complicates the accurate estimation of these mechanisms. This is particularly pronounced in the Baltic Sea, where the mechanisms driving the fluxes have not been characterized in as much detail as in the open oceans. In addition, the joint availability of in situ measurements of CO2 and of sea-surface satellite data is limited in the area. In this paper, we used the SOMLO (self-organizing multiple linear output; Sasse et al., 2013) methodology, which combines two existing methods (i.e. self-organizing maps and multiple linear regression) to estimate the ocean surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in the Baltic Sea from the remotely sensed sea surface temperature, chlorophyll, coloured dissolved organic matter, net primary production, and mixed-layer depth. The outputs of this research have a horizontal resolution of 4 km and cover the 1998-2011 period. These outputs give a monthly map of the Baltic Sea at a very fine spatial resolution. The reconstructed pCO2 values over the validation data set have a correlation of 0.93 with the in situ measurements and a root mean square error of 36 μatm. Removing any of the satellite parameters degraded this reconstructed CO2 flux, so we chose to supply any missing data using statistical imputation. The pCO2 maps produced using this method also provide a confidence level of the reconstruction at each grid point. The results obtained are encouraging given the sparsity of available data, and we expect to be able to produce even more accurate reconstructions in coming years, given the predicted acquisition of new data.

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0 - A new bathymetric compilation covering circum-Antarctic waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arndt, Jan Erik; Schenke, Hans Werner; Jakobsson, Martin; Nitsche, Frank O.; Buys, Gwen; Goleby, Bruce; Rebesco, Michele; Bohoyo, Fernando; Hong, Jongkuk; Black, Jenny; Greku, Rudolf; Udintsev, Gleb; Barrios, Felipe; Reynoso-Peralta, Walter; Taisei, Morishita; Wigley, Rochelle

2013-06-01

International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0 is a new digital bathymetric model (DBM) portraying the seafloor of the circum-Antarctic waters south of 60°S. IBCSO is a regional mapping project of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). The IBCSO Version 1.0 DBM has been compiled from all available bathymetric data collectively gathered by more than 30 institutions from 15 countries. These data include multibeam and single-beam echo soundings, digitized depths from nautical charts, regional bathymetric gridded compilations, and predicted bathymetry. Specific gridding techniques were applied to compile the DBM from the bathymetric data of different origin, spatial distribution, resolution, and quality. The IBCSO Version 1.0 DBM has a resolution of 500 × 500 m, based on a polar stereographic projection, and is publicly available together with a digital chart for printing from the project website (www.ibcso.org) and at http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.805736.

Introduction for the SI "Understanding the Baltic Sea"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikauniece, Anda; Markus Meier, H. E.; Kalniņa, Laimdota

2017-08-01

The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea with a low salinity, slow water exchange and distinguished stratification. Natural properties of the Baltic thus promote development of anoxic areas at the deepest parts of the sea. In addition, the coasts of the Baltic Sea are heavily populated - 85 million inhabitants living in the drainage basin and 9 countries surrounding the sea, most of them highly industrially developed. Anthropogenic activities consequently add considerable pressure on the already vulnerable environment of the sea. Eutrophication, over-fishing and changed food-web, oil pollution, occurrence of hazardous substances, damage of seafloor by trawling and construction works are all present in the Baltic Sea.

CLIMLINK: Climate forcing factors for marine environmental change during the mid- and late Holocene - a link between the NE Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polovodova Asteman, Irina; Risebrobakken, Bjørg; Bąk, Małgorzata; Binczewska, Anna; Borówka, Ryszard; Dobosz, Sławomir; Jansen, Eystein; Kaniak, Aleksandra; Moros, Matthias; Perner, Kerstin; Sławinska, Joanna

2015-04-01

Climate change has a strong amplifying effect on the environment of marginal seas such as the Baltic Sea. Owing to the connection of the Baltic Sea with the Atlantic (and the resultant pathway of water exchange via the narrow Danish Straits), changes in the Baltic region are suggested to be driven by external oceanic and atmospheric forcing originating in the Atlantic, particularly in the eastern Nordic seas, the Skagerrak, and the Kattegat. CLIMLINK aims to reconstruct mid- to late Holocene ecosystem changes in these regions and identify linkages, common forcing factors and effects for the Baltic Sea on a millennial to decadal time scale. High-resolution sediment records from selected key sites in the Norwegian Trench, and central Baltic Sea are studied by using a multi-proxy approach. Micropalaeontological studies of diatoms and foraminifera are combined with geochemical proxies, such as stable isotopes, Mg/Ca, TOC, TIC, C/N, XRF and magnetic susceptibility in order to achieve a more comprehensive view on environmental changes during the last 6000 to 8000 years. The chronology of the sediment cores is secured by using multiple dating tools: Hg-pollution records, 137Cs, 210Pb, 14C and tephra layers. Herein we present the initial results of the project.

Groundfish overfishing, diatom decline, and the marine silica cycle: Lessons from Saanich Inlet, Canada, and the Baltic Sea cod crash

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katz, Timor; Yahel, Gitai; Yahel, Ruthy; Tunnicliffe, Verena; Herut, Barak; Snelgrove, Paul; Crusius, John; Lazar, Boaz

2009-12-01

In this study, we link groundfish activity to the marine silica cycle and suggest that the drastic mid-1980s crash of the Baltic Sea cod (Gadus morhua) population triggered a cascade of events leading to decrease in dissolved silica (DSi) and diatom abundance in the water. We suggest that this seemingly unrelated sequence of events was caused by a marked decline in sediment resuspension associated with reduced groundfish activity resulting from the cod crash. In a study in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, we discovered that, by resuspending bottom sediments, groundfish triple DSi fluxes from the sediments and reduce silica accumulation therein. Using these findings and the available oceanographic and environmental data from the Baltic Sea, we estimate that overfishing and recruitment failure of Baltic cod reduced by 20% the DSi supply from bottom sediments to the surface water leading to a decline in the diatom population in the Baltic Sea. The major importance of the marginal ocean in the marine silica cycle and the associated high population density of groundfish suggest that groundfish play a major role in the silica cycle. We postulate that dwindling groundfish populations caused by anthropogenic perturbations, e.g., overfishing and bottom water anoxia, may cause shifts in marine phytoplankton communities.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of cod nursery areas in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinrichsen, H.-H.; von Dewitz, B.; Lehmann, A.; Bergström, U.; Hüssy, K.

2017-06-01

In this study the drift of eastern Baltic cod larvae and juveniles spawned within the historical eastern Baltic cod spawning grounds was investigated by detailed drift model simulations for the years 1971-2010, to examine the spatio-temporal dynamics of environmental suitability in the nursery areas of juvenile cod settlement. The results of the long-term model scenario runs, where juvenile cod were treated as simulated passively drifting particles, enabled us to find strong indications for long-term variations of settlement and potentially the reproduction success of the historically important eastern Baltic cod nursery grounds. Only low proportions of juveniles hatched in the Arkona Basin and in the Gotland Basin were able to settle in their respective spawning ground. Ocean currents were either unfavorable for the juveniles to reach suitable habitats or transported the juveniles to nursery grounds of neighboring subdivisions. Juveniles which hatched in the Bornholm Basin were most widely dispersed and showed the highest settlement probability, while the second highest settlement probability and horizontal dispersal was observed for juveniles originating from the Gdansk Deep. In a long-term perspective, wind-driven transport of larvae/juveniles positively affected the settlement success predominately in the Bornholm Basin and in the Bay of Gdansk. The Bornholm Basin has the potential to contribute on average 54% and the Bay of Gdansk 11% to the production of juveniles in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, transport of juveniles surviving to the age of settlement with origin in the Bornholm Basin contributed on average 13 and 11% to the total settlement in the Arkona Basin and in the Gdansk Deep, respectively. The time-series of the simulated occupied juvenile cod habitat in the Bornholm Basin and in the Gdansk Deep showed a similar declining trend as the Fulton's K condition factor of demersal 1-group cod, which may confirm the importance of oxygen-dependent habitat

Status of Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Ojaveer, Henn; Jaanus, Andres; MacKenzie, Brian R.; Martin, Georg; Olenin, Sergej; Radziejewska, Teresa; Telesh, Irena; Zettler, Michael L.; Zaiko, Anastasija

2010-01-01

The brackish Baltic Sea hosts species of various origins and environmental tolerances. These immigrated to the sea 10,000 to 15,000 years ago or have been introduced to the area over the relatively recent history of the system. The Baltic Sea has only one known endemic species. While information on some abiotic parameters extends back as long as five centuries and first quantitative snapshot data on biota (on exploited fish populations) originate generally from the same time, international coordination of research began in the early twentieth century. Continuous, annual Baltic Sea-wide long-term datasets on several organism groups (plankton, benthos, fish) are generally available since the mid-1950s. Based on a variety of available data sources (published papers, reports, grey literature, unpublished data), the Baltic Sea, incl. Kattegat, hosts altogether at least 6,065 species, including at least 1,700 phytoplankton, 442 phytobenthos, at least 1,199 zooplankton, at least 569 meiozoobenthos, 1,476 macrozoobenthos, at least 380 vertebrate parasites, about 200 fish, 3 seal, and 83 bird species. In general, but not in all organism groups, high sub-regional total species richness is associated with elevated salinity. Although in comparison with fully marine areas the Baltic Sea supports fewer species, several facets of the system's diversity remain underexplored to this day, such as micro-organisms, foraminiferans, meiobenthos and parasites. In the future, climate change and its interactions with multiple anthropogenic forcings are likely to have major impacts on the Baltic biodiversity. PMID:20824189

"Supergreen" Renewables: Integration of Mineral Weathering Into Renewable Energy Production for Air CO2 Removal and Storage as Ocean Alkalinity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rau, G. H.; Carroll, S.; Ren, Z. J.

2015-12-01

" source of fuel or electrcity. 1) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es102671x2) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es800366q3) http://www.pnas.org/content/110/25/10095.full.pdf4) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b00875

Long and Short Term Variability of the Main Physical Parameters in the Coastal Area of the SE Baltic Proper

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mingelaite, Toma; Rukseniene, Viktorija; Dailidiene, Inga

2015-04-01

Keywords: SE Baltic Sea, coastal upwelling, IR Remote Sensing The memory of the ocean and seas of atmospheric forcing events contributes to the long-term climate change. Intensifying climate change processes in the North Atlantic region including Baltic Sea has drawn widespread interest, as a changing water temperature has ecological, economic and social impact in coastal areas of the Europe seas. In this work we analyse long and short term variability of the main physical parameters in the coastal area of the South Eastern Baltic Sea Proper. The analysis of long term variability is based on monitoring data measured in the South Eastern Baltic Sea for the last 50 years. The main focus of the long term variability is changes of hydro meteorological parameters relevant to the observed changes in the climate.The water salinity variations in the Baltic Sea near the Lithuanian coast and in the Curonian Lagoon, a shallow and enclosed sub-basin of the Baltic Sea, were analysed along with the time series of some related hydroclimatic factors. The short term water temperature and salinity variations were analysed with a strong focus on coastal upwelling events. Combining both remote sensing and in situ monitoring data physical parameters such as vertical salinity variations during upwelling events was analysed. The coastal upwelling in the SE Baltic Sea coast, depending on its scale and intensity, may lead to an intrusion of colder and saltier marine waters to the Curonian Lagoon resulting in hydrodynamic changes and pronounced temperature drop extending for 30-40 km further down the Lagoon. The study results show that increasing trends of water level, air and water temperature, and decreasing ice cover duration are related to the changes in meso-scale atmospheric circulation, and more specifically, to the changes in regional and local wind regime climate. That is in a good agreement with the increasing trends in local higher intensity of westerly winds, and with the winter

Trend Analysis of Nitrogen Deposition to Baltic Sea and its sub basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semeena, V. S.; Jerzy, Bartnicki

2009-04-01

Since the beginning of last century, Baltic Sea has changed from a clear-water sea into a eutrophic marine environment. Eutrophication is the major problem in the Baltic Sea. Excessive nitrogen and phosphorus loads coming from land-based sources within and outside the catchment area of the bordering countries of the Baltic Sea are the main cause of the eutrophication in the sea. Even though a major part of nitrogen(75%) and phosphorus load(95%) enter the sea via rivers or as water-born discharges, 25% of the nitrogen load comes as atmospheric deposition. Numerical models are the best tools to measure atmospheric deposition into sea waters. We have used the latest version of the Unified EMEP model - which has been developed at the EMEP/MSC-W (Meteorological Synthesizing Centre - West of EMEP) for simulating atmospheric transport and deposition of acidifying and eutrophying compounds as well as photo-oxidants in Europe- to study the trends in atmospheric deposition of nitrogen into Baltic Sea for the period 1995-2006. The model domain covers Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. The model grid (of the size 170×133) has a horizontal resolution of 50 km at 60o N, which is consistent with the resolution of emission data reported to CLRTAP. Approximately 10 of these layers are placed below 2 km to obtain high resolution of the boundary layer which is of special importance to the long range transport of air pollution. EMEP model has been thouroughly validated (Fagerli et.al.[1], Simpson et.al.[2], Simpson et.al.[3] ) The contribution of deposition of nitrogen into Baltic Sea from each of the bordering countries of the Baltic Sea and the deposition trends for the period 1995-2006 has been analysed and the results will be presented. References: [1]. Fagerli H., Simpson D. and Aas W.: Model performance for sulphur and nitrogen compounds for the period 1980 to 2000. [In:] L. Tarraśon, (editor), Transboundary Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground Level Ozone in Europe. EMEP

The use of bathymetric data in society and science: a review from the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Hell, Benjamin; Broman, Barry; Jakobsson, Lars; Jakobsson, Martin; Magnusson, Ake; Wiberg, Patrik

2012-03-01

Bathymetry, the underwater topography, is a fundamental property of oceans, seas, and lakes. As such it is important for a wide range of applications, like physical oceanography, marine geology, geophysics and biology or the administration of marine resources. The exact requirements users may have regarding bathymetric data are, however, unclear. Here, the results of a questionnaire survey and a literature review are presented, concerning the use of Baltic Sea bathymetric data in research and for societal needs. It is demonstrated that there is a great need for detailed bathymetric data. Despite the abundance of high-quality bathymetric data that are produced for safety of navigation purposes, the digital bathymetric models publicly available to date cannot satisfy this need. Our study shows that DBMs based on data collected for safety of navigation could substantially improve the base data for administrative decision making as well as the possibilities for marine research in the Baltic Sea.

SeaDataNet - Pan-European infrastructure for marine and ocean data management: Unified access to distributed data sets (www.seadatanet.org)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaap, Dick M. A.; Maudire, Gilbert

2010-05-01

SeaDataNet is a leading infrastructure in Europe for marine & ocean data management. It is actively operating and further developing a Pan-European infrastructure for managing, indexing and providing access to ocean and marine data sets and data products, acquired via research cruises and other observational activities, in situ and remote sensing. The basis of SeaDataNet is interconnecting 40 National Oceanographic Data Centres and Marine Data Centers from 35 countries around European seas into a distributed network of data resources with common standards for metadata, vocabularies, data transport formats, quality control methods and flags, and access. Thereby most of the NODC's operate and/or are developing national networks to other institutes in their countries to ensure national coverage and long-term stewardship of available data sets. The majority of data managed by SeaDataNet partners concerns physical oceanography, marine chemistry, hydrography, and a substantial volume of marine biology and geology and geophysics. These are partly owned by the partner institutes themselves and for a major part also owned by other organizations from their countries. The SeaDataNet infrastructure is implemented with support of the EU via the EU FP6 SeaDataNet project to provide the Pan-European data management system adapted both to the fragmented observation system and the users need for an integrated access to data, meta-data, products and services. The SeaDataNet project has a duration of 5 years and started in 2006, but builds upon earlier data management infrastructure projects, undertaken over a period of 20 years by an expanding network of oceanographic data centres from the countries around all European seas. Its predecessor project Sea-Search had a strict focus on metadata. SeaDataNet maintains significant interest in the further development of the metadata infrastructure, extending its services with the provision of easy data access and generic data products

genenames.org: the HGNC resources in 2011

PubMed Central

Seal, Ruth L.; Gordon, Susan M.; Lush, Michael J.; Wright, Mathew W.; Bruford, Elspeth A.

2011-01-01

The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) aims to assign a unique gene symbol and name to every human gene. The HGNC database currently contains almost 30 000 approved gene symbols, over 19 000 of which represent protein-coding genes. The public website, www.genenames.org, displays all approved nomenclature within Symbol Reports that contain data curated by HGNC editors and links to related genomic, phenotypic and proteomic information. Here we describe improvements to our resources, including a new Quick Gene Search, a new List Search, an integrated HGNC BioMart and a new Statistics and Downloads facility. PMID:20929869

Ocean Drilling Program: Mirror Sites

Science.gov Websites

Publication services and products Drilling services and tools Online Janus database Search the ODP/TAMU web information, see www.iodp-usio.org. ODP | Search | Database | Drilling | Publications | Science | Cruise Info

What causes the barren bottoms of the Baltic?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zillén, Lovisa; Conley, Daniel J.; Gustafsson, Bo G.

2010-05-01

One of the largest impacts on the Baltic Sea ecosystem health is eutrophication, which causes hypoxia (< 2mg/l dissolved oxygen). It is estimated that the hypoxic zone in the Baltic Sea has increased about four times in area since 1960 due to surplus loads of waterborne and airborne nutrients (N and P) from anthropogenic sources. Hypoxia has barren vast areas of the sea-floor, reduced the macrobenthic communities and disrupted benthic food webs in the whole Baltic basin. Hypoxia alters nutrient biogeochemical cycles; it increases the internal load of phosphorus released from sediments, which causes low nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) ratios during summer - a factor that favors cyanobacterial blooms. Hypoxia in the Baltic Sea is not unique to the modern era. Based on a compilation of Baltic geological records Zillén et al., (2008) showed that the deeper depressions of the Baltic Proper have experienced intermittent hypoxia during most of the Holocene. Hypoxia occurred basin-wide, at water depths varying between 73-240 m during three major periods; i.e. between c. 8000-4000, 2000-800 cal. yr BP and subsequent to AD 1800. These periods overlap the Holocene Thermal Maximum HTM (c. 9000-5000 cal. yr BP), the Medieval Warm Period MWP (c. AD 750-1200) and the modern historical period (AD 1800 to present). In contrast, oxic bottom conditions were common between c. 7000-6000, c. 4000-2000 and c. 800-200 cal. yr BP. The latter period coincides with the Little Ice Age (LIA) and its characteristic server winters. Although we know that hypoxia has occurred in the past and probably co-varied with external forces, such as climate change and nutrient fluxes, the relative importance of these two forcing mechanisms is unresolved, which restricts predictions about the Baltic Sea ecosystem response to future climate and anthropogenic stressors. Most previous research suggests that there may be a correlation between the oxygen conditions in the Baltic Sea and climate variability in the past

Methane in the Baltic and North Seas and a reassessment of the marine emissions of methane

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bange, H.W.; Bartell, U.H.; Rapsomanikis, S.

During three measurement campaigns on the Baltic and North Seas, atmospheric and dissolved methane was determined with an automated gas chromatographic system. Area-weighted mean saturation values in the sea surface waters were 113{+-}5% and 395{+-}82% and 126{+-}8%. On the bases of our data and a compilation of literature data the global oceanic emissions of methane were reassessed by introducing a concept of regional gas transfer coefficients. Our estimates computed with two different air-sea exchange models lie in the range of 11-18 Tg CH{sub 4} yr{sup -1}. Despite the fact that shelf areas and estuaries only represent a small part ofmore » the world`s ocean they contribute about 75% to the global oceanic emissions. We applied a simple, coupled, three-layer model to evaluate the time dependent variation of the oceanic flux to the atmosphere. The model calculations indicate that even with increasing tropospheric methane concentration, the ocean will remain a source of atmospheric methane. 72 refs., 7 figs., 7 tabs.« less

Verbal Aspects in Germanic, Slavic, and Baltic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Senn, Alfred

1949-01-01

This study examines the theory of Prokosch concerning the Germanic-Slavic-Baltic tense and aspect systems. The interrelatedness and influence of languages and dialects in Slavic (Russian and Old Church Slavic), Baltic (Lithuanian), and Germanic (Old High German and Gothic) are demonstrated. Examples illustrating the use of the perfective present…

Remote sensing algorithm for sea surface CO2 in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parard, G.; Charantonis, A. A.; Rutgerson, A.

2014-08-01

Studies of coastal seas in Europe have brought forth the high variability in the CO2 system. This high variability, generated by the complex mechanisms driving the CO2 fluxes makes their accurate estimation an arduous task. This is more pronounced in the Baltic Sea, where the mechanisms driving the fluxes have not been as highly detailed as in the open oceans. In adition, the joint availability of in-situ measurements of CO2 and of sea-surface satellite data is limited in the area. In this paper, a combination of two existing methods (Self-Organizing-Maps and Multiple Linear regression) is used to estimate ocean surface pCO2 in the Baltic Sea from remotely sensed surface temperature, chlorophyll, coloured dissolved organic matter, net primary production and mixed layer depth. The outputs of this research have an horizontal resolution of 4 km, and cover the period from 1998 to 2011. The reconstructed pCO2 values over the validation data set have a correlation of 0.93 with the in-situ measurements, and a root mean square error is of 38 μatm. The removal of any of the satellite parameters degraded this reconstruction of the CO2 flux, and we chose therefore to complete any missing data through statistical imputation. The CO2 maps produced by this method also provide a confidence level of the reconstruction at each grid point. The results obtained are encouraging given the sparsity of available data and we expect to be able to produce even more accurate reconstructions in the coming years, in view of the predicted acquisitions of new data.

Variational data assimilation problem for the Baltic Sea thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakharova, Natalia; Agoshkov, Valery; Parmuzin, Eugene

2015-04-01

The most versatile and promising technology for solving problems of monitoring and analysis of the natural environment is a four-dimensional variational data assimilation of observation data. In such problems not only the development and justification of algorithms for numerical solution of variational data assimilation problems but the properties of the optimal solution play an important role. In this work the variational data assimilation problems in the Baltic Sea water area were formulated and studied. Numerical experiments on restoring the ocean heat flux and obtaining solution of the system (temperature, salinity, velocity, and sea surface height) in the Baltic Sea primitive equation hydrodynamics model with assimilation procedure were carried out. In the calculations we used daily sea surface temperature observation from Danish meteorological Institute, prepared on the basis of measurements of the radiometer (AVHRR, AATSR and AMSRE) and spectroradiometer (SEVIRI and MODIS). The spatial resolution of the model grid with respect to the horizontal variables amounted to 0.0625x0.03125 degree. The results of the numerical experiments are presented. This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 13-01-00753, project 14-01-31195) and project 14-11-00609 by the Russian Science Foundation. References: 1 E.I. Parmuzin, V.I. Agoshkov, Numerical solution of the variational assimilation problem for sea surface temperature in the model of the Black Sea dynamics. Russ. J. Numer. Anal. Math. Modelling (2012) 27, No.1, 69-94 2 Zakharova N.B., Agoshkov V.I., Parmuzin E.I., The new method of ARGO buoys system observation data interpolation. Russian Journal of Numerical Analysis and Mathematical Modelling. Vol. 28, Issue 1, 2013. 3 Zalesny V.B., Gusev A.V., Chernobay S.Yu., Aps R., Tamsalu R., Kujala P., Rytkönen J. The Bal-tic Sea circulation modelling and assessment of marine pollution, Russ. J. Numer. Analysis and Math. Modelling, 2014, V 29

Kardex Quadrangle Overlays - www.arlis.org

Science.gov Websites

Wild & Scenic Rivers About Contacts Partner Libraries Policies Administrative Records Challenged Records Challenged Materials Circulation Code of Conduct Conference Room Conference Room Form Internet Use /AK/AE-03/003. This page links to records in jpg graphics format. The images in this collection are

Dominant petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the Archipelago Sea in South-West Finland (Baltic Sea) belong to different taxonomic groups than hydrocarbon degraders in the oceans.

PubMed

Reunamo, Anna; Riemann, Lasse; Leskinen, Piia; Jørgensen, Kirsten S

2013-07-15

The natural petroleum hydrocarbon degrading capacity of the Archipelago Sea water in S-W Finland was studied in a microcosm experiment. Pristine and previously oil exposed sites were examined. Bacterial community fingerprinting was performed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and samples from selected microcosms were sequenced. The abundance of PAH degradation genes was measured by quantitative PCR. Bacterial communities in diesel exposed microcosms diverged from control microcosms during the experiment. Gram positive PAH degradation genes dominated at both sites in situ, whereas gram negative PAH degrading genes became enriched in diesel microcosms. The dominant bacterial groups after a 14 days of diesel exposure were different depending on the sampling site, belonging to the class Actinobacteria (32%) at a pristine site and Betaproteobacteria (52%) at a previously oil exposed site. The hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Baltic Sea differ from those in the oceans, where most hydrocarbon degraders belong to Gammaproteobacteria. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Demonstrating the Alaska Ocean Observing System in Prince William Sound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoch, G. Carl; McCammon, Molly

2013-07-01

The Alaska Ocean Observing System and the Oil Spill Recovery Institute developed a demonstration project over a 5 year period in Prince William Sound. The primary goal was to develop a quasi-operational system that delivers weather and ocean information in near real time to diverse user communities. This observing system now consists of atmospheric and oceanic sensors, and a new generation of computer models to numerically simulate and forecast weather, waves, and ocean circulation. A state of the art data management system provides access to these products from one internet portal at http://www.aoos.org. The project culminated in a 2009 field experiment that evaluated the observing system and performance of the model forecasts. Observations from terrestrial weather stations and weather buoys validated atmospheric circulation forecasts. Observations from wave gages on weather buoys validated forecasts of significant wave heights and periods. There was an emphasis on validation of surface currents forecasted by the ocean circulation model for oil spill response and search and rescue applications. During the 18 day field experiment a radar array mapped surface currents and drifting buoys were deployed. Hydrographic profiles at fixed stations, and by autonomous vehicles along transects, were made to acquire measurements through the water column. Terrestrial weather stations were the most reliable and least costly to operate, and in situ ocean sensors were more costly and considerably less reliable. The radar surface current mappers were the least reliable and most costly but provided the assimilation and validation data that most improved ocean circulation forecasts. We describe the setting of Prince William Sound and the various observational platforms and forecast models of the observing system, and discuss recommendations for future development.

Strontium-90 and cesium-137 distribution in Baltic Sea waters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lazarev, L.N.; Gedeonov, L.I.; Ivanova, L.M.

The strontium-90 and cesium-137 concentrations determined in 1983 in the Baltic Sea proper and the Gulf of Finland and in the Soviet Baltic rivers are furnished. The cesium-137 content has been found to be directly proportional to the salinity of the water. Significant influx of technogenic radioactive contaminants from the North to the Baltic Sea was noted in 1983.

Biomass changes and trophic amplification of plankton in a warmer ocean.

PubMed

Chust, Guillem; Allen, J Icarus; Bopp, Laurent; Schrum, Corinna; Holt, Jason; Tsiaras, Kostas; Zavatarelli, Marco; Chifflet, Marina; Cannaby, Heather; Dadou, Isabelle; Daewel, Ute; Wakelin, Sarah L; Machu, Eric; Pushpadas, Dhanya; Butenschon, Momme; Artioli, Yuri; Petihakis, George; Smith, Chris; Garçon, Veronique; Goubanova, Katerina; Le Vu, Briac; Fach, Bettina A; Salihoglu, Baris; Clementi, Emanuela; Irigoien, Xabier

2014-07-01

Ocean warming can modify the ecophysiology and distribution of marine organisms, and relationships between species, with nonlinear interactions between ecosystem components potentially resulting in trophic amplification. Trophic amplification (or attenuation) describe the propagation of a hydroclimatic signal up the food web, causing magnification (or depression) of biomass values along one or more trophic pathways. We have employed 3-D coupled physical-biogeochemical models to explore ecosystem responses to climate change with a focus on trophic amplification. The response of phytoplankton and zooplankton to global climate-change projections, carried out with the IPSL Earth System Model by the end of the century, is analysed at global and regional basis, including European seas (NE Atlantic, Barents Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Bay of Biscay, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea) and the Eastern Boundary Upwelling System (Benguela). Results indicate that globally and in Atlantic Margin and North Sea, increased ocean stratification causes primary production and zooplankton biomass to decrease in response to a warming climate, whilst in the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas, primary production and zooplankton biomass increase. Projected warming characterized by an increase in sea surface temperature of 2.29 ± 0.05 °C leads to a reduction in zooplankton and phytoplankton biomasses of 11% and 6%, respectively. This suggests negative amplification of climate driven modifications of trophic level biomass through bottom-up control, leading to a reduced capacity of oceans to regulate climate through the biological carbon pump. Simulations suggest negative amplification is the dominant response across 47% of the ocean surface and prevails in the tropical oceans; whilst positive trophic amplification prevails in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. Trophic attenuation is projected in temperate seas. Uncertainties in ocean plankton projections, associated to the use of single global and

Designing Innovative Lessons Plans to Support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, M. J.

2013-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) issued earlier in 2013 provide the opportunity to enhance pre-college curricula through a new focus on the ';Big Ideas' in Science, more attention to reading and writing skills needed for college and career readiness, and incorporation of engineering and technology. We introduce a set of lesson plans about scientific ocean drilling which can serve as a exemplars for developing curricula to meet NGSS approaches. Designed for middle and high school students, these can also be utilized in undergraduate courses. Development of these lessons was supported through a grant from the Deep Earth Academy of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. They will be disseminated through websites of the Deep Earth Academy (http://www.oceanleadership.org/education/deep-earth-academy/) and Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers (http://www.earth2class.org), as well as through workshops at science education conferences sponsored by the National Earth Science Teachers Association (www.nestanet.org) and other organizations. Topics include 'Downhole Logging,' 'Age of the Ocean Floors,' 'Tales of the Resolution,' and 'Continental Shelf Sediments and Climate Change Patterns.' 'Downhole Logging' focuses on the engineering and technology utilized to obtain more information about sediments and rocks cored by the JOIDES Resolution scientific drilling vessel. 'Age of the Ocean Floor' incorporates the GeoMap App visualization tools (http://www.geomapapp.org/) to compare sea bottom materials in various parts of the world. 'Tales of the Resolution' is a series of ';graphic novels' created to describe the scientific discoveries, refitting of the JOIDES Resolution, and variety of careers available in the marine sciences (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/BRG/outreach/media/tales/). The fourth lesson focuses on discoveries made during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313, which investigated patterns in the sediments beneath the continental shelf off New

The treatable intellectual disability APP www.treatable-id.org: a digital tool to enhance diagnosis & care for rare diseases.

PubMed

van Karnebeek, Clara D M; Houben, Roderick F A; Lafek, Mirafe; Giannasi, Wynona; Stockler, Sylvia

2012-07-23

Intellectual disability (ID) is a devastating and frequent condition, affecting 2-3% of the population worldwide. Early recognition of treatable underlying conditions drastically improves health outcomes and decreases burdens to patients, families and society. Our systematic literature review identified 81 such inborn errors of metabolism, which present with ID as a prominent feature and are amenable to causal therapy. The WebAPP translates this knowledge of rare diseases into a diagnostic tool and information portal. Freely available as a WebAPP via http://www.treatable-id.org and end 2012 via the APP store, this diagnostic tool is designed for all specialists evaluating children with global delay / ID and laboratory scientists. Information on the 81 diseases is presented in different ways with search functions: 15 biochemical categories, neurologic and non-neurologic signs & symptoms, diagnostic investigations (metabolic screening tests in blood and urine identify 65% of all IEM), therapies & effects on primary (IQ/developmental quotient) and secondary outcomes, and available evidence For each rare condition a 'disease page' serves as an information portal with online access to specific genetics, biochemistry, phenotype, diagnostic tests and therapeutic options. As new knowledge and evidence is gained from expert input and PubMed searches this tool will be continually updated. The WebAPP is an integral part of a protocol prioritizing treatability in the work-up of every child with global delay / ID. A 3-year funded study will enable an evaluation of its effectiveness. For rare diseases, a field for which financial and scientific resources are particularly scarce, knowledge translation challenges are abundant. With this WebAPP technology is capitalized to raise awareness for rare treatable diseases and their common presenting clinical feature of ID, with the potential to improve health outcomes. This innovative digital tool is designed to motivate health care

The treatable intellectual disability APP www.treatable-id.org: A digital tool to enhance diagnosis & care for rare diseases

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Intellectual disability (ID) is a devastating and frequent condition, affecting 2-3% of the population worldwide. Early recognition of treatable underlying conditions drastically improves health outcomes and decreases burdens to patients, families and society. Our systematic literature review identified 81 such inborn errors of metabolism, which present with ID as a prominent feature and are amenable to causal therapy. The WebAPP translates this knowledge of rare diseases into a diagnostic tool and information portal. Methods & results Freely available as a WebAPP via http://www.treatable-id.org and end 2012 via the APP store, this diagnostic tool is designed for all specialists evaluating children with global delay / ID and laboratory scientists. Information on the 81 diseases is presented in different ways with search functions: 15 biochemical categories, neurologic and non-neurologic signs & symptoms, diagnostic investigations (metabolic screening tests in blood and urine identify 65% of all IEM), therapies & effects on primary (IQ/developmental quotient) and secondary outcomes, and available evidence For each rare condition a ‘disease page’ serves as an information portal with online access to specific genetics, biochemistry, phenotype, diagnostic tests and therapeutic options. As new knowledge and evidence is gained from expert input and PubMed searches this tool will be continually updated. The WebAPP is an integral part of a protocol prioritizing treatability in the work-up of every child with global delay / ID. A 3-year funded study will enable an evaluation of its effectiveness. Conclusions For rare diseases, a field for which financial and scientific resources are particularly scarce, knowledge translation challenges are abundant. With this WebAPP technology is capitalized to raise awareness for rare treatable diseases and their common presenting clinical feature of ID, with the potential to improve health outcomes. This innovative digital

Using the AIDA--www.2aida.org--diabetes simulator. Part 2: recommended training requirements for health-carers planning to teach with the software.

PubMed

Lehmann, Eldon D; Tatti, Patrizio

2002-01-01

The purpose of this article is to document some recommended training requirements for health-carers planning to teach using the AIDA interactive educational diabetes simulator. AIDA is a diabetes computer program that permits the interactive simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose profiles for teaching, demonstration, and self-learning purposes. It has been made freely available, without charge, on the Internet as a noncommercial contribution to continuing diabetes education. Since its launch in 1996 over 200,000 visits have been logged at the AIDA Website--www.2aida.org--and over 40,000 copies of the AIDA program have been downloaded free-of-charge. This report describes various training requirements that are recommended for health-care professionals who are interested in teaching with the software. Intended goals of this article are to answer possible questions from teachers using the program, highlight some minimum recommended training requirements for the software, suggest some "hints and tips" for teaching ideas, explain the importance of performing more studies/trials with the program, overview randomised controlled trial usage of the software, and highlight the importance of obtaining feedback from lesson participants. The recommendations seem to be straightforward and should help in formalising training with the program, as well as in the development of a network of teachers "accredited" to give lessons using the software. This report, together with the previous article (Part 1, Diabetes Technol Ther 2002;4:401-414), highlights the utility of providing guidelines and suggesting recommended training requirements for health-carers planning to make use of educational medical/diabetes software.

Nutrient trends through time in Sweden's Baltic Drainage Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fischer, I.; Destouni, G.; Prieto, C.

2015-12-01

Changes in climate and land-use have and will continue to modify regional hydrology, in turn impacting environmental health, agricultural productivity and water resource quality and availability. The Baltic region is an area of interest as the coast spans nine countries- serving over 100 million people. The Baltic Sea contains one of the largest human caused hypoxic dead zones due to eutrophication driven by anthropogenic excess loading of nutrients. Policies to reduce these loads include also international directives and agreements, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, adopted in 2000 to protect and improve water quality throughout the European Union, and the Baltic Sea Action Plan under the Helsinki Commission aimed specifically at reducing the nutrient loading to and mitigating the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. In light of these policies and amidst the number of studies on the Baltic Sea we ask, using the accessible nutrient and discharge data what does nutrient loading look like today? Are the most excessive loads going down? Observed nutrient and flow time series across Sweden allow for answering these questions, by spatial and temporal trend analysis of loads from various parts of Sweden to the Baltic Sea. Analyzing these observed time series in conjunction with the ecological health status classifications of the EU Water Framework Directive, allows in particular for answering the question if the loads into the water bodies with the poorest water quality, and from those to the Baltic Sea, are improving, being maintained or deteriorating. Such insight is required to contribute to relevant and efficient water and nutrient load management. Furthermore, empirically calculating nutrient loads, rather than only modeling, reveals that the water body health classification may not reflect what water bodies actually contribute the heaviest loads to the Baltic Sea. This work also underscores the importance of comprehensive analysis of all available data from

Prospects of the New Science and Outreach Network Baltic Earth with Results of the Second Climate Change Assessment for the Baltic Sea Region (BACC II)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckermann, M.; Von Storch, H.; Omstedt, A. T.; Meier, M.; Rutgersson, A.

2014-12-01

The Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe spans different climate and population zones, from a temperate, highly populated, industrialized south with intensive agriculture to a boreal, rural north. It represents an old cultural landscape, and the Baltic Sea itself is among the most intensively studied sea areas of the world. Baltic Earth is the new Earth system research network for the Baltic Sea region. It is the successor to BALTEX, which was terminated in June 2013 after 20 years and two successful phases. Baltic Earth stands for the vision to achieve an improved Earth system understanding of the Baltic Sea region. This means that the research disciplines of BALTEX continue to be relevant, i.e. atmospheric and climate sciences, hydrology, oceanography and biogeochemistry, but a more holistic view of the Earth system encompassing processes in the atmosphere, on land and in the sea as well as in the anthroposphere shall gain in importance in Baltic Earth. Specific grand research challenges have been formulated, representing interdisciplinary research questions to be tackled in the coming years. A major means will be scientific assessments of particular research topics by expert groups, similar to the BACC approach, which shall help to identify knowledge gaps and develop research strategies. A major outcome of Baltic Earth will be the update of the BALTEX Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin (BACC II). This new study after 5 years finds the results of BACC I still valid. Climate change can be detected at the regional scale but attribution is still weak. The effect of changing atmospheric aerosol loads and land use change is largely unknown so far and needs further attention in the coming years. For the observed changes in biogeochemical and ecological systems, multiple drivers are at work of which climate change is one. Their relative importance still needs to be evaluated. When addressing climate change impacts on e.g. forestry, agriculture, urban

The Baltic Basin Case Study—towards a sustainable Baltic Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jansson, Bengt-Owe; Stålvant, Carl-Einar

2001-12-01

Four watersheds, each characterized by a major resource use were selected for the study: The Vistula River in Poland—agriculture; the Dalälven River in Sweden—forestry; the Archipelago Sea in Sweden, Finland, Estonia—tourism; and the Lake Peipsi in Estonia/Russia—fisheries/agriculture. The main objective was to examine the reactions of particular ecosystems within the Baltic Sea drainage area, and to assess sustainability conditions on the regional level. The degree of sustainability and impact on the Baltic Sea were investigated through workshops and seminars in the areas. Overviews of environmental and socio-economic conditions were succinctly summarized in commissioned papers. Interventions by and discussions with scholars, sector experts, administrators and stakeholders of the various sites laid the foundation for conceptualizing the interaction of natural and human forces for each case. The project was able to draw quite a number of conclusions, summarized as the following lessons learnt. In the Vistula Region, nutrient emissions have levelled off but shortage of freshwater is critical. Forestry in the Dalälven watershed is largely environmental-friendly, except for fragmentation of the landscape and its negative impact on biodiversity. In the Archipelago area a former low-energy community has been replaced by a leisure time society. Different types of tourism is developing, but despite this variety, an improved integration of ecological properties with socio-economic patterns is required in order to build a sustainable, living Archipelago. The lake Peipsi basin and the surrounding area suffer both from problems of resource management and economic backwardness. Parts of the local economy has lost access to the one time large Soviet market, although the Estonian side has apparently benefited from present economic growth. To cope with the division of the lake, a regime for trans-national management is unfolding. It is based on both informal and, to an

Qualitative and quantitative composition of microplastics particles during the expeditionary measurement program in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esiukova, Elena; Bagaeva, Margarita; Chubarenko, Natalia

2016-04-01

According to the tasks of the Russian Science Foundation project "Physical and dynamical properties of marine microplastics particles and their transport in a basin with vertical and horizontal salinity gradient on the example of the Baltic Sea" number 15-17-10020, a comprehensive expeditionary program of measurements in the South-Eastern Baltic started. The project is aimed at finding solutions for a number of problems caused by superfluous plastic pollution in the World Ocean and, in particular, in the Baltic Sea. This pollution has been accumulating for years and just recently it has become obvious that only multidisciplinary approach (geographical, biological, chemical, etc.) to the issues related to the processes of transformation of properties and propagation of plastic particles will allow the study of physical aspects of the problem. During the first stage of the study samples should be selected from the water surface, water column at various horizons, bottom sediments in the Baltic Sea, from different areas at the beaches - in order to further examine the qualitative and quantitative composition of microplastic particles in different seasons for different hydrophysical situations. Reconnaissance survey was begun to choose the fields for research close to point and distributed sources of microplastics. Preference is given to those beaches that are exposed to maximum anthropogenic pollution: areas around the town of Baltiysk, the northern part of the Vistula Spit (near the settlement of Kosa), and the Sambia peninsula coast (settlements of Yantarny, Donskoye, Primorye, Kulikovo, towns of Svetlogorsk, Pionersky, Zelenogradsk). Locations for experimental sites were found in order to assess time for formation of microplastics (Vistula Spit, Kosa settlement). In June-November, 2015 there were 5 expeditions in the waters of the South-Eastern Baltic, 7 expeditions along the coast line of the Baltic Sea (in Kaliningrad Oblast), and 5 expeditions to the Vistula

PUMa - modelling the groundwater flow in Baltic Sedimentary Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalvane, G.; Marnica, A.; Bethers, U.

2012-04-01

In 2009-2012 at University of Latvia and Latvia University of Agriculture project "Establishment of interdisciplinary scientist group and modelling system for groundwater research" is implemented financed by the European Social Fund. The aim of the project is to develop groundwater research in Latvia by establishing interdisciplinary research group and modelling system covering groundwater flow in the Baltic Sedimentary Basin. Researchers from fields like geology, chemistry, mathematical modelling, physics and environmental engineering are involved in the project. The modelling system is used as a platform for addressing scientific problems such as: (1) large-scale groundwater flow in Baltic Sedimentary Basin and impact of human activities on it; (2) the evolution of groundwater flow since the last glaciation and subglacial groundwater recharge; (3) the effects of climate changes on shallow groundwater and interaction of hydrographical network and groundwater; (4) new programming approaches for groundwater modelling. Within the frame of the project most accessible geological information such as description of geological wells, geological maps and results of seismic profiling in Latvia as well as Estonia and Lithuania are collected and integrated into modelling system. For example data form more then 40 thousands wells are directly used to automatically generate the geological structure of the model. Additionally a groundwater sampling campaign is undertaken. Contents of CFC, stabile isotopes of O and H and radiocarbon are the most significant parameters of groundwater that are established in unprecedented scale for Latvia. The most important modelling results will be published in web as a data set. Project number: 2009/0212/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/060. Project web-site: www.puma.lu.lv

The Impact of the Major Baltic Inflow of December 2014 on the Mercury Species Distribution in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Kuss, Joachim; Cordes, Florian; Mohrholz, Volker; Nausch, Günther; Naumann, Michael; Krüger, Siegfried; Schulz-Bull, Detlef E

2017-10-17

The Baltic Sea is a marginal sea characterized by stagnation periods of several years. Oxygen consumption in its deep waters leads to the buildup of sulfide from sulfate reduction. Some of the microorganisms responsible for these processes also transform reactive ionic mercury to neurotoxic methylmercury. Episodic inflows of oxygenated saline water from the North Sea temporally re-establish oxic life in deep waters of the Baltic Sea. Thus, this sea is an especially important region to better understand mercury species distributions in connection with variable redox conditions. Mercury species were measured on three Baltic Sea campaigns, during the preinflow, ongoing inflow, and subsiding inflow of water, respectively, to the central basin. The inflowing water caused the removal of total mercury by 600 nmol m -2 and of methylmercury by 214 nmol m -2 in the Gotland Deep, probably via attachment of the mercury compounds to sinking particles. It appears likely that the consequences of the oxygenation of Baltic Sea deep waters, which are the coprecipitation of mercury species and the resettlement of the oxic deep waters, could lead to the enhanced transfer of accumulated mercury and methylmercury to the planktonic food chain and finally to fish.

Changes in the extreme wave heights over the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtseva, Nadia; Soomere, Tarmo

2017-04-01

Storms over the Baltic Sea and northwestern Europe have a large impact on the population, offshore industry, and shipping. The understanding of extreme events in sea wave heights and their change due to the climate change and variability is critical for assessment of flooding risks and coastal protection. The BACCII Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin showed that the extreme events analysis of wind waves is currently not very well addressed, as well as satellite observations of the wave heights. Here we discuss the analysis of all existing satellite altimetry data over the Baltic Sea Basin regarding extremes in the wave heights. In this talk for the first time, we present an analysis of 100-yr return periods, fitted generalized Pareto and Weibull distributions, number, and frequency of extreme events in wave heights in the Baltic Sea measured by the multi-mission satellite altimetry. The data span more than 23 years and provide an excellent spatial coverage over the Baltic Sea, allowing to study in details spatial variations and changes in extreme wave heights. The analysis is based on an application of the Initial Distribution Method, Annual Maxima method and Peak-Over-Threshold approach to satellite altimetry data, all validated in comparison with in-situ wave height measurements. Here we show that the 100-yr return periods of wave heights show significant spatial changes over the Baltic Sea indicating a decrease in the southern part of the Baltic Sea and an increase in adjacent areas, which can significantly affect coast vulnerability. Here we compare the observed shift with storm track database data and discuss a spatial correlation and possible connection between the changes in the storm tracks over the Baltic Sea and the change in the extreme wave heights.

Trends in the components of extreme water levels signal a rotation of winds in strong storms in the eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pindsoo, Katri; Soomere, Tarmo

2016-04-01

The water level time series and particularly temporal variations in water level extremes usually do not follow any simple rule. Still, the analysis of linear trends in extreme values of surge levels is a convenient tool to obtain a first approximation of the future projections of the risks associated with coastal floodings. We demonstrate how this tool can be used to extract essential information about concealed changes in the forcing factors of seas and oceans. A specific feature of the Baltic Sea is that sequences of even moderate storms may raise the average sea level by almost 1 m for a few weeks. Such events occur once in a few years. They substantially contribute to the extreme water levels in the eastern Baltic Sea: the most devastating coastal floodings occur when a strong storm from unfortunate direction arrives during such an event. We focus on the separation of subtidal (weekly-scale) processes from those which are caused by a single storm and on establishing how much these two kinds of events have contributed to the increase in the extreme water levels in the eastern Baltic Sea. The analysis relies on numerically reconstructed sea levels produced by the RCO (Rossby Center, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) ocean model for 1961-2005. The reaction of sea surface to single storm events is isolated from the local water level time series using a running average over a fixed interval. The distribution of average water levels has an almost Gaussian shape for averaging lengths from a few days to a few months. The residual (total water level minus the average) can be interpreted as a proxy of the local storm surges. Interestingly, for the 8-day average this residual almost exactly follows the exponential distribution. Therefore, for this averaging length the heights of local storm surges reflect an underlying Poisson process. This feature is universal for the entire eastern Baltic Sea coast. The slopes of the exponential distribution for low and

Evaluation of the coupled COSMO-CLM+NEMO-Nordic model with focus on North and Baltic seas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenhardt, J.; Pham, T. V.; Früh, B.; Brauch, J.

2017-12-01

The region east of the Baltic Sea has been identified as a hot-spot of climate change by Giorgi, 2006, on the base of temperature and precipitation variability. For this purpose, the atmosphere model COSMO-CLM has been coupled to the ocean model NEMO, including the sea ice model LIM3, via the OASIS3-MCT coupler (Pham et al., 2014). The coupler interpolates heat, fresh water, momentum fluxes, sea level pressure and the fraction of sea ice at the interface in space and time. Our aim is to find an optimal configuration of the already existing coupled regional atmospheric-ocean model COSMO-CLM+NEMO-Nordic. So far results for the North- and Baltic seas show that the coupled run has large biases compared with the E-OBS reference data. Therefore, additional simulation evaluations are planned by the use of independent satellite observation data (e.g. Copernicus, EURO4M). We have performed a series of runs with the coupled COSMO-CLM+NEMO-Nordic model to find out about differences of model outputs due to different coupling time steps. First analyses of COSMO-CLM 2m temperatures let presume that different coupling time steps have an impact on the results of the coupled model run. Additional tests over a longer period of time are conducted to understand whether the signal-to-noise ratio could influence the bias. The results will be presented in our poster.

Long-Term Observations of Atmospheric CO2, O3 and BrO over the Transitioning Arctic Ocean Pack-ice: The O-Buoy Chemical Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matrai, P.

2016-02-01

Autonomous, sea ice-tethered O-Buoys have been deployed (2009-2016) across the Arctic sea ice for long-term atmospheric measurements (http://www.o-buoy.org). O-Buoys (15) provide in-situ concentrations of three sentinel atmospheric chemicals, ozone, CO2 and BrO, as well as meteorological parameters and imagery, over the frozen ocean. O-Buoys were designed to transmit daily data over a period of 2 years while deployed in sea ice, as part of automated ice-drifting stations that include snow/ice measurement systems (e.g. Ice Mass Balance buoys) and oceanographic measurements (e.g. Ice Tethered Profilers). Seasonal changes in Arctic atmospheric chemistry are influenced by changes in the characteristics and presence of the sea ice vs. open water as well as air mass trajectories, especially during the winter-spring and summer-fall transitions when sea ice is melting and freezing, respectively. The O-Buoy Chemical Network provides the unique opportunity to observe these transition periods in real-time with high temporal resolution, and to compare them with those collected on land-based monitoring stations located. Due to the logistical challenges of measurements over the Arctic Ocean region, most long term, in-situ observations of atmospheric chemistry have been made at coastal or island sites around the periphery of the Arctic Ocean, leaving large spatial and temporal gaps that O-Buoys overcome. Advances in floatation, communications, power management, and sensor hardware have been made to overcome the challenges of diminished Arctic sea ice. O-Buoy data provide insights into enhanced seasonal, interannual and spatial variability in atmospheric composition, atmospheric boundary layer control on the amount of halogen activation, enhancement of the atmospheric CO2 signal over the more variable and porous pack ice, and to develop an integrated picture of the coupled ocean/ice/atmosphere system. As part of the Arctic Observing Network, we provide data to the community (www.aoncadis.org).

Towards Improved Estimates of Ocean Heat Flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bentamy, Abderrahim; Hollman, Rainer; Kent, Elisabeth; Haines, Keith

2014-05-01

Recommendations and priorities for ocean heat flux research are for instance outlined in recent CLIVAR and WCRP reports, eg. Yu et al (2013). Among these is the need for improving the accuracy, the consistency, and the spatial and temporal resolution of air-sea fluxes over global as well as at region scales. To meet the main air-sea flux requirements, this study is aimed at obtaining and analyzing all the heat flux components (latent, sensible and radiative) at the ocean surface over global oceans using multiple satellite sensor observations in combination with in-situ measurements and numerical model analyses. The fluxes will be generated daily and monthly for the 20-year (1992-2011) period, between 80N and 80S and at 0.25deg resolution. Simultaneous estimates of all surface heat flux terms have not yet been calculated at such large scale and long time period. Such an effort requires a wide range of expertise and data sources that only recently are becoming available. Needed are methods for integrating many data sources to calculate energy fluxes (short-wave, long wave, sensible and latent heat) across the air-sea interface. We have access to all the relevant, recently available satellite data to perform such computations. Yu, L., K. Haines, M. Bourassa, M. Cronin, S. Gulev, S. Josey, S. Kato, A. Kumar, T. Lee, D. Roemmich: Towards achieving global closure of ocean heat and freshwater budgets: Recommendations for advancing research in air-sea fluxes through collaborative activities. INTERNATIONAL CLIVAR PROJECT OFFICE, 2013: International CLIVAR Publication Series No 189. http://www.clivar.org/sites/default/files/ICPO189_WHOI_fluxes_workshop.pdf

Projected impact of climate change in the North and Baltic Sea. Results from dynamical downscaling of global CMIP climate scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gröger, Matthias; Maier-Reimer, Ernst; Mikolajewicz, Uwe; Sein, Dmitry

2013-04-01

Climate models have predicted strongest climate change impact for the mid/high lattiude areas. Despite their importance, shelves seas (which are supposed to account for more than 20% of global marine primary production and for up to 50% of total marine carbon uptake) are not adequately resolved in climate models. In this study, the global ocean general circulation and biogeochemistry model MPIOM/HAMOCC has been setup with an enhanced resolution over the NW European shelf (~10 km in the southern North Sea). For a realistic representation of atmosphere-ocean interactions the regional model REMO has been implemented. Thus, this model configuration allows a physically consistent simulation of climate signal propagation from the North Atlantic over the North Sea into the Baltic Sea since it interactively simulates mass and energy fluxes between the three basins. The results indicate substantial changes in hydrographic and biological conditions for the end of the 21st Century. A freshening by about 0.75 psu together with a surface warming of ~2.0 K and associated circulation changes in and outside the North Sea reduce biological production on the NW European shelf by ~35%. This reduction is twice as strong as the reduction in the open ocean. The underlying mechanism is a spatially well confined stratification feedback along the shelf break and the continental slope which reduces the winter mixed layer by locally more than 200 m compared to current conditions. As a consequence winter nutrient supply from the deep Atlantic declines between 40 and 50%. In addition to this, the volume transport of water and salt into the North Sea will slightly reduce (~10%) during summer. At the end of the 21st Century the North Sea appears nearly decoupled from the deep Atlantic. The projected decline in biological productivity and subsequent decrease of phytoplankton (by averaged 25%) will probably negatively affect the local fish stock in the North Sea. In the Baltic Sea the climate

Understanding human impact on the Baltic ecosystem: changing views in recent decades.

PubMed

Elmgren, R

2001-08-01

Grave environmental problems, including contamination of biota by organochlorines and heavy metals, and increasing deep-water oxygen deficiency, were discovered in the Baltic Sea in the late 1960s. Toxic pollutants, including the newly discovered PCB, were initially seen as the main threat to the Baltic ecosystem, and the impaired reproduction found in Baltic seals and white-tailed eagles implied a threat also to human fish eaters. Countermeasures gradually gave results, and today the struggle to limit toxic pollution of the Baltic is an international environmental success story. Calculations showed that Baltic deep-water oxygen consumption must have increased, and that the Baltic nutrient load had grown about fourfold for nitrogen and 8 times for phosphorus. Evidence of increased organic production at all trophic levels in the ecosystem gradually accumulated. Phosphorus was first thought to limit Baltic primary production, but measurements soon showed that nitrogen is generally limiting in the open Baltic proper, except for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Today, the debate is concerned with whether phosphorus, by limiting nitrogen-fixers, can control open-sea ecosystem production, even where phytoplankton is clearly nitrogen limited. The Baltic lesson teaches us that our views of newly discovered environmental problems undergo repeated changes, and that it may take decades for scientists to agree on their causes. Once society decides on countermeasures, it may take decades for them to become effective, and for nature to recover. Thus, environmental management decisions can hardly wait for scientific certainty. We should therefore view environmental management decisions as experiments, to be monitored, learned from, and then modified as needed.

New insight into defining the lakes of the southern Baltic coastal zone.

PubMed

Cieśliński, Roman; Olszewska, Alicja

2018-01-29

There exist many classification systems of hydrographic entities such as lakes found along the coastlines of seas and oceans. Each system has its advantages and can be used with some success in the area of protection and management. This paper aims to evaluate whether the studied lakes are only coastal lakes or rather bodies of water of a completely different hydrological and hydrochemical nature. The attempt to create a new classification system of Polish coastal lakes is related to the incompleteness of lake information in existing classifications. Thus far, the most frequently used are classifications based solely on lake basin morphogenesis or hydrochemical properties. The classifications in this paper are based not only on the magnitude of lake water salinity or hydrochemical analysis but also on isolation from the Baltic Sea and other sources of water. The key element of the new classification system for coastal bodies of water is a departure from the existing system used to classify lakes in Poland and the introduction of ion-"tracking" methods designed to identify anion and cation distributions in each body of water of interest. As a result of the work, a new classification of lakes of the southern Baltic Sea coastal zone was created. Featured objects such as permanently brackish lakes, brackish lakes that may turn into freshwater lakes from time to time, freshwater lakes that may turn into brackish lakes from time to time, freshwater lakes that experience low levels of salinity due to specific incidents, and permanently freshwater lakes. The authors have adopted 200 mg Cl -  dm -3 as a maximum value of lake water salinity. There are many conditions that determine the membership of a lake to a particular group, but the most important is the isolation lakes from the Baltic Sea. Changing a condition may change the classification of a lake.

Immunosuppression in harbour seals fed fish from the contaminated Baltic Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ross, P.S.; Swart, R.L. de; Timmerman, H.H.

Environmental contaminants including dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls have been shown to be immunotoxic in laboratory animals, but little information exists as to their possible effect on mammals in the natural environment. Recent virus-induced mass mortalities among marine mammals occupying high trophic levels have led to much speculation regarding a possible contributory role of pollutants in these events. The authors undertook a two-year captive feeding experiment with harbor seals, Phoca vitulina, where one group was fed herring from the contaminated Baltic Sea and a second group was fed relatively uncontaminated herring from the Atlantic Ocean. During the course of the experiment,more » they regularly sampled blood and undertook a series of immune function tests. They observed a significant impairment of natural killer cell activity and T-lymphocyte function, in vitro, in the group of seals fed the Baltic Sea fish. In addition, seals of this group were less able to mount a specific humoral and delayed type hypersensitivity response to a protein antigen, ovalbumin, upon immunization. Increased numbers of granulocytes in this group may have reflected periodic bacterial infections as a consequence of impaired immune function. Their results suggest that pollutants accumulated through the food chain in contaminated marine waters may suppress normal immune responses in marine mammals and lead to an increased susceptibility to opportunistic infection.« less

Building Ocean Learning Communities: A COSEE Science and Education Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robigou, V.; Bullerdick, S.; Anderson, A.

2007-12-01

The core mission of the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) is to promote partnerships between research scientists and educators through a national network of regional and thematic centers. In addition, the COSEEs also disseminate best practices in ocean sciences education, and promote ocean sciences as a charismatic interdisciplinary vehicle for creating a more scientifically literate workforce and citizenry. Although each center is mainly funded through a peer-reviewed grant process by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the centers form a national network that fosters collaborative efforts among the centers to design and implement initiatives for the benefit of the entire network and beyond. Among these initiatives the COSEE network has contributed to the definition, promotion, and dissemination of Ocean Literacy in formal and informal learning settings. Relevant to all research scientists, an Education and Public Outreach guide for scientists is now available at www.tos.org. This guide highlights strategies for engaging scientists in Ocean Sciences Education that are often applicable in other sciences. To address the challenging issue of ocean sciences education informed by scientific research, the COSEE approach supports centers that are partnerships between research institutions, formal and informal education venues, advocacy groups, industry, and others. The COSEE Ocean Learning Communities, is a partnership between the University of Washington College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences and College of Education, the Seattle Aquarium, and a not-for-profit educational organization. The main focus of the center is to foster and create Learning Communities that cultivate contributing, and ocean sciences-literate citizens aware of the ocean's impact on daily life. The center is currently working with volunteer groups around the Northwest region that are actively involved in projects in the marine environment and to empower these diverse groups

Baltic Consortium on Promoting Gender Equality in Marine Research Organisations (Baltic Gender)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kısakürek Ibsen, Başak; Braun, Sarah; Heiskanen, Anna-Stiina; Kutser, Tiit; Stadmark, Johanna; Vaitkevičienė, Viktorija; Waniek, Joanna; Werner, Iris; Matthes, Katja

2017-04-01

Marine Science and Technology has been traditionally a male-dominated research field, with a significant lack of women in leadership positions. However, the whole intellectual capacity of men and women alike are needed to create innovative solutions for the sustainable use of marine resources in the face of major global challenges for the development of the marine environment. The EU-funded project, Baltic Gender (GA No. 710363), responds to this need for creating policies and implementing measures at the institutional level with the aim of harvesting the full human capital for the needs of marine research. The main goal of Baltic Gender is to help reduce gender segregation and gender inequalities in Marine Science and Technology. To this end, eight partner institutions from five countries in the Baltic Sea region (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden) came together for the exchange of institutional practices as well as for the transfer of knowledge from institutions/countries leading in gender equality to those following. Baltic Gender will sow the seeds for long-lasting institutional practices by initiating schemes and strategies that promote gender equality in the partner institutions. These include, for instance: the founding of grass-root networks that support the career advancement of women; creating strategies for better reconciliation of work and family life of women and men; the review and improvement of institutional policies and practices with regard to gender balance, fairness and transparency; development of a method protocol for incorporating gender analysis into research projects or programmes of Marine Science and Technology; initiating gender focused training and mentoring in or across all partner institutions. The project will support the implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs), which consist of a set of actions an institution commits to in order to identify any existing gender bias and to implement strategies to advance gender

DISTANT EARLY WARNING SYSTEM for Tsunamis - A wide-area and multi-hazard approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammitzsch, Martin; Lendholt, Matthias; Wächter, Joachim

2010-05-01

system and to extend the CCUI with hazard specific functionality. The presentation covers the DEWS project, the system architecture and the CCUI in conjunction with details of information logistics. The DEWS Wide Area Centre connecting national centres to allow the international communication and warning exchange is presented also. REFERENCES: [1] DEWS, www.dews-online.org [2] OGC, www.opengeospatial.org [3] SWE, www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/sensorweb [4] Eclipse RCP, www.eclipse.org/home/categories/rcp.php [5] uDig, udig.refractions.net [6] WMS, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms [7] WFS, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wfs [8] WPS, www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wps [9] OASIS, www.oasis-open.org [10] CAP, www.oasis-open.org/specs/#capv1.1 [11] EDXL-DE, www.oasis-open.org/specs/#edxlde-v1.0 [12] SOAP, www.w3.org/TR/soap [13] GITEWS (German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System) is a project of the German Federal Government to aid the recon¬struction of the tsunami-prone Indian Ocean region, www.gitews.org [14] The Tsunami Service Bus is the GITEWS sensor system integration platform offering standardised services for the detection and monitoring of tsunamis

US foreign policy and the Baltic states. Master`s thesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shuey, K.A.

This thesis examines U. S. foreign policy toward the Baltic states from 1918 to 1991 to determine if the U.S. has been realistic in its dealings with small nations. An analysis of U.S. policy indicates that the United States acts hypocritically by accepting compromises on the very moral principals to which it claims to be the protectorate of when domestic political costs are high. The sacrifice of national values degrades the credibility of the moral high ground necessary for U.S. policy. This study reviews the events that occurred during the three major periods in U.S.-Baltic relations: The initial period ofmore » Baltic independence following World War I; the Soviet annexation of the Baltics during World War II: and finally the beginning of the second period of Baltic independence during the breakup of the Soviet Union. In all three cases U.S. policy was unclear and contradictory. The Baltic case provides a good example of the tendency for U.S. policy to be paradoxical and ineffective. This study concludes that despite the U.S. policy of nonrecognition of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states during the Cold War, the United States failed to adhere to its principals when given the opportunity. In the process, it also neglected problems within its borders that required attention perhaps more urgently than those outside. The tendency for U.S. policy to ignore the issues that actually threaten its security internally and placing a higher priority on external matters that do not have a real impact on its standing could likely lead to its inadvertent downfall.« less

Atmospheric teleconnections between the Arctic and the Baltic Sea regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakobson, L.; Jakobson, E.

2017-12-01

The observed enhanced warming of the Arctic, referred to as the AA, is expected to be related to further changes that impact mid-latitudes and the rest of the world. Our aim is to clarify how the climatic parameters in the Baltic Sea and Arctic regions are associated. Knowledge of such connections helps to define regions in the Arctic that could be with higher extent associated with the Baltic Sea region climate change. We used monthly mean reanalysis data from NCEP-CFSR and ERA-Interim. The strongest teleconnections between the same parameter (temperature, SLP, specific humidity, wind speed) at the Baltic Sea region and the Arctic are found in winter, but they are clearly affected by the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index. After removal of the AO index variability, correlations in winter were everywhere below ±0.5, while in other seasons there remained regions with strong (|R|>0.5, p<0.002) correlations. Strong correlations are also present between different climate variables at the Baltic Sea region and different regions of the Arctic. Temperature from 1000 to 500 hPa level at the Baltic Sea region have a strong negative correlation with the Greenland sector (the region between 20 - 80W and 55 - 80N) during all seasons except summer. The positive temperature anomaly of mild winter at the Greenland sector shifts towards east during the next seasons, reaching to Scandinavia/Baltic Sea region in summer. The Greenland sector is the region which gives the most significant correlations with the climatic parameters (temperature, wind speed, specific humidity, SLP) of the Baltic Sea region. These relationships can be explained by the AO index variability only in winter. In other seasons there has to be other influencing factors. The results of this study are valuable for selecting regions in the Arctic that have statistically the largest effect on climate in the Baltic Sea region.

China and the United States in the Indian Ocean: An Emerging Strategic Triangle

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

eration,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, July 2005, www.nti.org/e_research/e3_67a.html. 30. 章明 [Zhang Ming], “马六甲困局与中国海军 的 战 略抉择” [The Malacca Dilemma...in India Which Cherishes the Dream of Becoming a Major Country,” Ta Kung Pao, 4 June 2001. 32. 谢值军 [Xie Zhijun], “21世纪亚洲海洋: 群雄 争 霸 中国怎么办?” [Asian Seas...Xiaolin and Qu Yutao], “从近海到远洋延伸—印度海军 战 略的演进” [From Offshore Defense to Open Ocean Extension—The Evolution of Indian Naval Strategy], 学习时报 [Study Times

Hexachlorocyclohexane - Long term variability and spatial distribution in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Abraham, Marion; Theobald, Norbert; Schulz-Bull, Detlef

2017-02-01

In response to the HELCOM commitment the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemuende conducts a monitoring program on listed substances of concern for the Baltic Sea environment which comprises the isomers of technical hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). After World War II the HCH compounds were applied globally in huge amounts as insecticidal formulation in which only γ-HCH is the effective agent. Monitoring was conducted in water samples from a large Baltic Sea area. Mostly, the HCH compounds were evenly distributed in the Baltic Sea. Data from 1975 to 2015 from the Arkona Basin depict a substantial reduction of the HCH pressure (12,500 to < 400 pg/L). Longest residence is shown for β-HCH, which is currently the predominant HCH isomer in the Baltic Sea (α/β/γ:1/2/1). Half lives were determined to be 4-8 years for α- and γ-HCH and 5-20 years for β-HCH. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Approaches to Linked Open Data at data.oceandrilling.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fils, D.

2012-12-01

The data.oceandrilling.org web application applies Linked Open Data (LOD) patterns to expose Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) data. Ocean drilling data is represented in a rich range of data formats: high resolution images, file based data sets and sample based data. This richness of data types has been well met by semantic approaches and will be demonstrated. Data has been extracted from CSV, HTML and RDBMS through custom software and existing packages for loading into a SPARQL 1.1 compliant triple store. Practices have been developed to streamline the maintenance of the RDF graphs and properly expose them using LOD approaches like VoID and HTML embedded structured data. Custom and existing vocabularies are used to allow semantic relations between resources. Use of the W3c draft RDF Data Cube Vocabulary and other approaches for encoding time scales, taxonomic fossil data and other graphs will be shown. A software layer written in Google Go mediates the RDF to web pipeline. The approach used is general and can be applied to other similar environments like node.js or Python Twisted. To facilitate communication user interface software libraries such as D3 and packages such as S2S and LodLive have been used. Additionally OpenSearch API's, structured data in HTML and SPARQL endpoints provide various access methods for applications. The data.oceandrilling.org is not viewed as a web site but as an application that communicate with a range of clients. This approach helps guide the development more along software practices than along web site authoring approaches.

The radiological exposure of man from radioactivity in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Nielsen, S P; Bengtson, P; Bojanowsky, R; Hagel, P; Herrmann, J; Ilus, E; Jakobson, E; Motiejunas, S; Panteleev, Y; Skujina, A; Suplinska, M

1999-09-30

A radiological assessment has been carried out considering discharges of radioactivity to the Baltic Sea marine environment since 1950. The sources of radioactivity that have been evaluated are atmospheric nuclear-weapons fallout, fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, discharges of radionuclides from Sellafield and La Hague transported into the Baltic Sea, and discharges of radionuclides from nuclear installations located in the Baltic Sea area. Dose rates from man-made radioactivity to individual members of the public (critical groups) have been calculated based on annual intake of seafood and beach occupancy time. The dose rates to individuals from the regions of the Bothnian Sea and Gulf of Finland are predicted to be larger than from any other area in the Baltic Sea due to the pattern of Chernobyl fallout. The dose rates are predicted to have peaked in 1986 at a value of 0.2 mSv year-1. Collective committed doses to members of the public have been calculated based on fishery statistics and predicted concentrations of radionuclides in biota and coastal sediments. The total collective dose from man-made radioactivity in the Baltic Sea is estimated at 2600 manSv, of which approximately two-thirds originate from Chernobyl fallout, approximately one-quarter from atmospheric nuclear-weapons fallout, approximately 8% from European reprocessing facilities, and approximately 0.04% from nuclear installations bordering the Baltic Sea area. An assessment of small-scale dumping of low-level radioactive waste in the Baltic Sea in the 1960s by Sweden and the Soviet Union has showed that doses to man from these activities are negligible. Dose rates and doses from natural radioactivity dominate except for the year 1986 where dose rates to individuals from Chernobyl fallout in some regions of the Baltic Sea approached those from natural radioactivity.

Effect of ocean acidification on the structure and fatty acid composition of a natural plankton community in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bermúdez, Rafael; Winder, Monika; Stuhr, Annegret; Almén, Anna-Karin; Engström-Öst, Jonna; Riebesell, Ulf

2016-12-01

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is changing seawater chemistry towards reduced pH, which affects various properties of marine organisms. Coastal and brackish water communities are expected to be less affected by ocean acidification (OA) as these communities are typically adapted to high fluctuations in CO2 and pH. Here we investigate the response of a coastal brackish water plankton community to increasing CO2 levels as projected for the coming decades and the end of this century in terms of community and biochemical fatty acid (FA) composition. A Baltic Sea plankton community was enclosed in a set of offshore mesocosms and subjected to a CO2 gradient ranging from natural concentrations ( ˜ 347 µatm fCO2) up to values projected for the year 2100 ( ˜ 1333 µatm fCO2). We show that the phytoplankton community composition was resilient to CO2 and did not diverge between the treatments. Seston FA composition was influenced by community composition, which in turn was driven by silicate and phosphate limitation in the mesocosms and showed no difference between the CO2 treatments. These results suggest that CO2 effects are dampened in coastal communities that already experience high natural fluctuations in pCO2. Although this coastal plankton community was tolerant of high pCO2 levels, hypoxia and CO2 uptake by the sea can aggravate acidification and may lead to pH changes outside the currently experienced range for coastal organisms.

Spatial variation of statistical properties of extreme water levels along the eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pindsoo, Katri; Soomere, Tarmo; Rocha, Eugénio

2016-04-01

Most of existing projections of future extreme water levels rely on the use of classic generalised extreme value distributions. The choice to use a particular distribution is often made based on the absolute value of the shape parameter of the Generalise Extreme Value distribution. If this parameter is small, the Gumbel distribution is most appropriate while in the opposite case the Weibull or Frechet distribution could be used. We demonstrate that the alongshore variation in the statistical properties of numerically simulated high water levels along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea is so large that the use of a single distribution for projections of extreme water levels is highly questionable. The analysis is based on two simulated data sets produced in the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. The output of the Rossby Centre Ocean model is sampled with a resolution of 6 h and the output of the circulation model NEMO with a resolution of 1 h. As the maxima of water levels of subsequent years may be correlated in the Baltic Sea, we also employ maxima for stormy seasons. We provide a detailed analysis of spatial variation of the parameters of the family of extreme value distributions along an approximately 600 km long coastal section from the north-western shore of Latvia in the Baltic Proper until the eastern Gulf of Finland. The parameters are evaluated using maximum likelihood method and method of moments. The analysis also covers the entire Gulf of Riga. The core parameter of this family of distributions, the shape parameter of the Generalised Extreme Value distribution, exhibits extensive variation in the study area. Its values evaluated using the Hydrognomon software and maximum likelihood method, vary from about -0.1 near the north-western coast of Latvia in the Baltic Proper up to about 0.05 in the eastern Gulf of Finland. This parameter is very close to zero near Tallinn in the western Gulf of Finland. Thus, it is natural that the Gumbel

Modelling the influence of climate change on the chemical concentrations in the Baltic Sea region with the POPCYCLING-Baltic model.

PubMed

Kong, Deguo; MacLeod, Matthew; Cousins, Ian T

2014-09-01

The effect of projected future changes in temperature, wind speed, precipitation and particulate organic carbon on concentrations of persistent organic chemicals in the Baltic Sea regional environment is evaluated using the POPCYCLING-Baltic multimedia chemical fate model. Steady-state concentrations of hypothetical perfectly persistent chemicals with property combinations that encompass the entire plausible range for non-ionizing organic substances are modelled under two alternative climate change scenarios (IPCC A2 and B2) and compared to a baseline climate scenario. The contributions of individual climate parameters are deduced in model experiments in which only one of the four parameters is changed from the baseline scenario. Of the four selected climate parameters, temperature is the most influential, and wind speed is least. Chemical concentrations in the Baltic region are projected to change by factors of up to 3.0 compared to the baseline climate scenario. For chemicals with property combinations similar to legacy persistent organic pollutants listed by the Stockholm Convention, modelled concentration ratios between two climate change scenarios and the baseline scenario range from factors of 0.5 to 2.0. This study is a first step toward quantitatively assessing climate change-induced changes in the environmental concentrations of persistent organic chemicals in the Baltic Sea region. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

sORFs.org: a repository of small ORFs identified by ribosome profiling.

PubMed

Olexiouk, Volodimir; Crappé, Jeroen; Verbruggen, Steven; Verhegen, Kenneth; Martens, Lennart; Menschaert, Gerben

2016-01-04

With the advent of ribosome profiling, a next generation sequencing technique providing a "snap-shot'' of translated mRNA in a cell, many short open reading frames (sORFs) with ribosomal activity were identified. Follow-up studies revealed the existence of functional peptides, so-called micropeptides, translated from these 'sORFs', indicating a new class of bio-active peptides. Over the last few years, several micropeptides exhibiting important cellular functions were discovered. However, ribosome occupancy does not necessarily imply an actual function of the translated peptide, leading to the development of various tools assessing the coding potential of sORFs. Here, we introduce sORFs.org (http://www.sorfs.org), a novel database for sORFs identified using ribosome profiling. Starting from ribosome profiling, sORFs.org identifies sORFs, incorporates state-of-the-art tools and metrics and stores results in a public database. Two query interfaces are provided, a default one enabling quick lookup of sORFs and a BioMart interface providing advanced query and export possibilities. At present, sORFs.org harbors 263 354 sORFs that demonstrate ribosome occupancy, originating from three different cell lines: HCT116 (human), E14_mESC (mouse) and S2 (fruit fly). sORFs.org aims to provide an extensive sORFs database accessible to researchers with limited bioinformatics knowledge, thus enabling easy integration into personal projects. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

sORFs.org: a repository of small ORFs identified by ribosome profiling

PubMed Central

Olexiouk, Volodimir; Crappé, Jeroen; Verbruggen, Steven; Verhegen, Kenneth; Martens, Lennart; Menschaert, Gerben

2016-01-01

With the advent of ribosome profiling, a next generation sequencing technique providing a “snap-shot’’ of translated mRNA in a cell, many short open reading frames (sORFs) with ribosomal activity were identified. Follow-up studies revealed the existence of functional peptides, so-called micropeptides, translated from these ‘sORFs’, indicating a new class of bio-active peptides. Over the last few years, several micropeptides exhibiting important cellular functions were discovered. However, ribosome occupancy does not necessarily imply an actual function of the translated peptide, leading to the development of various tools assessing the coding potential of sORFs. Here, we introduce sORFs.org (http://www.sorfs.org), a novel database for sORFs identified using ribosome profiling. Starting from ribosome profiling, sORFs.org identifies sORFs, incorporates state-of-the-art tools and metrics and stores results in a public database. Two query interfaces are provided, a default one enabling quick lookup of sORFs and a BioMart interface providing advanced query and export possibilities. At present, sORFs.org harbors 263 354 sORFs that demonstrate ribosome occupancy, originating from three different cell lines: HCT116 (human), E14_mESC (mouse) and S2 (fruit fly). sORFs.org aims to provide an extensive sORFs database accessible to researchers with limited bioinformatics knowledge, thus enabling easy integration into personal projects. PMID:26527729

The history of sturgeon in the Baltic Sea

USGS Publications Warehouse

Popovic, Danijela; Panagiotopoulou, Hanna; Baca, Mateusz; Stefaniak, Krzysztof; Mackiewicz, Pawel; Makowiecki, Daniel; King, Tim L.; Gruchota, Jakub; Weglenski, Piotr; Stankovic, Anna

2014-01-01

For the past 2000 years at least, A. o. oxyrinchus has been the dominant sturgeon in the Baltic Sea, indicating a much earlier origin than previously suggested. The most similar extant sturgeon populations to the extinct Baltic stock are those from the St John and St Lawrence rivers in Canada. These populations should be considered the best source of breeding material for the ongoing sturgeon restitution programmes in Poland and Germany.

Climate change effects on the Baltic Sea borderland between land and sea.

PubMed

Strandmark, Alma; Bring, Arvid; Cousins, Sara A O; Destouni, Georgia; Kautsky, Hans; Kolb, Gundula; de la Torre-Castro, Maricela; Hambäck, Peter A

2015-01-01

Coastal habitats are situated on the border between land and sea, and ecosystem structure and functioning is influenced by both marine and terrestrial processes. Despite this, most scientific studies and monitoring are conducted either with a terrestrial or an aquatic focus. To address issues concerning climate change impacts in coastal areas, a cross-ecosystem approach is necessary. Since habitats along the Baltic coastlines vary in hydrology, natural geography, and ecology, climate change projections for Baltic shore ecosystems are bound to be highly speculative. Societal responses to climate change in the Baltic coastal ecosystems should have an ecosystem approach and match the biophysical realities of the Baltic Sea area. Knowledge about ecosystem processes and their responses to a changing climate should be integrated within the decision process, both locally and nationally, in order to increase the awareness of, and to prepare for climate change impacts in coastal areas of the Baltic Sea.

Essential coastal habitats for fish in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraufvelin, Patrik; Pekcan-Hekim, Zeynep; Bergström, Ulf; Florin, Ann-Britt; Lehikoinen, Annukka; Mattila, Johanna; Arula, Timo; Briekmane, Laura; Brown, Elliot John; Celmer, Zuzanna; Dainys, Justas; Jokinen, Henri; Kääriä, Petra; Kallasvuo, Meri; Lappalainen, Antti; Lozys, Linas; Möller, Peter; Orio, Alessandro; Rohtla, Mehis; Saks, Lauri; Snickars, Martin; Støttrup, Josianne; Sundblad, Göran; Taal, Imre; Ustups, Didzis; Verliin, Aare; Vetemaa, Markus; Winkler, Helmut; Wozniczka, Adam; Olsson, Jens

2018-05-01

Many coastal and offshore fish species are highly dependent on specific habitat types for population maintenance. In the Baltic Sea, shallow productive habitats in the coastal zone such as wetlands, vegetated flads/lagoons and sheltered bays as well as more exposed rocky and sandy areas are utilized by fish across many life history stages including spawning, juvenile development, feeding and migration. Although there is general consensus about the critical importance of these essential fish habitats (EFH) for fish production along the coast, direct quantitative evidence for their specific roles in population growth and maintenance is still scarce. Nevertheless, for some coastal species, indirect evidence exists, and in many cases, sufficient data are also available to carry out further quantitative analyses. As coastal EFH in the Baltic Sea are often found in areas that are highly utilized and valued by humans, they are subjected to many different pressures. While cumulative pressures, such as eutrophication, coastal construction and development, climate change, invasive species and fisheries, impact fish in coastal areas, the conservation coverage for EFH in these areas remains poor. This is mainly due to the fact that historically, fisheries management and nature conservation are not integrated neither in research nor in management in Baltic Sea countries. Setting joint objectives for fisheries management and nature conservation would hence be pivotal for improved protection of EFH in the Baltic Sea. To properly inform management, improvements in the development of monitoring strategies and mapping methodology for EFH are also needed. Stronger international cooperation between Baltic Sea states will facilitate improved management outcomes across ecologically arbitrary boundaries. This is especially important for successful implementation of international agreements and legislative directives such as the Baltic Sea Action Plan, the Marine Strategy Framework

Wind Wave Climate of the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medvedeva, Alisa

2017-04-01

Storms in the Baltic Sea in autumn and winter are very frequent. In this research the goal is to estimate decadal and interannual changes of the wave fields for the entire Baltic Sea. The wave parameters, such as significant wave heights and periods, were simulated for the period 1979-2015 years based on NCEP/CFSR Reanalysis data fields and for the period 1948-2010 years based on NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data. For accuracy estimation of the model the statistical characteristics, such as correlation coefficient, bias, scatter index and RMSE were calculated. Also two computational meshes were compared: rectangular and triangulated. In this study the third generation spectral wind-wave model SWAN was used for simulations. For wind input data two types of wind reanalysis were chosen: NCEP/CFSR with 1-hour time step and NCEP/NCAR with time step of 6 hours. The final computational grid for rectangular mesh for the Baltic Sea is 0.05×0.05°. The simulated data were compared with instrumental data of the Sweden buoys and of the acoustic wave recorder fixed at the Russian oil platform. The results reveal that for the Baltic Sea it is more efficient to use rectangular mesh for the deep open area and irregular mesh near the coast. Simulations using wind data from NCEP/NCAR significantly decreases the quality of the results compared with NCEP/CFSR wind data: Bias increases in 10 times (-0.730), RMSE - in 2-3 times (0.89). The following results of numerical modeling using NCEP/NCAR the storm situations, when the significant wave height exceeded 2 meters, were identified for the 63-year period. An average of about 50 storms per year happened in the Baltic Sea in this time period. The storminess of the Baltic Sea tends to increase. The twenty-year periodicity with the increase in the 70-s and 90-s years of XX century was revealed. The average yearly significant wave height increases in the second part of the century too and differs from 2.4 to 3.3 m. Storm cyclones are connected

Impact of accelerated future global mean sea level rise on hypoxia in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, H. E. M.; Höglund, A.; Eilola, K.; Almroth-Rosell, E.

2017-07-01

Expanding hypoxia is today a major threat for many coastal seas around the world and disentangling its drivers is a large challenge for interdisciplinary research. Using a coupled physical-biogeochemical model we estimate the impact of past and accelerated future global mean sea level rise (GSLR) upon water exchange and oxygen conditions in a semi-enclosed, shallow sea. As a study site, the Baltic Sea was chosen that suffers today from eutrophication and from dead bottom zones due to (1) excessive nutrient loads from land, (2) limited water exchange with the world ocean and (3) perhaps other drivers like global warming. We show from model simulations for the period 1850-2008 that the impacts of past GSLR on the marine ecosystem were relatively small. If we assume for the end of the twenty-first century a GSLR of +0.5 m relative to today's mean sea level, the impact on the marine ecosystem may still be small. Such a GSLR corresponds approximately to the projected ensemble-mean value reported by the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. However, we conclude that GSLR should be considered in future high-end projections (>+1 m) for the Baltic Sea and other coastal seas with similar hydrographical conditions as in the Baltic because GSLR may lead to reinforced saltwater inflows causing higher salinity and increased vertical stratification compared to present-day conditions. Contrary to intuition, reinforced ventilation of the deep water does not lead to overall improved oxygen conditions but causes instead expanded dead bottom areas accompanied with increased internal phosphorus loads from the sediments and increased risk for cyanobacteria blooms.

Deterring Russia’s Revanchist Ambitions in the Baltic Republics

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-16

John Hindon and Patrick Salmon , The Baltic Nations and Europe, (NY: Longman, 1994), 193. / Also, supported by Purs, 105. 18 Eugene R. Wittkopf and...Knopf, 2014), 272. Hindon, John. and Patrick Salmon , The Baltic Nations and Europe, (NY: Longman, 1994), 193. / Also, seen in Purs, 105. Kasekamp

The Marine Geoscience Data System and the Global Multi-Resolution Topography Synthesis: Online Resources for Exploring Ocean Mapping Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrini, V. L.; Morton, J. J.; Carbotte, S. M.

2016-02-01

The Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS: www.marine-geo.org) provides a suite of tools and services for free public access to data acquired throughout the global oceans including maps, grids, near-bottom photos, and geologic interpretations that are essential for habitat characterization and marine spatial planning. Users can explore, discover, and download data through a combination of APIs and front-end interfaces that include dynamic service-driven maps, a geospatially enabled search engine, and an easy to navigate user interface for browsing and discovering related data. MGDS offers domain-specific data curation with a team of scientists and data specialists who utilize a suite of back-end tools for introspection of data files and metadata assembly to verify data quality and ensure that data are well-documented for long-term preservation and re-use. Funded by the NSF as part of the multi-disciplinary IEDA Data Facility, MGDS also offers Data DOI registration and links between data and scientific publications. MGDS produces and curates the Global Multi-Resolution Topography Synthesis (GMRT: gmrt.marine-geo.org), a continuously updated Digital Elevation Model that seamlessly integrates multi-resolutional elevation data from a variety of sources including the GEBCO 2014 ( 1 km resolution) and International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean ( 500 m) compilations. A significant component of GMRT includes ship-based multibeam sonar data, publicly available through NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, that are cleaned and quality controlled by the MGDS Team and gridded at their full spatial resolution (typically 100 m resolution in the deep sea). Additional components include gridded bathymetry products contributed by individual scientists (up to meter scale resolution in places), publicly accessible regional bathymetry, and high-resolution terrestrial elevation data. New data are added to GMRT on an ongoing basis, with two scheduled releases

Hypoxia is increasing in the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Conley, Daniel J; Carstensen, Jacob; Aigars, Juris; Axe, Philip; Bonsdorff, Erik; Eremina, Tatjana; Haahti, Britt-Marie; Humborg, Christoph; Jonsson, Per; Kotta, Jonne; Lännegren, Christer; Larsson, Ulf; Maximov, Alexey; Medina, Miguel Rodriguez; Lysiak-Pastuszak, Elzbieta; Remeikaité-Nikiené, Nijolé; Walve, Jakob; Wilhelms, Sunhild; Zillén, Lovisa

2011-08-15

Hypoxia is a well-described phenomenon in the offshore waters of the Baltic Sea with both the spatial extent and intensity of hypoxia known to have increased due to anthropogenic eutrophication, however, an unknown amount of hypoxia is present in the coastal zone. Here we report on the widespread unprecedented occurrence of hypoxia across the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea. We have identified 115 sites that have experienced hypoxia during the period 1955-2009 increasing the global total to ca. 500 sites, with the Baltic Sea coastal zone containing over 20% of all known sites worldwide. Most sites experienced episodic hypoxia, which is a precursor to development of seasonal hypoxia. The Baltic Sea coastal zone displays an alarming trend with hypoxia steadily increasing with time since the 1950s effecting nutrient biogeochemical processes, ecosystem services, and coastal habitat.

Understanding the ecocline at shallow coasts of the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenartz, B.; Jurasinski, G.; Voss, M.; Janssen, M.

2017-12-01

We report on results of the Research Training Group Baltic TRANSCOAST. The overall aim of Baltic TRANSCOAST is to enhance our knowledge of the shallow coast ecocline. How is the marine coastal zone influenced by terrestrial processes? How is the terrestrial coastal zone influenced by marine processes? These questions lead our research within the three research fields covering hydro-dynamic, (bio)geochemical and biological processes. Regarding the hydro-dynamics we assess how the peatland's water balance, the current dynamics and hydraulic properties of the marine sediments and the subsoil influence sea water intrusions into the peatland and/or submarine groundwater discharge into the Baltic Sea. With respect to (bio)geochemical processes we address how (bio)geochemical transformation processes both in the marine and the terrestrial part of the coast are influenced by water and matter inputs from the respective other coastal domain. Finally, reagrding the biological processes, we are interested in revealing how the primary production and the composition of the micro- and macro-phytobenthos in the shallow Baltic Sea influence matter transformation processes. The integrative approach of Baltic TRANSCOAST allows us to get to grips with questions that are otherwise hard to tackle. For instance, we address how the pore water constituents drive microbial processes and the deposition of nutrients and and how they are impacted by sediment resuspension and translocation. We investigate how the hydrology of the peat layers interferes with the generation of trace gases and investigate the role of the nearby Warnow river and its plume and how this changes under the impact of wind direction and wind strength. For the latter we rely on data and models. Further, as a common basis for all topics addressed in Baltic TRANSCOAST we established the geology of the study area and learned that regional variability may play a major role in shaping the processes under study.

Radioactive pollution of the waters of the baltic sea during 1986

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lazarev, L.N.; Kuznetsov, Yu.V.; Gedeonov, L.I.

Results are presented from an investigation of radioactive pollution of the waters of the Baltic Sea during 1986. Inhomogeneities in the pollution of this area of water, due to varying density of atmospheric radioactive fallout, are detected. It is found that among the radionuclides entering the surface of the Baltic Sea in 1986 as a result of atmospheric transport, the main one in terms of radiation dose is cesium-137. Comparisons are made of the level of cesium-137 content in the waters of the Baltic Sea in 1986 and in preceding years. It is noted that even in the most pollutedmore » regions of the sea the cesium-137 content was 500 times less than the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) in the USSR for drinking water. The first results of the determination of plutonium-239 and 240 in the Baltic Sea are presented.« less

Genenames.org: the HGNC and VGNC resources in 2017.

PubMed

Yates, Bethan; Braschi, Bryony; Gray, Kristian A; Seal, Ruth L; Tweedie, Susan; Bruford, Elspeth A

2017-01-04

The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) based at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) assigns unique symbols and names to human genes. Currently the HGNC database contains almost 40 000 approved gene symbols, over 19 000 of which represent protein-coding genes. In addition to naming genomic loci we manually curate genes into family sets based on shared characteristics such as homology, function or phenotype. We have recently updated our gene family resources and introduced new improved visualizations which can be seen alongside our gene symbol reports on our primary website http://www.genenames.org In 2016 we expanded our remit and formed the Vertebrate Gene Nomenclature Committee (VGNC) which is responsible for assigning names to vertebrate species lacking a dedicated nomenclature group. Using the chimpanzee genome as a pilot project we have approved symbols and names for over 14 500 protein-coding genes in chimpanzee, and have developed a new website http://vertebrate.genenames.org to distribute these data. Here, we review our online data and resources, focusing particularly on the improvements and new developments made during the last two years. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Estimating areas threatened by contamination from leaking chemical warfare agents dumped into the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakacki, Jaromir; Przyborska, Anna; Andrzejewski, Jan

2017-04-01

Approximately 60,000 tons of chemical munitions were dumped into the Baltic Sea after World War II (the exact amount is unknown and some sources estimate it as more than 200,000 tons). Dumped munitions still pose a risk of leakage caused by erosion and corrosion, and it is important to know the danger areas. Because of wide dispersion of the dumped munitions, modelling is only one tool that could provide wide image of physical state of the sea at all locations and which could also be used for analysing contamination during a potential leakage. Obviously, it is possible to take samples at each dumpsite, but modelling also allows to develop possible scenarios of leakages under specific physical conditions. For the purpose of analysis of potential leakage a high-resolution model (HRM) of the contamination will be embedded in the hydrodynamic model (HM) of the Baltic Sea. The HRM will use data from general circulation model results of estimated resolution of nearly 2 km. The Parallel Ocean Program will be implemented as the HM for the whole Baltic Sea. Atmospheric data from regional implementation of the Weather Research and Forecasting System (WRF) have been used as the top boundary conditions of the HM, and sea level data from Gothenburg had been included into model barotropic equation as lateral boundary conditions. Passive tracer will represent the contamination in the HRM and horizontal resolution of the HRM will be close to 50 meters. Passive tracers will also be implemented in the HM - for comparison of the results. For proper representation of potential leakage of chemical warfare agents the HRM will have included diffusion and advection processes. The results from the HM are going to be interpolated into the HRM domain and then integration will be performed. Based on the implemented simulations, estimated contaminated area and its comparison from the HRM as well as from the HM will be presented. The research work was fund by the European Union (European

Evidences for Skeletal Structures in the Ocean from the Images Analyzed by Multilevel Dynamical Contrasting Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rantsev-Kartinov, Valentin A.

2004-11-01

An analysis of databases of photographic images of ocean's surface, taken from various altitudes and for various types of rough ocean surface, revealed the presence of an ocean's skeletal structures (OSS) = http://www.arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0401/0401139.pdf [1] Rantsev-Kartinov V.A., Preprint, which exhibit a tendency toward self-similarity of structuring at various length scales (i.e., within various ``generations''). The topology of the OSS appears to be identical to that of skeletal structures which have been formerly found in a wide range of length scales, media and for various phenomena (Phys. Lett. A, 2002, 306). The typical OSS consists of separate identical blocks which are linked together to form a network. Two types of such blocks are found: (i) a coaxial tubular (CT) structures with internal radial bonds, and (ii) a cartwheel-like structures, located either on an axle or in the edges of the CT blocks. The OSSs differ from the formerly found SSs only by the fact that OSS, in their interior, are filled in with closely packed OSSs of a smaller size. We specially discuss the phenomenon of skeletal blocks in the form of vertically/horizontally oriented floating cylinders. The size of these observed blocks is shown to grow with increasing rough water.

Spatial sensitivity of inorganic carbon to model setup: North Sea and Baltic Sea with ECOSMO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castano Primo, Rocio; Schrum, Corinna; Daewel, Ute

2015-04-01

In ocean biogeochemical models it is critical to capture the key processes adequately so they do not only reproduce the observations but that those processes are reproduced correctly. One key issue is the choice of parameters, which in most cases are estimates with large uncertainties. This can be the product of actual lack of detailed knowledge of the process, or the manner the processes are implemented, more or less complex. In addition, the model sensitivity is not necessarily homogenous across the spatial domain modelled, which adds another layer of complexity to biogeochemical modelling. In the particular case of the inorganic carbon cycle, there are several sets of carbonate constants that can be chosen. The calculated air-sea CO2 flux is largely dependent on the parametrization chosen. In addition, the different parametrizations all the underlying processes that in some way impact the carbon cycle beyond the carbonate dissociation and fluxes give results that can be significantly different. Examples of these processes are phytoplankton growth rates or remineralization rates. Despite their geographical proximity, the North and Baltic Seas exhibit very different dynamics. The North Sea receives important inflows of Atlantic waters, while the Baltic Sea is an almost enclosed system, with very little exchange from the North Sea. Wind, tides, and freshwater supply act very differently, but dominantly structure the ecosystem dynamics on spatial and temporal scales. The biological community is also different. Cyanobacteria, which are important due to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, and they are only present in the Baltic Sea. These differentiating features have a strong impact in the biogeochemical cycles and ultimately shape the variations in the carbonate chemistry. Here the ECOSMO model was employed on the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The model is set so both are modelled at the same time, instead of having them run separately. ECOSMO is a 3-D coupled

The regional geology and hydrocarbon potential of the Baltic Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haselton, T.M.; Brangulis, A.P.; Margulis, L.S.

The Baltic Sea is roughly equivalent in size to the North Sea. Like the North Sea, is has an excellent oil prone source rock present over most of the area. In the entire Baltic Sea about 40 wells have been drilled. During the 1980s, exploration was carried out in the Soviet, Polish, and East German sectors of the Baltic Sea by Petrobaltic. Twenty-eight wells were drilled, 14 of which tested hydrocarbons. Two wells have been drilled in Danish waters and 11 in Swedish waters - all dry holes. Most of the Baltic Sea is included in the Baltic syneclise. Inmore » the deepest part of the basin a full Paleozoic and Mesozoic section is present. Major structural features are associated with reactivation of old basement faults. Most hydrocarbon discoveries are associated with structural arches. Exploration targets are Cambrian sandstones and Ordovician and Silurian reefs. The major discoveries are the B3 field in Poland and the D6 field offshore Lithuania and Kaliningrad, both of which have in-place reserves of around 100 million bbl. The Teisseyre-Tornquist line to the southwest represents the plate boundary between the East European platform and Europe. Repeated strike slip movements along this zone result in a complex pattern of extensional and compressional features in the Danish and German sectors. Primary exploration targets include Permian carbonates and sandstones as well as older zones. Gas has been tested in the German sector onshore.« less

Hess Deep Interactive Lab: Exploring the Structure and Formation of the Oceanic Crust through Hands-On Models and Online Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurtz, N.; Marks, N.; Cooper, S. K.

2014-12-01

Scientific ocean drilling through the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) has contributed extensively to our knowledge of Earth systems science. However, many of its methods and discoveries can seem abstract and complicated for students. Collaborations between scientists and educators/artists to create accurate yet engaging demonstrations and activities have been crucial to increasing understanding and stimulating interest in fascinating geological topics. One such collaboration, which came out of Expedition 345 to the Hess Deep Rift, resulted in an interactive lab to explore sampling rocks from the usually inacessible lower oceanic crust, offering an insight into the geological processes that form the structure of the Earth's crust. This Hess Deep Interactive Lab aims to explain several significant discoveries made by oceanic drilling utilizing images of actual thin sections and core samples recovered from IODP expeditions. . Participants can interact with a physical model to learn about the coring and drilling processes, and gain an understanding of seafloor structures. The collaboration of this lab developed as a need to explain fundamental notions of the ocean crust formed at fast-spreading ridges. A complementary interactive online lab can be accessed at www.joidesresolution.org for students to engage further with these concepts. This project explores the relationship between physical and on-line models to further understanding, including what we can learn from the pros and cons of each.

Succes of foraminiferal calcification mechanisms depend on ocean chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Dijk, I. V.; de Nooijer, L. J.; Hart, M.; Reichart, G. J.

2014-12-01

Although the relationship between Phanerozoic changes in seawater Mg/Ca and the evolutionary history of many marine calcifyers has been analyzed, the response of foraminifera to changes in Mg/Casw is only sparsely investigated. Geological longevity, areal distribution and importance in the global carbon cycle, however, make foraminifera particularly suitable to study the interplay between seawater chemistry and biogenic mineralogy. We assess global foraminifera abundances in the geological record from fossil species occurrences in the Paleobiology DataBase (PaleoDB; www.paleodb.org). Here, we present an analysis of the distribution of major groups of foraminifera through the Phanerozoic by comparing dominance of taxa producing aragonite or (low- and high-Mg) calcite in relation to changes in Mg/Casw and mass marine extinction events (P/T, T/J and K/Pg). This allows relating the effect of ocean chemistry to the relative success of foraminifera with different calcification strategies. We show for the first time that the success of foraminifera with different calcification mechanisms (i.e. aragonite versus calcite producers) is governed by Mg/Casw, potentially making foraminifera with unfavored mineralogy more vulnerable to major environmental perturbations. Furthermore, we suggest that planktic foraminifera, which are currently calcifying in a period with unfavorable sea water chemistry, might be more sensitive to on-going ocean acidification and associated environmental perturbations than currently assumed.

DLSanalysis.org: a web interface for analysis of dynamic light scattering data.

PubMed

Hansen, Steen

2018-03-01

A web interface ( www.DLSanalysis.org ) for indirect Laplace transformation of dynamic light scattering data is presented. When experimental data are uploaded to the server they are processed in a few seconds, and the result is displayed on the screen in the form of a size distribution together with the experimental data and the fit to the data. No other user input than the experimental data is necessary, but various options for the analysis may be selected. No local installation of software or registration is necessary. The result of the analysis can be downloaded.

Investigating the influence of sea level oscillations in the Danish Straits on the Baltic Sea dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tikhonova, Natalia; Gusev, Anatoly; Diansky, Nikolay; Zakharchuk, Evgeny

2016-04-01

In this research, we study the influence of dynamic processes in the Danish Straits on the sea surface height (SSH) oscillations in the Baltic Sea. For this purpose, we use the model of marine and oceanic circulation INMOM (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Ocean Model). The simulations were carried out for the period 2009-2010, and the coastal station data were used for verification of SSH modelling quality. Comparison of the simulated data with the ones measured in the coastal points showed us that the model does not describe SSH variability in different areas of the Baltic Sea well enough, so in the following simulation series the in situ SSH data of the coastal measurements were assimilated at the open boundary in the Danish Straits. The results of the new simulation showed us that this approach significantly increases the SSH simulation quality in all areas of the sea, where the comparison was made. In particular, the correlation coefficients between the simulated and measured SSH data increased from 0.21-0.73 to 0.81-0.90. On the basis of these results, it has been suggested that the Baltic Sea SSH variability is largely determined by the influence of the dynamic processes in the Danish Straits, which can be represented as a superposition of oscillations of different space-time scales. These oscillations can either be generated in the straits themselves, or propagate from the North Sea. For verification of this hypothesis and assessment of the oscillation propagation distance in the Baltic Sea, the following experiment was performed. At the open boundary in the Danish Straits, the six harmonics were set with the following parameters: the periods are 1.5, 3.0, 6.0, 13.5, 40.5, and 121.5 days, and the amplitude for all the harmonics is 50 cm. The results showed us that the prescribed harmonic oscillations at the open boundary propagate into all areas of the sea without changing the frequency, but with decreasing amplitude. The decrease in amplitude is not

Evaluation of Baltic Sea transport properties using particle tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dargahi, Bijan; Cvetkovic, Vladimir

2014-05-01

Particle tracking model (PTM) is an effective tool for quantifying transport properties of large water bodies such as the Baltic Sea. We have applied PTM to our fully calibrated and validated Baltic Sea 3D hydrodynamic model for a 10-years period (2000-9). One hundred particles were released at a constant rate during an initial 10-days period from all the Baltic Sea sub-basins, the major rivers, and the open boundary in the Arkona Basin. In each basin, the particles were released at two different depths corresponding to the deep water and middle water layers. The objectives of the PTM simulations were to analyse the intra-exchange processes between the Baltic Sea basins and to estimate the arrival times and the paths of particles released from the rivers. The novel contribution of this study is determining the paths and arrival times of deeper water masses rather than the surface masses. Advective and diffusive transport processes in the Bornholm and Arkona basins are both driven by the interacting flows of the northern basins of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Particles released from Arkona basin flows northwards along the Stople Channel. The Gotland basins are the major contributors to the exchange process in the Baltic Sea. We find high values of the advection ratio, indicative of a forced advective transport process. The Bay of Gdansk is probably the most vulnerable region in the Baltic Sea. This is despite the fact that the main exchanging basins are the Bornholm Sea and the Easter Gotland Basin. The main reason is the intensive supply of the particles from the northern basins that normally take about 3000 days to reach the Bay of Gdansk. The process maintains a high level of particle concentration (90%) along its coastlines even after the 10-years period. Comparing the particle paths in the Western and Eastern Gotland basins two interesting features were found. Particles travelled in all four directions in the former basin and the middle layer particles

Innovations in Ocean Sciences Education at the University of Washington

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robigou, V.

2003-12-01

volcanism, fluid circulation and life on our planet. http://www.ocean.washington.edu/outreach/revel/ The Marine Science Student Mobility program is a FIPSE-funded program that fosters communication and collaboration across cultural and linguistic boundaries for undergraduate students interested in pursuing careers in marine sciences. A consortium of six universities in Florida, Hawaii, Washington, Belgium, Spain and France offers a unique way to study abroad. During a six month exchange, students acquire foreign language skills, cultural awareness and ocean sciences field study in one of the four major oceanographic areas: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. The program not only promotes cultural understanding among the participant students but among faculty members from different educational systems, and even among language and science faculty members. Understanding how different cultures approach, implement, and interpret scientific research to better study the world's oceans is the cornerstone of this educational approach. http://www.marine-language-exch.org/ Similar collaborative, educational activities could be adapted by other research institutions on many campuses to provide many opportunities for students, teachers and the general public to get involved in Earth and ocean sciences.

BALTEX—an interdisciplinary research network for the Baltic Sea region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckermann, Marcus; Langner, Joakim; Omstedt, Anders; von Storch, Hans; Keevallik, Sirje; Schneider, Bernd; Arheimer, Berit; Markus Meier, H. E.; Hünicke, Birgit

2011-10-01

BALTEX is an environmental research network dealing with the Earth system of the entire Baltic Sea drainage basin. Important elements include the water and energy cycle, climate variability and change, water management and extreme events, and related impacts on biogeochemical cycles. BALTEX was founded in 1993 as a GEWEX continental-scale experiment and is currently in its second 10 yr phase. Phase I (1993-2002) was primarily dedicated to hydrological, meteorological and oceanographic processes in the Baltic Sea drainage basin, hence mostly dealt with the physical aspects of the system. Scientific focus was on the hydrological cycle and the exchange of energy between the atmosphere, the Baltic Sea and the surface of its catchment. The BALTEX study area was hydrologically defined as the Baltic Sea drainage basin. The second 10 yr phase of BALTEX (Phase II: 2003-12) has strengthened regional climate research, water management issues, biogeochemical cycles and overarching efforts to reach out to stakeholders and decision makers, as well as to foster communication and education. Achievements of BALTEX Phase II have been the establishment of an assessment report of regional climate change and its impacts on the Baltic Sea basin (from hydrological to biological and socio-economic), the further development of regional physical climate models and the integration of biogeochemical and ecosystem models. BALTEX features a strong infrastructure, with an international secretariat and a publication series, and organizes various workshops and conferences. This article gives an overview of the BALTEX programme, with an emphasis on Phase II, with some examples from BALTEX-related research.

Near-Real-Time Acoustic Monitoring of Beaked Whales and Other Cetaceans Using a Seaglider(TM)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-18

their copepod prey observed from ocean gliders. Limnology and Oceanography 53: 2197–2209. Acoustic Monitoring of Cetaceans Using a Seaglider PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 8 May 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 5 | e36128

Ocean gliders as key component within the AORAC-SA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrera, C.; Hernandez Brito, J.; Castro, A.; Rueda, M. J.; Llinas, O.

2016-02-01

The Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Coordination and Support Action (AORAC-SA) is designed to provide scientific, technical and logistical support to the EU in developing and implementing transAtlantic Marine Research Cooperation between the European Union, the United States of America and Canada. The Coordination and Support Action (CSA) is carried out within the framework of the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AORA) as outlined in the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation (May 2013). The CSA will be responsible for the organization of expert and stakeholder meetings, workshops and conferences required by the AORA and related to identified research priorities support actions and other initiatives as they arise, taking into account related Horizon 2020 supported transAtlantic projects and on-going national and EU collaborative projects. The AORAC-SA support and governance structure comprises a Secretariat and Management Team, guided by a high-level Operational Board, representative of the major European Marine Research Programming and Funding Organizations as well as those of the USA and Canada. As example of this research cooperative framework, ocean gliders have become nowadays a common, innovative and sustainable ocean-observations tool for the Atlantic basin, linking research groups, govermental institutions and private companies from both sides in terms of technical developments, transatlantic missions in partnership, training forums, etc. aiming to develop common practices and protocols for a better ocean resources management and understanding. Within this context, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), as AORAC-SA partner, is working on specific actions like ocean glider observations programs (endurance line) by AtlantOS project (www.atlantos-h2020.eu), related new technical developments by NeXOS FP-7 project (www.nexosproject.eu) and a yearly International Glider School forum hosting (www.gliderschool.eu).

Dissipation in the Baltic proper during winter stratification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lass, Hans Ulrich; Prandke, Hartmut; Liljebladh, Bengt

2003-06-01

Profiles of dissipation rates and stratification between 10 and 120 m depth were measured with a loosely tethered profiler over a 9-day winter period in the Gotland Basin of the Baltic Sea. Supplementary measurements of current profiles were made with moored ADCPs. Temporal and spatial patterns of the stratification were observed by means of towed CTD. Shallow freshwater lenses in the surface mixed layer, mesoscale eddies, inertial oscillations, and inertial waves as part of the internal wave spectrum provided the marine physical environment for the small-scale turbulence. Two well-separated turbulence regimes were detected. The turbulence in the surface mixed layer was well correlated with the wind. The majority of the energy flux from the wind to the turbulent kinetic energy was dissipated within the surface mixed layer. A minor part of this flux was consumed by changes of the potential energy of the fresh water lenses. The penetration depth Hpen of the wind-driven turbulence into the weakly stratified surface mixed layer depended on the local wind speed (W10) as Hpen = cW103/2 Active erosion of the Baltic halocline by wind-driven turbulence is expected for wind speeds greater than 14 m/s. The turbulence in the strongly stratified interior of the water column was quite independent of the meteorological forcing at the sea surface. The integrated production of turbulent kinetic energy exceeded the energy loss of inertial oscillations in the surface layer suggesting additional energy sources which might have been provided by inertial wave radiation during geostrophic adjustment of coastal jets and mesoscale eddies. The averaged dissipation rate profile in the stratified part of the water column, best fitted by ɛ ∝ EN, was different from the scaling of the dissipation in the thermocline of the ocean [, 1986]. The diapycnical mixing coefficient (Kv) was best fit by Kv = a0/N according to [1987] with a0 ≈ 0.87 × 10-7 m2/s2. The diapycnal diffusivity estimated

Scandinavia and the Baltic Region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

Data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera were combined to create this cloud-free natural-color mosaic of Scandinavia and the Baltic region. The image extends from 64oN, 0oE in the northwest to 56oN, 32oE in the southeast, and has been draped over a shaded relief Digital Terrain Elevation Model from the United States Geological Survey. It is displayed in an equidistant conic projection.

The image area includes southern Norway, Sweden and Finland, northern Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and part of western Russia. Norway's rugged western coastline is deeply indented by fjords. Elongated lakes, formed by glacial erosion and deposition, are characteristic of the entire region, and are particularly dense throughout Finland and Sweden. Numerous islands are present, and a virtually continuous chain of small, scattered islands occur between Sweden and Finland. The northern and eastern waters of the Baltic Sea are almost fresh, since the Baltic receives saltwater only from the narrow and shallow sounds between Denmark and Sweden that connect it to the North Sea. Most of the major cities within the image area are coastal, including St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga, and Oslo.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Local level sustainability policies in the Baltic Sea area: Local Agenda 21 within the Union of the Baltic Cities network.

PubMed

Joas, M; Grönholm, B

2001-08-01

Local Agenda 21 (LA21) processes have 2 central goals. i) On the basis of some of the empirical evidence in this study, the primary goal is to improve democratic (environmental) policy-making processes in such a manner that a larger share of the population will be able to participate in planning and decision making and will also be able to understand the consequences of these decisions. ii) The LA21 processes seek to improve (at least indirectly) the broadly defined environmental situation locally in a manner that takes into account both the local and the global contexts. The first part of this article discusses the concept and methods of LA21 and sheds light on the different action areas that are central to the Baltic LA21 processes. In addition, the study will describe and display the LA21 situation within one network of cities, the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC). Networking, including transfer of information, models and ideas, has been among the main tools for the diffusion of LA21 ideas especially into newly democratized societies. Finally, the article will conclude with an overall assessment of the LA21 situation on the Baltic rim.

Oils and hydrocarbon source rocks of the Baltic syneclise

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kanev, S.; Margulis, L.; Bojesen-Koefoed, J.A.

Prolific source rock horizons of varying thickness, having considerable areal extent, occur over the Baltic syneclise. These source sediments are rich and have excellent petroleum generation potential. Their state of thermal maturity varies form immature in the northeastern part of the syneclise to peak generation maturity in the southwestern part of the region-the main kitchen area. These maturity variations are manifest in petroleum composition in the region. Hence, mature oils occur in the Polish and Kaliningrad areas, immature oils in small accumulations in Latvian and central Lithuanian onshore areas, and intermediate oils in areas between these extremes. The oil accumulationsmore » probably result from pooling of petroleum generated from a number of different source rocks at varying levels of thermal maturity. Hence, no single source for petroleum occurrences in the Baltic syneclise may be identified. The paper describes the baltic syneclise, source rocks, thermal maturity and oils and extracts.« less

An update on sORFs.org: a repository of small ORFs identified by ribosome profiling.

PubMed

Olexiouk, Volodimir; Van Criekinge, Wim; Menschaert, Gerben

2018-01-04

sORFs.org (http://www.sorfs.org) is a public repository of small open reading frames (sORFs) identified by ribosome profiling (RIBO-seq). This update elaborates on the major improvements implemented since its initial release. sORFs.org now additionally supports three more species (zebrafish, rat and Caenorhabditis elegans) and currently includes 78 RIBO-seq datasets, a vast increase compared to the three that were processed in the initial release. Therefore, a novel pipeline was constructed that also enables sORF detection in RIBO-seq datasets comprising solely elongating RIBO-seq data while previously, matching initiating RIBO-seq data was necessary to delineate the sORFs. Furthermore, a novel noise filtering algorithm was designed, able to distinguish sORFs with true ribosomal activity from simulated noise, consequently reducing the false positive identification rate. The inclusion of other species also led to the development of an inner BLAST pipeline, assessing sequence similarity between sORFs in the repository. Building on the proof of concept model in the initial release of sORFs.org, a full PRIDE-ReSpin pipeline was now released, reprocessing publicly available MS-based proteomics PRIDE datasets, reporting on true translation events. Next to reporting those identified peptides, sORFs.org allows visual inspection of the annotated spectra within the Lorikeet MS/MS viewer, thus enabling detailed manual inspection and interpretation. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Long-term temporal and spatial trends in eutrophication status of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Andersen, Jesper H; Carstensen, Jacob; Conley, Daniel J; Dromph, Karsten; Fleming-Lehtinen, Vivi; Gustafsson, Bo G; Josefson, Alf B; Norkko, Alf; Villnäs, Anna; Murray, Ciarán

2017-02-01

Much of the Baltic Sea is currently classified as 'affected by eutrophication'. The causes for this are twofold. First, current levels of nutrient inputs (nitrogen and phosphorus) from human activities exceed the natural processing capacity with an accumulation of nutrients in the Baltic Sea over the last 50-100 years. Secondly, the Baltic Sea is naturally susceptible to nutrient enrichment due to a combination of long retention times and stratification restricting ventilation of deep waters. Here, based on a unique data set collated from research activities and long-term monitoring programs, we report on the temporal and spatial trends of eutrophication status for the open Baltic Sea over a 112-year period using the HELCOM Eutrophication Assessment Tool (HEAT 3.0). Further, we analyse variation in the confidence of the eutrophication status assessment based on a systematic quantitative approach using coefficients of variation in the observations. The classifications in our assessment indicate that the first signs of eutrophication emerged in the mid-1950s and the central parts of the Baltic Sea changed from being unaffected by eutrophication to being affected. We document improvements in eutrophication status that are direct consequences of long-term efforts to reduce the inputs of nutrients. The reductions in both nitrogen and phosphorus loads have led to large-scale alleviation of eutrophication and to a healthier Baltic Sea. Reduced confidence in our assessment is seen more recently due to reductions in the scope of monitoring programs. Our study sets a baseline for implementation of the ecosystem-based management strategies and policies currently in place including the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directives and the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. © 2015 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Estimation of the potential leakage of the chemical munitions based on two hydrodynamical models implemented for the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakacki, Jaromir; Golenko, Mariya

2014-05-01

Two hydrodynamical models (Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and Parallel Ocean Program (POP)) have been implemented for the Baltic Sea area that consists of locations of the dumped chemical munitions during II War World. The models have been configured based on similar data source - bathymetry, initial conditions and external forces were implemented based on identical data. The horizontal resolutions of the models are also very similar. Several simulations with different initial conditions have been done. Comparison and analysis of the bottom currents from both models have been performed. Based on it estimating of the dangerous area and critical time have been done. Also lagrangian particle tracking and passive tracer were implemented and based on these results probability of the appearing dangerous doses and its time evolution have been presented. This work has been performed in the frame of the MODUM project financially supported by NATO.

Concerthalls.org: A webpage for architectural acoustics education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lily M.; Hall, Jessica M.

2002-11-01

A website focusing on concert hall acoustics (www.concerthalls.org) has been developed under the Schultz Grant from the Newman Student Award Fund. The website includes historical information, discussions on a variety of architectural acoustical measures, links to other websites of interest including a collection of concert hall webpages, and a comprehensive reference list. Of particular interest are the many listening examples provided on the website, which help students and other visitors to understand each subjective quality audibly and give insight on how to measure and control the associated objective measure. Examples are provided for reverberation, clarity, intimacy, warmth, loudness, and spaciousness. Various samples will be played during this presentation. Instructors of architectural acoustics are encouraged to introduce the site to their students and incorporate it into their instructional materials. [Work supported by Schultz Grant from the Newman Student Award Fund.

Source apportionment of methane using a triple isotope approach - Method development and application in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinbach, Julia; Holmstrand, Henry; Semiletov, Igor; Shakhova, Natalia; Shcherbakova, Kseniia; Kosmach, Denis; Sapart, Célia J.; Gustafsson, Örjan

2015-04-01

We present a method for measurements of the stable and radiocarbon isotope systems of methane in seawater and sediments. The triple isotope characterization of methane is useful in distinguishing different sources and for improving our understanding of biogeochemical processes affecting methane in the water column. D14C-CH4 is an especially powerful addition to stable isotope analyses in distinguishing between thermogenic and biogenic origins of the methane. Such measurements require large sample sizes, due to low natural abundance of the radiocarbon in CH4. Our system for sample collection, methane extraction and purification builds on the approach by Kessler and Reeburgh (Limn. & Ocean. Meth., 2005). An in-field system extracts methane from 30 -120 l water or 1-2 l sediment (depending on the in-situ methane concentration) by purging the samples with Helium to transfer the dissolved methane to the headspace and circulating it through cryogenically cooled absorbent traps where methane is collected. The in-field preparation eliminates the risks of storage and transport of large seawater quantities and subsequent leakage of sample gas as well as ongoing microbial processes and chemical reactions that may alter the sample composition. In the subsequent shore-based treatment, a laboratory system is used to purify and combust the collected CH4 to AMS-amenable CO2. Subsamples from the methane traps are analyzed for stable isotopes and compared to stable isotope measurements directly measured from small water samples taken in parallel, to correct for any potential fractionation occurring during this process. The system has been successfully tested and used on several shorter shipboard expeditions in the Baltic Sea and on a long summer expedition across the Arctic Ocean. Here we present the details of the method and testing, as well as first triple isotope field data from two cruises to the Landsort Deep area in the Central Baltic Sea.

Dcode.org anthology of comparative genomic tools.

PubMed

Loots, Gabriela G; Ovcharenko, Ivan

2005-07-01

Comparative genomics provides the means to demarcate functional regions in anonymous DNA sequences. The successful application of this method to identifying novel genes is currently shifting to deciphering the non-coding encryption of gene regulation across genomes. To facilitate the practical application of comparative sequence analysis to genetics and genomics, we have developed several analytical and visualization tools for the analysis of arbitrary sequences and whole genomes. These tools include two alignment tools, zPicture and Mulan; a phylogenetic shadowing tool, eShadow for identifying lineage- and species-specific functional elements; two evolutionary conserved transcription factor analysis tools, rVista and multiTF; a tool for extracting cis-regulatory modules governing the expression of co-regulated genes, Creme 2.0; and a dynamic portal to multiple vertebrate and invertebrate genome alignments, the ECR Browser. Here, we briefly describe each one of these tools and provide specific examples on their practical applications. All the tools are publicly available at the http://www.dcode.org/ website.

Insights on WWW-based geoscience teaching: Climbing the first year learning cliff

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamberson, Michelle N.; Johnson, Mark; Bevier, Mary Lou; Russell, J. Kelly

1997-06-01

In early 1995, The University of British Columbia Department of Geological Sciences (now Earth and Ocean Sciences) initiated a project that explored the effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a teaching and learning medium. Four decisions made at the onset of the project have guided the department's educational technology plan: (1) over 90% of funding recieved from educational technology grants was committed towards personnel; (2) materials developed are modular in design; (3) a data-base approach was taken to resource development; and (4) a strong commitment to student involvement in courseware development. The project comprised development of a web site for an existing core course: Geology 202, Introduction to Petrology. The web site is a gateway to course information, content, resources, exercises, and several searchable data-bases (images, petrologic definitions, and minerals in thin section). Material was developed on either an IBM or UNIX machine, ported to a UNIX platform, and is accessed using the Netscape browser. The resources consist primarily of HTML files or CGI scripts with associated text, images, sound, digital movies, and animations. Students access the web site from the departmental student computer facility, from home or a computer station in the petrology laboratory. Results of a survey of the Geol 202 students indicate that they found the majority of the resources useful, and the site is being expanded. The Geology 202 project had a "trickle-up" effect throughout the department: prior to this project, there was minimal use of Internet resources in lower-level geology courses. By the end of the 1996-1997 academic year, we anticipate that at least 17 Earth and Ocean Science courses will have a WWW site for one or all of the following uses: (1) presenting basic information; (2) accessing lecture images; (3) providing a jumping-off point for exploring related WWW sites; (4) conducting on-line exercises; and/or (5) providing a communications forum

Tritium volume activity in the Baltic Sea in 1987-1989

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Styro, D.B.; Korotkov, V.P.

Tritium volume activities measured in the Baltic Sea are summarized in this paper. Activity levels were determined by the liquid scintillation method with a LS-1000 counter. The field investigations showed that the tritium volume activity in the Baltic Sea can change substantially in absolute magnitude. Therefore, average volume activity is used as an indicator of natural content. Correlations between calculated (averaged) tritium activity levels and the Chernobyl accident are very briefly discussed. 7 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

Climate influence on Baltic cod, sprat, and herring stock-recruitment relationships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margonski, Piotr; Hansson, Sture; Tomczak, Maciej T.; Grzebielec, Ryszard

2010-10-01

A wide range of possible recruitment drivers were tested for key exploited fish species in the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (RAC) area: Eastern Baltic Cod, Central Baltic Herring, Gulf of Riga Herring, and sprat. For each of the stocks, two hypotheses were tested: (i) recruitment is significantly related to spawning stock biomass, climatic forcing, and feeding conditions and (ii) by acknowledging these drivers, management decisions can be improved. Climate impact expressed by climatic indices or changes in water temperature was included in all the final models. Recruitment of the herring stock appeared to be influenced by different factors: the spawning stock biomass, winter Baltic Sea Index prior to spawning, and potentially the November-December sea surface temperature during the winter after spawning were important to Gulf of Riga Herring, while the final models for Central Baltic Herring included spawning stock biomass and August sea surface temperature. Recruitment of sprat appeared to be influenced by July-August temperature, but was independent of the spawning biomass when SSB > 200,000 tons. Recruitment of Eastern Baltic Cod was significantly related to spawning stock biomass, the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index, and the reproductive volume in the Gotland Basin in May. All the models including extrinsic factors significantly improved prediction ability as compared to traditional models, which account for impacts of the spawning stock biomass alone. Based on the final models the minimum spawning stock biomass to derive the associated minimum recruitment under average environmental conditions was calculated for each stock. Using uncertainty analyses, the spawning stock biomass required to produce associated minimum recruitment was presented with different probabilities considering the influence of the extrinsic drivers. This tool allows for recruitment to be predicted with a required probability, that is, higher than the average 50% estimated

Places to Go: Sakai|http://www.sakaiproject.org/

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downes, Stephen

2006-01-01

Stephen Downes continues his examination of open source learning management systems (LMSs) with a visit to Sakai's Web site. While Sakai's Web site is not particularly easy to navigate, it provides access to a large community and constellation of related online learning products and initiatives. Visitors can visit discussion forums to ask…

Bioaccumulation of mercury in the trophic chain of flatfish from the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Polak-Juszczak, Lucyna

2012-10-01

Mercury concentrations in three flatfish species - flounder (Platichtys flesus), plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), and Baltic turbot (Scophthalmus maximus), netted in the southern Baltic Sea were assessed and compared to concentrations of this metal in sediments, sea water, and flatfish food - bivalve Macoma balthica, isopod Saduria entomon, and sprat (Sprattus sprattus). Collected simultaneously with flatfish in 2009 and 2010. Different concentrations of mercury depending on species, tissue or organ, sex, individual length, kind of food, and region were determined. The muscle tissues of turbot had the highest concentrations of the metal. The bioaccumulation (BF) and biomagnification (BMF) factors has been counted showing that the muscle tissues of turbot have maximum affinity for mercury, and thus best reflected the metal contamination of the Baltic Sea environment. The data suggest that the common Baltic turbot (S. maximus) is an important model species, suitable and cost-effective to biomonitor environmental mercury pollution for ecological research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improvement of Baltic proper water quality using large-scale ecological engineering.

PubMed

Stigebrandt, Anders; Gustafsson, Bo G

2007-04-01

Eutrophication of the Baltic proper has led to impaired water quality, demonstrated by, e.g., extensive blooming of cyanobacteria during the premium summer holiday season and severe oxygen deficit in the deepwater. Sustainable improvements in water quality by the reduction of phosphorus (P) supplies will take several decades before giving full effects because of large P storages both in soils in the watershed and in the water column and bottom sediments of the Baltic proper. In this article it is shown that drastically improved water quality may be obtained within a few years using large-scale ecological engineering methods. Natural variations in the Baltic proper during the last decades have demonstrated how rapid improvements may be achieved. The present article describes the basic dynamics of P, organic matter, and oxygen in the Baltic proper. It also briefly discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different classes of methods of ecological engineering aimed at restoring the Baltic proper from eutrophication effects. Preliminary computations show that the P content might be halved within a few years if about 100 kg O2 s(-1) are supplied to the upper deepwater. This would require 100 pump stations, each transporting about 100 m3 s(-1) of oxygen-rich so-called winter water from about 50 to 125 m depth where the water is released as a buoyant jet. Each pump station needs a power supply of 0.6 MW. Offshore wind power technology seems mature enough to provide the power needed by the pump stations. The cost to install 100 wind-powered pump stations, each with 0.6 MW power, at about 125-m depth is about 200 million Euros.

Using Deep-Sea Scientific Drilling to Enhance Ocean Science Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, Michael; Cooper, Sharon; Kurtz, Nicole; Burgio, Marion; Cicconi, Alessia

2017-04-01

Beginning with confirmation of sea floor spreading in Leg 3 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project in 1968, scientific ocean drilling has provided much of the evidence supporting modern understanding of the Earth System, global climate changes, and many other important concepts. But for more than three decades, results of discoveries were published primarily in scientific journals and cruise volumes. On occasion, science journalists would write articles for the general public, but organized educational outreach efforts were rare. Starting about a decade ago, educators were included in the scientific party aboard the JOIDES Resolution. These "teachers-at-sea" developed formats to translate the technical and scientific activities into language understandable to students, teachers, and the public. Several "Schools of Rock" have enabled groups of teachers and informal science educators to experience what happens aboard the JOIDES Resolution. Over the past few years, educational outreach efforts based on scientific drilling expanded to create a large body of resources that promote Ocean Science Literacy. Partnerships between scientists and educators have produced a searchable database of inquiry-centered classroom and informal science activities. These are available for free through the JOIDES Resolution website, joidesresolution.org. Activities are aligned with the Ocean Literacy Principles (http://oceanliteracy.wp2.coexploration.org/) and Science Education Standards. In addition to a suite of lessons based on the science behind scientific drilling, participants have developed a range of educational resources that include graphic novels ("Tales of the Resolution" (http://joidesresolution.org/node/263) ; children's books ("Uncovering Earth's Secrets" and "Where the Wild Microbes Grow" http://joidesresolution.org/node/2998); posters, videos, and other materials. Cooper and Kurtz are currently overseeing improvements and revisions to the JR education website pages. The

A Worldwide Web-portal for Aquatic Mesocosm Facilities: WWW.MESOCOSM.EU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, S. A.; Nejstgaard, J. C.

2016-02-01

Experimental mesocosms are valuable tools to fill the gap between highly controlled/replicated lab experiments and uncontrolled/non-replicated natural environments such as rivers, lakes and oceans. WWW.MESOCOSM.EU is an open web-portal for leading aquatic mesocosm facilities around the world. It was created within the FP7 EU-project MESOAQUA (A network of leading MESOcosm facilities to advance the studies of future AQUAtic ecosystems from the Arctic to the Mediterranean). The goal of the portal is to increase international knowledge about existing mesocosm facilities, including information on locations, environment, equipment, contacts, research opportunities and mesocosm-based publications. MESOCOSM.EU specifically aims to be a tool to enhance the quality of research by facilitating international cooperative network building, announcement of new research initiatives, transfer of best practice, and dissemination of knowledge, public information and press releases. As an open platform for all aquatic ecosystem scale science (marine and freshwater), MESOCOSM.EU aims to fill the lack of a centralized, coordinating virtual infrastructure for international aquatic mesocosm research, from the mountains to the ocean and from polar to tropical regions.

Integrative Functional Genomics for Systems Genetics in GeneWeaver.org.

PubMed

Bubier, Jason A; Langston, Michael A; Baker, Erich J; Chesler, Elissa J

2017-01-01

The abundance of existing functional genomics studies permits an integrative approach to interpreting and resolving the results of diverse systems genetics studies. However, a major challenge lies in assembling and harmonizing heterogeneous data sets across species for facile comparison to the positional candidate genes and coexpression networks that come from systems genetic studies. GeneWeaver is an online database and suite of tools at www.geneweaver.org that allows for fast aggregation and analysis of gene set-centric data. GeneWeaver contains curated experimental data together with resource-level data such as GO annotations, MP annotations, and KEGG pathways, along with persistent stores of user entered data sets. These can be entered directly into GeneWeaver or transferred from widely used resources such as GeneNetwork.org. Data are analyzed using statistical tools and advanced graph algorithms to discover new relations, prioritize candidate genes, and generate function hypotheses. Here we use GeneWeaver to find genes common to multiple gene sets, prioritize candidate genes from a quantitative trait locus, and characterize a set of differentially expressed genes. Coupling a large multispecies repository curated and empirical functional genomics data to fast computational tools allows for the rapid integrative analysis of heterogeneous data for interpreting and extrapolating systems genetics results.

A Community Terrain-Following Ocean Modeling System (ROMS/TOMS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-30

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. A Community Terrain-Following Ocean Modeling System (ROMS...732) 932-6555 x266 Fax: (732) 932-6520 email: arango@marine.rutgers.edu Award Number: N00014-10- 1 -0322 http://ocean-modeling.org http...information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and

The Scientific Legacy of the CARIACO Ocean Time-Series Program.

PubMed

Muller-Karger, Frank E; Astor, Yrene M; Benitez-Nelson, Claudia R; Buck, Kristen N; Fanning, Kent A; Lorenzoni, Laura; Montes, Enrique; Rueda-Roa, Digna T; Scranton, Mary I; Tappa, Eric; Taylor, Gordon T; Thunell, Robert C; Troccoli, Luis; Varela, Ramon

2018-06-11

TheCARIACO(Carbon Retention in a Colored Ocean) Ocean Time-Series Program station, located at 10.50°N, 64.66°W, observed biogeochemical and ecological processes in the Cariaco Basin of the southwestern Caribbean Sea from November 1995 to January 2017. The program completed 232 monthly core cruises, 40 sediment trap deployment cruises, and 40 microbiogeochemical process cruises. Upwelling along the southern Caribbean Sea occurs from approximately November to August. High biological productivity (320-628 g C m -2 y -1 ) leads to large vertical fluxes of particulate organic matter, but only approximately 9-10 g C m -2 y -1 fall to the bottom sediments (∼1-3% of primary production). A diverse community of heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic microorganisms, viruses, and protozoa thrives within the oxic-anoxic interface. A decrease in upwelling intensity from approximately 2003 to 2013 and the simultaneous overfishing of sardines in the region led to diminished phytoplankton bloom intensities, increased phytoplankton diversity, and increased zooplankton densities. The deepest waters of the Cariaco Basin exhibited long-term positive trends in temperature, salinity, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, phosphate, methane, and silica. Earthquakes and coastal flooding also resulted in the delivery of sediment to the seafloor. The program's legacy includes climate-quality data from suboxic and anoxic habitats and lasting relationships between international researchers. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Marine Science Volume 11 is January 3, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Exemplary Programs Supporting Teacher Professional Development in the U.S.A.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passow, Michael J.

2015-04-01

By Law, there is no national curriculum in the U.S.A., so each State sets its own regulations for teacher certification and professional development. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards) provide guidelines for teacher training and curriculum development in Earth Science, Life Science, and the physical sciences (chemistry and biology). Presented here are examples of effective programs designed to support in-service Earth Science teachers, especially at the middle school and high school level (grades 6 - 12, ages 12 - 18). The Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (E2C) provides monthly gatherings of research scientists and teachers to learn about cutting-edge investigations in a wide variety of fields, and develop lesson plans to share these discoveries. The E2C website, www.earth2class.org/site, also provides a wide variety of educational resources used by teachers and students to learn about the planet. The National Earth Science Teachers Association (www.nestanet.org) is the largest professional society focused on pre-college Earth Science education. Together with its partner, Windows to the Universe (www.windows2universe.org), NESTA offers workshops and other programs at national and regional teacher conferences, a quarterly journal designed for classroom use, monthly E-Newsletters, and one of the largest collection of web resources in education. For more than twenty years, the American Meteorological Society has trained teachers across the country through its online courses: DataStreme Weather, DataStreme Ocean, and DataStreme Earth's Climate System (www.ametsoc.org/amsedu). Informal science education institutions also provide strong in-person and web-based professional development programs. Among these are the American Museum of Natural History's "Seminars on Science" (http://www.amnh.org/learn/) and many programs for educators

Ocean Drilling Program: Related Sites

Science.gov Websites

) 306-0390 Web site: www.nsf.gov Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES) US Members: Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Florida State University Oregon State University, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Pennsylvania State University, College of Earth and

Seeds of Failure in Colbert's Baltic Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mackey, Richard William

1984-01-01

This investigation of French mercantilist initiatives and policies in the seventeenth century focuses on the attempts of Colbert, the controller general of finance to Louis XIV, to stimulate French trade with the Baltic by establishing a Company of the North. (RM)

Methane fluxes and their controlling processes in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehder, G. J.; Fossing, H.; Lapham, L.; Endler, R.; Spiess, V.; Bruchert, V.; Nguyen, T.; Gülzow, W.; Schneider von Deimling, J.; Conley, D. J.; Jorgensen, B.

2010-12-01

The Baltic Sea is an ideal natural laboratory to study the methane cycle in the framework of diagenetic processes. With its brackish character and a gradient from nearly marine to almost limnic conditions, a strong permanent haline stratification leading to large vertical redox gradients in the water column, and a sedimentation history which resulted in the deposition of organic-rich young post-glacial sediments over older glacial and post-glacial strata with very low organic content, the Baltic allows to study the role of a variety of key parameters for early diagenetic processes including the methane cycle. Within the BONUS + Project “Baltic Gas”, a 3.5 week scientific expedition of RV Maria S. Merian in August 2010 was dedicated to study the methane cycle in the various basins of the Baltic Sea, with strong emphasis on the metabolic reactions of early diagenesis and the occurrence of shallow gas deposits. Various subbottom profiling systems were used to map the thickness and structure of organic-rich deposits and build the base for a detailed coring program for biogeochemical analysis, including methane, sulfur compounds, iron, and other compounds. Methane gradients in connection with the information of the areal extend of organic-rich deposits are used to estimate the diffusive flux from the sediments into the water column and the rate of methane oxidation, with changing importance of sulfate as oxidant along the salinity gradient. On selected key stations, rate measurements of methanogenic and methanotrophic reactions were executed. The methane distribution in the water column was comprehensively assessed, revealing amongst other findings a drastic increase in bottom water methane concentration between the post bloom summer situation and the situation in the winter of 2009, in connection to the occurrence of a benthic nepheloid layer. Air-sea flux measurements were executed along the ship’s track comprising all major basins of the Baltic. The talk gives

Significance of archaeal nitrification in hypoxic waters of the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berg, C.; Vandieken, V.; Thamdrup, B.; Jürgens, K.

2012-04-01

Marine oxygen deficient areas are sites of important microbially mediated transformations within the nitrogen cycle. In the Baltic Sea, suboxic waters (oxygen below 5 μmol L-1) are considered to be a major nitrification zone within the water column. Recent evidence indicates that Archaea and not Bacteria are here the major ammonium oxidizers. In a Baltic Sea pelagic redoxcline, the crenarchaeotal subcluster GD2 which is related to the first cultivated ammonia-oxidizing crenarchaeote Candidatus Nitrosopumilus maritimus occurs in high abundance. However, little is known about its function and importance for the nitrogen and carbon cycles in oxygen minimum zones of the Baltic Sea. To approach this question, we sampled pelagic redoxclines in the Baltic Sea and determined the rates of nitrification and light-independent, inorganic carbon fixation via 15N and 14C isotope incubations, and quantified the abundance of putative ammonia-oxidizing Crenarchaeota by catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH). Nitrification was detectable throughout the suboxic zone with maxima of 122-131 nmol L-1 d-1 in layers with 1.8-7.1 μmol oxygen L-1 and ammonium below 0.2 μmol L-1. However, a nitrification potential was detected even in the upper anoxic, sulfidic zone. Crenarchaeotal abundance correlated strongly with nitrification rates and accounted for up to 24% of total prokaryotic cells. In contrast, the CO2 fixation in the suboxic zone was with 1.6-19.6 nmol L-1 d-1 rather low when compared to the subjacent anoxic, sulfidic waters. Our study indicates that ammonia oxidation in the suboxic zone of the Baltic Sea is mainly driven by Crenarchaeota. Their occurrence also in the anoxic, sulfidic water masses and the maintained nitrification potential point to special adaptations in this habitat with a potentially reduced sensitivity against hydrogen sulfide.

Managing dredged material in the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Staniszewska, Marta; Boniecka, Helena

2017-01-01

This article deals with the legal and practical recommendations for the management of dredged material in the riparian countries of the Baltic Sea. The recommendations are contained in three conventions: LC, 2000. London Convention (1972), Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea area (Helsinki Convention) (1992), the OSPAR Convention (1972). Different approaches to evaluating the contamination level of dredge spoils, used by the Baltic Sea riparian countries, have been characterized. The differences in those approaches manifest themselves by various concentration limits for contaminants, which form a basis for the classification of dredged material as either contaminated or non-contaminated, and thus determine how the spoils will be processed further. Based on the collected information about the concentration limits for contaminants of surface sediments in the coastal ports, it was pointed out that it is necessary to conduct routine monitoring of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, tributyltin, and petroleum hydrocarbons in dredged sediments in all the Baltic Sea states. On the other hand, the monitoring of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans, organochlorine, and organophosphoric pesticides is only needed in locations that are suspected of historical or being the local contamination sources. Due to significant economic limitations of chemical determinations, it is important to consider a simple screening test of sediment that would say whether sediment may be "contaminated" and qualifies for more detailed and costly chemical research. It may be typical basic physical-chemical analysis of sediments or ecotoxicological classification of sediments.Despite environmentally friendly tendencies, the practical application of dredged material within the Baltic Sea area is very limited. Dredged material is most frequently stored at the specifically designated sites. From among the practical uses of

CRUSER News. Issue 3, May 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

Program for Lagrangian Ocean Studies by Kanna Rajan, Principal Researcher for Autonomy, MBARI http://www.mbari.org/staff/ kanna / The Monterey Bay Aquarium...Ethical From Concept Generation to Experimentation INSIDE THIS ISSUE MBARI’S AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS PROGRAM Kanna Rajan DIRECTOR’S CORNER CAPT (ret

Recent trends and variations in Baltic Sea temperature, salinity, stratification and circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elken, Jüri; Lehmann, Andreas; Myrberg, Kai

2015-04-01

The presentation highlights the results of physical oceanography from BACC II (Second BALTEX Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea basin) book based on the review of recent literature published until 2013. We include also information from some more recent publications. A recent warming trend in sea surface waters has been clearly demonstrated by all available methods: in-situ measurements, remote sensing data and modelling tools. In particular, remote sensing data for the period 1990-2008 indicate that the annual mean SST has increased even by 1°C per decade, with the greatest increase in the northern Bothnian Bay and also with large increases in the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, and the northern Baltic Proper. Although the increase in the northern areas is affected by the recent decline in the extent and duration of sea ice, and corresponding changes in surface albedo, warming is still evident during all seasons and with the greatest increase occurring in summer. The least warming of surface waters (0.3-0.5°C per decade) occurred northeast of Bornholm Island up to and along the Swedish coast, probably owing to an increase in the frequency of coastal upwelling forced by the westerly wind events. Comparing observations with the results of centennial-scale modelling, recent changes in sea water temperature appear to be within the range of the variability observed during the past 500 years. Overall salinity pattern and stratification conditions are controlled by river runoff, wind conditions, and salt water inflows through the Danish straits. The mean top-layer salinity is mainly influenced by the accumulated river runoff, with higher salinity during dry periods and lower salinity during wet periods. Observations reveal a low-salinity period above the halocline starting in the 1980s. The strength of stratification and deep salinity are reduced when the mean zonal wind stress increases, as it occurred since 1987. Major Baltic Inflows of highly saline

BIAS: A Regional Management of Underwater Sound in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Sigray, Peter; Andersson, Mathias; Pajala, Jukka; Laanearu, Janek; Klauson, Aleksander; Tegowski, Jaroslaw; Boethling, Maria; Fischer, Jens; Tougaard, Jakob; Wahlberg, Magnus; Nikolopoulos, Anna; Folegot, Thomas; Matuschek, Rainer; Verfuss, Ursula

2016-01-01

Management of the impact of underwater sound is an emerging concern worldwide. Several countries are in the process of implementing regulatory legislations. In Europe, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive was launched in 2008. This framework addresses noise impacts and the recommendation is to deal with it on a regional level. The Baltic Sea is a semienclosed area with nine states bordering the sea. The number of ships is one of the highest in Europe. Furthermore, the number of ships is estimated to double by 2030. Undoubtedly, due to the unbound character of noise, an efficient management of sound in the Baltic Sea must be done on a regional scale. In line with the European Union directive, the Baltic Sea Information on the Acoustic Soundscape (BIAS) project was established to implement Descriptor 11 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the Baltic Sea region. BIAS will develop tools, standards, and methodologies that will allow for cross-border handling of data and results, measure sound in 40 locations for 1 year, establish a seasonal soundscape map by combining measured sound with advanced three-dimensional modeling, and, finally, establish standards for measuring continuous sound. Results from the first phase of BIAS are presented here, with an emphasis on standards and soundscape mapping as well as the challenges related to regional handling.

Stickleback increase in the Baltic Sea - A thorny issue for coastal predatory fish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergström, Ulf; Olsson, Jens; Casini, Michele; Eriksson, Britas Klemens; Fredriksson, Ronny; Wennhage, Håkan; Appelberg, Magnus

2015-09-01

In the Baltic Sea, the mesopredator three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) spends a large part of its life cycle in the open sea, but reproduces in shallow coastal habitats. In coastal waters, it may occur in high abundances, is a potent predator on eggs and larvae of fish, and has been shown to induce trophic cascades with resulting eutrophication symptoms through regulation of invertebrate grazers. Despite its potential significance for the coastal food web, little is known about its life history and population ecology. This paper provides a description of life history traits, migration patterns and spatiotemporal development of the species in the Baltic Sea during the past decades, and tests the hypothesis that stickleback may have a negative impact on populations of coastal predatory fish. Offshore and coastal data during the last 30 years show that stickleback has increased fourfold in the Bothnian Sea, 45-fold in the Central Baltic Sea and sevenfold in the Southern Baltic Sea. The abundances are similar in the two northern basins, and two orders of magnitude lower in the Southern Baltic Sea. The coastward spawning migration of sticklebacks from offshore areas peaks in early May, with most spawners being two years of age at a mean length of 65 mm. The early juvenile stage is spent at the coast, whereafter sticklebacks perform a seaward feeding migration in early autumn at a size of around 35 mm. A negative spatial relation between the abundance of stickleback and early life stages of perch and pike at coastal spawning areas was observed in spatial survey data, indicating strong interactions between the species. A negative temporal relationship was observed also between adult perch and stickleback in coastal fish monitoring programmes supporting the hypothesis that stickleback may have negative population level effects on coastal fish predators. The recent increase in stickleback populations in different basins of the Baltic Sea in combination with

DCODE.ORG Anthology of Comparative Genomic Tools

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loots, G G; Ovcharenko, I

2005-01-11

Comparative genomics provides the means to demarcate functional regions in anonymous DNA sequences. The successful application of this method to identifying novel genes is currently shifting to deciphering the noncoding encryption of gene regulation across genomes. To facilitate the use of comparative genomics to practical applications in genetics and genomics we have developed several analytical and visualization tools for the analysis of arbitrary sequences and whole genomes. These tools include two alignment tools: zPicture and Mulan; a phylogenetic shadowing tool: eShadow for identifying lineage- and species-specific functional elements; two evolutionary conserved transcription factor analysis tools: rVista and multiTF; a toolmore » for extracting cis-regulatory modules governing the expression of co-regulated genes, CREME; and a dynamic portal to multiple vertebrate and invertebrate genome alignments, the ECR Browser. Here we briefly describe each one of these tools and provide specific examples on their practical applications. All the tools are publicly available at the http://www.dcode.org/ web site.« less

Astaxanthin dynamics in Baltic Sea mesozooplankton communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snoeijs, Pauline; Häubner, Norbert

2014-01-01

The red pigment astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant, which occurs in eggs and body tissues of crustaceans and fish. It is produced by crustaceans from algal carotenoids. In a two-year field study we assessed natural concentrations and dynamics of astaxanthin in mesozooplankton communities in the brackish Baltic Sea area. Astaxanthin levels varied between 0.37 and 36 ng L- 1. They increased with salinity along the Baltic Sea gradient and were linked to zooplankton biomass and phytoplankton community composition. Astaxanthin concentrations showed typical seasonal patterns and varied from 0.2 to 5.1 ng ind- 1, 0.2 to 3.4 ng (μg C)- 1 and 6 to 100 ng mm- 3. These concentrations were inversely related to water temperature and strongly linked to zooplankton community composition. Communities dominated by the calanoid copepods Temora longicornis, Pseudocalanus acuspes and Eurytemora spp. generally held the highest concentrations. With increasing cladocerans:copepods biomass ratios community astaxanthin concentrations decreased and with higher relative biomass of Acartia spp. the proportion of astaxanthin diesters decreased. Diesters prevailed in the cold season and they are thought to improve the antioxidant protection of storage lipids during winter. Climate change causes higher temperature and lower salinity in the Baltic Sea proper. This modifies zooplankton community composition, but not necessarily into a community with lower concentrations of astaxanthin since T. longicornis (high concentrations) has been reported to increase with higher temperature. However, decreased astaxanthin production in the ecosystem is expected if a basin-wide increase in the cladocerans:copepods biomass ratios would occur with further climate change.

Effects of Variable Oxygen Concentrations on the Sinking Fluxes and Composition of Organic Matter in The Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cisternas-Novoa, C.; Le Moigne, F. A. C.; Roa, J.; Wagner, H.; Engel, A.

2016-02-01

The downward flux of organic matter (OM) from the euphotic zone is critical to understand the biogeochemistry cycles in the ocean. Local changes in stratification, nutrient inputs, community structure and oxygen concentrations potentially affect the magnitude of OM flux. The Baltic Sea is a unique environment with strong natural gradients of primary productivity, nutrients and O2 concentrations. The genuine effect of oxygen minimum deficiency on the fate of sinking OM and the efficiency of the biologic carbon pump has yet to be clarified. Previous work suggested that under oxygen deficiency, nitrogen rich amino acids are preferentially utilized causing nitrogen loss from the water column (van Mooy et al., 2002, Kalvelage et al 2013). Here, we investigate how different oxygen conditions and surface productivity affect sinking particles flux and particles composition in the central Baltic Sea. Sinking OM was collected in June 2015 using surface-tethered free-drifting traps in the Gotland and Landsort deeps. Sinking particles were collected for a period of 48 and 24 hours at four depths from below the mixed layer and down to hypoxic deep waters (40, 60, 110 and 180 m). Fluxes of POC, PON, POP and amino acids were estimated. We will discuss the effect of low oxygen levels on the biological carbon pump associated with fluxes of OM and sinking particles.

77 FR 26745 - Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-07

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Gulf of Mexico Fishery... Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a Web based meeting of the ABC Control Rule Working Group.... Please go to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's Web site at www.gulfcouncil.org for...

77 FR 41376 - Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-13

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Gulf of Mexico Fishery... Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene three web based meetings of the ABC Control Rule Working... Internet. Please go to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's Web site at www.gulfcouncil.org for...

Case Study: The Withdrawal of Russian Military Forces from the Baltic States

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-01-01

Llthuama, Latvia and Estoma regained the independence they had lost at the start of the Second World War The opportumty for these new states to...Russia was perceived as pursuing a pohcy of mtlmldatlon toward Latvia, Lithuania and Estoma As the Russia-Baltic dialogue began to deteriorate m 1993... Estoma Finally, Moscow needed good relations \\~th Vllnrus to ensure easy access to Kalmmgrad, the exclave on the Baltic Sea that was physically

Transplant experiments uncover Baltic Sea basin-specific responses in bacterioplankton community composition and metabolic activities.

PubMed

Lindh, Markus V; Figueroa, Daniela; Sjöstedt, Johanna; Baltar, Federico; Lundin, Daniel; Andersson, Agneta; Legrand, Catherine; Pinhassi, Jarone

2015-01-01

Anthropogenically induced changes in precipitation are projected to generate increased river runoff to semi-enclosed seas, increasing loads of terrestrial dissolved organic matter and decreasing salinity. To determine how bacterial community structure and functioning adjust to such changes, we designed microcosm transplant experiments with Baltic Proper (salinity 7.2) and Bothnian Sea (salinity 3.6) water. Baltic Proper bacteria generally reached higher abundances than Bothnian Sea bacteria in both Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea water, indicating higher adaptability. Moreover, Baltic Proper bacteria growing in Bothnian Sea water consistently showed highest bacterial production and beta-glucosidase activity. These metabolic responses were accompanied by basin-specific changes in bacterial community structure. For example, Baltic Proper Pseudomonas and Limnobacter populations increased markedly in relative abundance in Bothnian Sea water, indicating a replacement effect. In contrast, Roseobacter and Rheinheimera populations were stable or increased in abundance when challenged by either of the waters, indicating an adjustment effect. Transplants to Bothnian Sea water triggered the initial emergence of particular Burkholderiaceae populations, and transplants to Baltic Proper water triggered Alteromonadaceae populations. Notably, in the subsequent re-transplant experiment, a priming effect resulted in further increases to dominance of these populations. Correlated changes in community composition and metabolic activity were observed only in the transplant experiment and only at relatively high phylogenetic resolution. This suggested an importance of successional progression for interpreting relationships between bacterial community composition and functioning. We infer that priming effects on bacterial community structure by natural episodic events or climate change induced forcing could translate into long-term changes in bacterial ecosystem process rates.

Transplant experiments uncover Baltic Sea basin-specific responses in bacterioplankton community composition and metabolic activities

PubMed Central

Lindh, Markus V.; Figueroa, Daniela; Sjöstedt, Johanna; Baltar, Federico; Lundin, Daniel; Andersson, Agneta; Legrand, Catherine; Pinhassi, Jarone

2015-01-01

Anthropogenically induced changes in precipitation are projected to generate increased river runoff to semi-enclosed seas, increasing loads of terrestrial dissolved organic matter and decreasing salinity. To determine how bacterial community structure and functioning adjust to such changes, we designed microcosm transplant experiments with Baltic Proper (salinity 7.2) and Bothnian Sea (salinity 3.6) water. Baltic Proper bacteria generally reached higher abundances than Bothnian Sea bacteria in both Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea water, indicating higher adaptability. Moreover, Baltic Proper bacteria growing in Bothnian Sea water consistently showed highest bacterial production and beta-glucosidase activity. These metabolic responses were accompanied by basin-specific changes in bacterial community structure. For example, Baltic Proper Pseudomonas and Limnobacter populations increased markedly in relative abundance in Bothnian Sea water, indicating a replacement effect. In contrast, Roseobacter and Rheinheimera populations were stable or increased in abundance when challenged by either of the waters, indicating an adjustment effect. Transplants to Bothnian Sea water triggered the initial emergence of particular Burkholderiaceae populations, and transplants to Baltic Proper water triggered Alteromonadaceae populations. Notably, in the subsequent re-transplant experiment, a priming effect resulted in further increases to dominance of these populations. Correlated changes in community composition and metabolic activity were observed only in the transplant experiment and only at relatively high phylogenetic resolution. This suggested an importance of successional progression for interpreting relationships between bacterial community composition and functioning. We infer that priming effects on bacterial community structure by natural episodic events or climate change induced forcing could translate into long-term changes in bacterial ecosystem process rates. PMID

Impacts of Low Salinity on Growth and Calcification in Baltic Sea Mytilus edulis x trossulus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanders, T.; Melzner, F.

2016-02-01

The Baltic Sea is characterized by a steep salinity gradient (25 psu - <5 psu) which is predicted to increase in the future due to increased precipitation. This provides an excellent biological system to study the effects of salinity and inorganic carbon supply on animal physiology. Mytilus edulis x trossulus is adapted to the low saline Baltic Sea, at the cost of slow body growth and reduced shell thickness. The explanation for the small size of Baltic mytilids has been attributed to tradeoffs in energy partitioning due to high energetic costs associated with osmoregulation. However, salinity may effect calcification mechanisms and reduce calcification and thus, body size and growth. To understand the mechanistic effects salinity has on calcification, energy budgets were quantified in larvae, juveniles and adults from 3 populations of Baltic Sea Mytilus spp. at different salinities (6, 11 and 16 psu). Net CaCO3 production at varying salinities and bicarbonate concentrations was also measured. Larvae from low salinity adapted populations (6 psu) had a 3-fold higher respiration rate compared to higher salinity populations. This was also accompanied by a delay of 48 hours in early shell formation. Reductions in growth and increases in metabolism were largest between 11 psu and 6 psu indicating that the predicted desalination of the Baltic will go along with huge energetic costs for mussel populations, potentially leading to loss of reefs in the Eastern Baltic. To investigate the mechanisms behind increased metabolic cost and decreased allocation to growth, energy budgets are presently being constrained in our three populations using modulations in food supply and temperature.

OCEAN: Optimized Cross rEActivity estimatioN.

PubMed

Czodrowski, Paul; Bolick, Wolf-Guido

2016-10-24

The prediction of molecular targets is highly beneficial during the drug discovery process, be it for off-target elucidation or deconvolution of phenotypic screens. Here, we present OCEAN, a target prediction tool exclusively utilizing publically available ChEMBL data. OCEAN uses a heuristics approach based on a validation set containing almost 1000 drug ← → target relationships. New ChEMBL data (ChEMBL20 as well as ChEMBL21) released after the validation was used for a prospective OCEAN performance check. The success rates of OCEAN to predict correctly the targets within the TOP10 ranks are 77% for recently marketed drugs and 62% for all new ChEMBL20 compounds and 51% for all new ChEMBL21 compounds. OCEAN is also capable of identifying polypharmacological compounds; the success rate for molecules simultaneously hitting at least two targets is 64% to be correctly predicted within the TOP10 ranks. The source code of OCEAN can be found at http://www.github.com/rdkit/OCEAN.

Oceanographic connectivity and environmental correlates of genetic structuring in Atlantic herring in the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Teacher, Amber GF; André, Carl; Jonsson, Per R; Merilä, Juha

2013-01-01

Marine fish often show little genetic structuring in neutral marker genes, and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in the Baltic Sea are no exception; historically, very low levels of population differentiation (FST ≍ 0.002) have been found, despite a high degree of interpopulation environmental heterogeneity in salinity and temperature. Recent exome sequencing and SNP studies have however shown that many loci are under selection in this system. Here, we combined population genetic analyses of a large number of transcriptome-derived microsatellite markers with oceanographic modelling to investigate genetic differentiation and connectivity in Atlantic herring at a relatively fine scale within the Baltic Sea. We found evidence for weak but robust and significant genetic structuring (FST = 0.008) explainable by oceanographic connectivity. Genetic differentiation was also associated with site differences in temperature and salinity, with the result driven by the locus Her14 which appears to be under directional selection (FST = 0.08). The results show that Baltic herring are genetically structured within the Baltic Sea, and highlight the role of oceanography and environmental factors in explaining this structuring. The results also have implications for the management of herring fisheries, the most economically important fishery in the Baltic Sea, suggesting that the current fisheries management units may be in need of revision. PMID:23745145

Oceanic Emissions of Organic Very Short Lived Substances from the Indian Ocean and their Transport to the Stratosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marandino, C. A.; Quack, B.; Hepach, H.; Atlas, E. L.; Fiehn, A.; Lennartz, S. T.; Bracher, A.; Krüger, K.; Waersted, E.

2016-02-01

Within the frame work of the German project OASIS, research cruises SO234-2 (Durban- Port Louis, 08-20 July, 2014) and SO235 (Port Louis - Male, July 23 to August 07, 2014) of the German research vessel SONNE were conducted by the University of Oslo, Norway (www.uio.no) together with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany (www.geomar.de) in the subtropical and tropical West Indian Ocean. The research covered the sources and air- sea gas exchange of a suite of natural and anthropogenic short- and long lived trace gases as well as atmospheric composition and transport. Among the gases investigated were very short lived halocarbons such as bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide, which are naturally produced in the oceans and influence stratospheric ozone and climate. The Asian monsoon circulation provides an effective pathway for air masses from the atmospheric boundary layer containing these and other compounds to enter the global stratosphere during boreal summer especially above India and the Bay of Bengal. During the cruises biological, chemical and physical parameters were analyzed in the surface waters and the deep ocean, the atmospheric conditions were determined, the oceanic trace gas emissions calculated and their transport and contribution to the stratospheric halogen budget, deduced from radiosonde launchings and high resolution transport modelling, was determined. The measurements were conducted in various marine biogeochemical regimes close to coasts, near coral reefs and sea banks, in high chlorophyll and oligotrophic regimes. We present novel results from the cruises, including biogeochemical responses to physical forcing and their contribution to the atmosphere.

Model simulation of inflow water to the Baltic Sea based on ¹²⁹I.

PubMed

Yi, P; Chen, X G; Bao, D X; Qian, R Z; Aldahan, A; Tian, F Y; Possnert, G; Bryhn, A C; Gu, T F; Hou, X L; He, P; Yu, Z B; Wang, B

2013-12-01

The semi-enclosed Baltic Sea represents a vital economic and recreational resource for more than 90 million people inhabiting its coasts. Extensive contamination of this sea by a variety of anthropogenic pollutants has raised the concern of the people in the region. Quantifying seawater inflow is crucial for estimating potential environmental risks as well as to find the best remedial strategy. We present here a model to estimate water inflow from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea by utilizing ¹²⁹I as a tracer. The results predicted inflow range of 230-450 km³/y with best fit value around 330 km³/y from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea during 1980-1999. Despite limited time series data on ¹²⁹I, the model presented here demonstrates a new management tool for the Baltic Sea to calculate inflow water compared to conventional methods (such as salinity, temperature and hydrographic models). Crown Copyright © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mid-infrared spectroscopy for characterization of Baltic amber (succinite)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner-Wysiecka, Ewa

2018-05-01

Natural Baltic amber (succinite) is the most appreciated fossil resin of the rich cultural traditions dating back to prehistoric times. Its unequivocal identification is extremely important in many branches of science and trades including archeology, paleontology, chemistry and finally mineralogical and gemological societies. Current methods of modification of natural succinite are more and more sophisticated making the identification of natural Baltic amber often challenging. In article the systematic analytical approach for identification of natural and modified under different conditions succinite, using mid-infrared spectroscopy (transmission, Drifts and ATR techniques) is presented. The correlation between spectral characteristics and properties of succinite is discussed pointing that the understanding of the nature of changes is the key of identification of this precious material.

A transnational and holistic breeding approach is needed for sustainable wheat production in the Baltic Sea region.

PubMed

Chawade, Aakash; Armoniené, Rita; Berg, Gunilla; Brazauskas, Gintaras; Frostgård, Gunilla; Geleta, Mulatu; Gorash, Andrii; Henriksson, Tina; Himanen, Kristiina; Ingver, Anne; Johansson, Eva; Jørgensen, Lise Nistrup; Koppel, Mati; Koppel, Reine; Makela, Pirjo; Ortiz, Rodomiro; Podyma, Wieslaw; Roitsch, Thomas; Ronis, Antanas; Svensson, Jan T; Vallenback, Pernilla; Weih, Martin

2018-03-14

The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish water bodies in the world. Eutrophication is a major concern in the Baltic Sea due to the leakage of nutrients to the sea with agriculture being the primary source. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most widely grown crop in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea and thus promoting sustainable agriculture practices for wheat cultivation will have a major impact on reducing pollution in the Baltic Sea. This approach requires identifying and addressing key challenges for sustainable wheat production in the region. Implementing new technologies for climate-friendly breeding and digital farming across all surrounding countries should promote sustainable intensification of agriculture in the region. In this review, we highlight major challenges for wheat cultivation in the Baltic Sea region and discuss various solutions integrating transnational collaboration for pre-breeding and technology sharing to accelerate development of low input wheat cultivars with improved host plant resistance to pathogen and enhanced adaptability to the changing climate. © 2018 The Authors. Physiologia Plantarum published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.

Ocean Tracks: Investigating Marine Migrations in a Changing Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krumhansl, R.; Kochevar, R. E.; Aluwihare, L.; Bardar, E. W.; Hirsch, L.; Hoyle, C.; Krumhansl, K.; Louie, J.; Madura, J.; Mueller-Northcott, J.; Peach, C. L.; Trujillo, A.; Winney, B.; Zetterlind, V.; Busey, A.

2015-12-01

The availability of scientific data sets online opens up exciting new opportunities to raise students' understanding of the worlds' oceans and the potential impacts of climate change. The Oceans of Data Institute at EDC; Stanford University; and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been collaborating, with the support of three National Science Foundation grants over the past 5 years, to bring marine science data sets into high school and undergraduate classrooms. These efforts have culminated in the development of a web-based student interface to data from the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program, NOAA's Global Drifter Program, and NASA Earth-orbiting satellites through a student-friendly Web interface, customized data analysis tools, multimedia supports, and course modules. Ocean Tracks (http://oceantracks.org), which incorporates design principles based on a broad range of research findings in fields such as cognitive science, visual design, mathematics education and learning science, focuses on optimizing students' opportunities to focus their cognitive resources on viewing and comparing data to test hypotheses, while minimizing the time spent on downloading, filtering and creating displays. Ocean Tracks allows students to display the tracks of elephant seals, white sharks, Bluefin tuna, albatross, and drifting buoys along with sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-A, bathymetry, ocean currents, and human impacts overlays. A graphing tool allows students to dynamically display parameters associated with the track such as speed, deepest daily dive and track tortuosity (curviness). These interface features allow students to engage in investigations that mirror those currently being conducted by scientists to understand the broad-scale effects of changes in climate and other human activities on ocean ecosystems. In addition to supporting the teaching of the Ocean and Climate Literacy principles, high school curriculum modules facilitate the teaching

The Warsaw Pact Baltic Fleet.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

Some analysts have concluded that the Warsaw Pact already controls the Baltic Sea. As Marian K. Leighton wrote, .. .the USSR, assisted by its East German...Naval Institute Proceedings, January 1981. Baird , Gregory C., "Glavnoe Komandovanie: The Soviet Theater Command," Naval War College Review, v. 32, no... Marian K., The Soviet Threat to NATO’s Northern Flank, National Security Information Center, Inc., 1979. 128 Libbey, Miles A., "The Missing Link," U. S

A Real-time 1/16° Global Ocean Nowcast/Forecast System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shriver, J. F.; Rhodes, R. C.; Hurlburt, H. E.; Wallcraft, A. J.; Metzger, E. J.; Smedstad, O. M.; Kara, A. B.

2001-05-01

A 1/16° eddy-resolving global ocean prediction system that uses the NRL Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) has been transitioned to the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO), Stennis Space Center, MS. The system gives a real time view of the ocean down to the 50-100 mile scale of ocean eddies and the meandering of ocean currents and fronts, a view with unprecedented resolution and clarity, and demonstrated forecast skill for a month or more for many ocean features. It has been running in real time at NAVO since 19 Oct 2000 with assimilation of real-time altimeter sea surface height (SSH) data (currently ERS-2, GFO and TOPEX/POSEIDON) and sea surface temperature (SST). The model is updated daily and 4-day forecasts are made daily. 30-day forecasts are made once a week. Nowcasts and forecasts using this model are viewable on the web, including SSH, SST and 30-day forecast verification statistics for many zoom regions. The NRL web address is http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/global_nlom/index.html. The NAVO web address is: http://www.navo.navy.mil. Click on "Operational Products", then "Product Search Form", then "Product Type View", then select "Model Navy Layered Ocean Model" and a region and click on "Submit Query". This system is used at NAVO for ocean front and eddy analyses and predictions and to provide accurate sea surface height for use in computing synthetic temperature and salinity profiles, among other applications.

Global Ocean Currents Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boyer, T.; Sun, L.

2016-02-01

The NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information has released an ocean currents database portal that aims 1) to integrate global ocean currents observations from a variety of instruments with different resolution, accuracy and response to spatial and temporal variability into a uniform network common data form (NetCDF) format and 2) to provide a dedicated online data discovery, access to NCEI-hosted and distributed data sources for ocean currents data. The portal provides a tailored web application that allows users to search for ocean currents data by platform types and spatial/temporal ranges of their interest. The dedicated web application is available at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/gocd/index.html. The NetCDF format supports widely-used data access protocols and catalog services such as OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) and THREDDS (Thematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services), which the GOCD users can use data files with their favorite analysis and visualization client software without downloading to their local machine. The potential users of the ocean currents database include, but are not limited to, 1) ocean modelers for their model skills assessments, 2) scientists and researchers for studying the impact of ocean circulations on the climate variability, 3) ocean shipping industry for safety navigation and finding optimal routes for ship fuel efficiency, 4) ocean resources managers while planning for the optimal sites for wastes and sewages dumping and for renewable hydro-kinematic energy, and 5) state and federal governments to provide historical (analyzed) ocean circulations as an aid for search and rescue

Numerical modelling of the buoyant marine microplastics in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagaev, Andrei; Mizyuk, Artem; Chubarenko, Irina; Khatmullilna, Liliya

2017-04-01

Microplastics is a burning issue in the marine pollution science. Its sources, ways of propagation and final destiny pose a lot of questions to the modern oceanographers. Hence, a numerical model is an optimal tool for reconstruction of microplastics pathways and fate. Within the MARBLE project (lamp.ocean.ru), a model of Lagrangian particles transport was developed. It was tested coupled with oceanographic transport fields from the operational oceanography product of Copernicus Marine Monitoring Environment Service. Our model deals with two major types of microplastics such as microfibres and buoyant spheroidal particles. We are currently working to increase the grid resolution by means of the NEMO regional configuration for the south-eastern Baltic Sea. Several expeditions were organised to the three regions of the Baltic Sea (the Gotland, the Bornholm, and the Gdansk basins). Water samples from the surface and different water layers were collected, processed, and analysed by our team. A set of laboratory experiments was specifically designed to establish the settling velocity of particles of various shapes and densities. The analysis in question provided us with the understanding necessary for the model to reproduce the large-scale dynamics of microfibres. In the simulation, particles were spreading from the shore to the deep sea, slowly sinking to the bottom, while decreasing in quantity due to conditional sedimentation. Our model is expected to map out the microplastics life cycle and to account for its distribution patterns under the impact of wind and currents. For this purpose, we have already included the parameterization for the wind drag force applied to a particle. Initial results of numerical experiments seem to indicate the importance of proper implicit parameterization of the particle dynamics at the vertical solid boundary. Our suggested solutions to that problem will be presented at the EGU-2017. The MARBLE project is supported by Russian Science

The Ocean Carbon States Database: a proof-of-concept application of cluster analysis in the ocean carbon cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latto, Rebecca; Romanou, Anastasia

2018-03-01

important in the Southern Ocean flux bias. All data and analysis scripts are available at oceans/carbonstates/" target="_blank">https://data.giss.nasa.gov/oceans/carbonstates/ (DOI: org/10.5281/zenodo.996891" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.996891).

The Baltic Sea: Geophysical and geochemical properties of Holocene sediment sequences as indicators of past environmental variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenz, Conny; Reinholdsson, Maja; Zillén, Lovisa; Conley, Daniel J.; Snowball, Ian

2010-05-01

The Baltic Sea has undergone large environmental changes since the retreat of the Weischselian Ice-sheet. In the Late Glacial Period and the early Holocene these changes were most likely caused by natural environmental changes (i.e. changes in the morphology and depths of the Baltic basin and the sills). In more recent time anthropogenic impacts have become more important as a possible and likely cause for changes. During the whole Holocene period climate variability played an important role. However, the relative importance between humans and nature is largely unknown. Here we present the results of a combined geophysical and geochemical study on selected sediment sequences from the Baltic Sea within the two BONUS (Baltic Organisations Network For Funding Science) funded projects HYPER (HYPoxia mitigation for Baltic Sea Ecosystem Restoration) and Baltic GAS (GAS storage and effects of climate change and eutrophication). The over-all aim of these projects is to understand large-scale Baltic Sea ecosystem responses to environmental, climate and anthropogenic forcing. During two Baltic Sea research cruises in 2009 long sediment cores from 8 different locations were recovered. We present preliminary results from one site (LL19) located in the north central Baltic Proper at 169 m water depth. The Littorina Sea sediment record (i.e. the last c. 8000 years) is characterised by alternating periods of homogenised sediments (indicative of oxic conditions) and laminated sediments (indicative of hypoxic/anoxic conditions). Mineral magnetic properties illustrate clear changes between laminated and non-laminated sections of the core. The concentration of ferrimagnetic minerals, as revealed by initial magnetic susceptibility (χ) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) is variable. The laminated sections in particular show high concentrations and to reveal the origin of the ferrimagnetic signal additional magnetic properties were measured, specifically the

Cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes in fish from the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Kierkegaard, Amelie; Bignert, Anders; McLachlan, Michael S

2013-10-01

Laboratory studies suggest that the cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS) octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) and dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6) will persist in the aquatic environment and bioaccumulate in fish. Here these cVMS were measured in herring collected in the Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and in grey seals from the Baltic Proper. D4, D5, and D6 were present in herring muscle at concentrations around 10, 200, and 40ngg(-1) lipid weight, respectively. The ratio of these concentrations was similar to the relative magnitude of estimated emissions to water, suggesting that the efficiency of overall transfer through the environment and food web was similar (within a factor 2-3) for the three chemicals. The concentrations of D5 and D6 were similar in herring caught in the highly populated Baltic Proper and in the less populated Bothnian Sea and Bothnian Bay. The D4 concentrations were lower at the most remote northern station, suggesting that D4 is less persistent than D5 and D6. Herring from the North Sea had lower levels of all three chemicals. The concentrations of D4, D5 and D6 in grey seal blubber were lower than the lipid normalized concentrations in herring, indicating that they do not biomagnify in grey seals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mass Balance of Perfluoroalkyl Acids in the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

A mass balance was assembled for perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in the Baltic Sea. Inputs (from riverine discharge, atmospheric deposition, coastal wastewater discharges, and the North Sea) and outputs (to sediment burial, transformation of the chemical, and the North Sea), as well as the inventory in the Baltic Sea, were estimated from recently published monitoring data. Formation of the chemicals in the water column from precursors was not considered. River inflow and atmospheric deposition were the dominant inputs, while wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents made a minor contribution (<5%). A mass balance of the Oder River watershed was assembled to explore the sources of the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in the river inflow. It indicated that WWTP effluents made only a moderate contribution to riverine discharge (21% for PFOA, 6% for PFOS), while atmospheric deposition to the watershed was 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than WWTP discharges. The input to the Baltic Sea exceeded the output for all four PFAAs, suggesting that inputs were higher during 2005–2010 than during the previous 20 years despite efforts to reduce emissions of PFAAs. One possible explanation is the retention and delayed release of PFAAs from atmospheric deposition in the soils and groundwater of the watershed. PMID:23528236

Meta-omic analyses of Baltic Sea cyanobacteria: diversity, community structure and salt acclimation.

PubMed

Celepli, Narin; Sundh, John; Ekman, Martin; Dupont, Chris L; Yooseph, Shibu; Bergman, Birgitta; Ininbergs, Karolina

2017-02-01

Cyanobacteria are important phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea, an estuarine-like environment with pronounced north to south gradients in salinity and nutrient concentrations. Here, we present a metagenomic and -transcriptomic survey, with subsequent analyses targeting the genetic identity, phylogenetic diversity, and spatial distribution of Baltic Sea cyanobacteria. The cyanobacterial community constituted close to 12% of the microbial population sampled during a pre-bloom period (June-July 2009). The community was dominated by unicellular picocyanobacteria, specifically a few highly abundant taxa (Synechococcus and Cyanobium) with a long tail of low abundance representatives, and local peaks of bloom-forming heterocystous taxa. Cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea differed genetically from those in adjacent limnic and marine waters as well as from cultivated and sequenced picocyanobacterial strains. Diversity peaked at brackish salinities 3.5-16 psu, with low N:P ratios. A shift in community composition from brackish to marine strains was accompanied by a change in the repertoire and expression of genes involved in salt acclimation. Overall, the pre-bloom cyanobacterial population was more genetically diverse, widespread and abundant than previously documented, with unicellular picocyanobacteria being the most abundant clade along the entire Baltic Sea salinity gradient. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A data delivery system for IMOS, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Proctor, R.; Roberts, K.; Ward, B. J.

2010-09-01

The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS, www.imos.org.au''="_blank">www.imos.org.au), an AUD 150 m 7-year project (2007-2013), is a distributed set of equipment and data-information services which, among many applications, collectively contribute to meeting the needs of marine climate research in Australia. The observing system provides data in the open oceans around Australia out to a few thousand kilometres as well as the coastal oceans through 11 facilities which effectively observe and measure the 4-dimensional ocean variability, and the physical and biological response of coastal and shelf seas around Australia. Through a national science rationale IMOS is organized as five regional nodes (Western Australia - WAIMOS, South Australian - SAIMOS, Tasmania - TASIMOS, New SouthWales - NSWIMOS and Queensland - QIMOS) surrounded by an oceanic node (Blue Water and Climate). Operationally IMOS is organized as 11 facilities (Argo Australia, Ships of Opportunity, Southern Ocean Automated Time Series Observations, Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Facility, Australian National Mooring Network, Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network, Australian Acoustic Tagging and Monitoring System, Facility for Automated Intelligent Monitoring of Marine Systems, eMarine Information Infrastructure and Satellite Remote Sensing) delivering data. IMOS data is freely available to the public. The data, a combination of near real-time and delayed mode, are made available to researchers through the electronic Marine Information Infrastructure (eMII). eMII utilises the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNET) to support a distributed database on OPeNDAP/THREDDS servers hosted by regional computing centres. IMOS instruments are described through the OGC Specification SensorML and where-ever possible data is in CF compliant netCDF format. Metadata, conforming to standard ISO 19115, is automatically harvested from the netCDF files

What Will Science Gain From Mapping the World Ocean Floor?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakobsson, M.

2017-12-01

It is difficult to estimate how much of the World Ocean floor topography (bathymetry) that has been mapped. Estimates range from a few to more than ten percent of the World Ocean area. The most recent version of the bathymetric grid compiled by the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) has bathymetric control points in 18% of the 30 x 30 arc second large grid cells. The depth values for the rest of the cells are obtained through interpolation guided by satellite altimetry in deep water. With this statistic at hand, it seems tenable to suggest that there are many scientific discoveries to be made from a complete high-resolution mapping of the World Ocean floor. In this presentation, some of our recent scientific discoveries based on modern multibeam bathymetric mapping will be highlighted and discussed. For example, how multibeam mapping provided evidence for a km-thick ice shelf covering the entire Arctic Ocean during peak glacial conditions, a hypothesis proposed nearly half a century ago, and how groundwater escape features are visible in high-resolution bathymetry in the Baltic Sea, with potential implications for the freshwater budget and distribution of nutrients and pollutants. Presented examples will be placed in the context of mapping resolution, systematic surveys versus mapping along transits, and scientific hypothesis driven mapping versus ocean exploration. The newly announced Nippon Foundation - GEBCO Seabed 2030 project has the vision to map 100% of the World Ocean floor mapped by 2030. Are there specific scientific areas where we can expect new discoveries from all mapping data collected through the Seabed 2030 project? Are there outstanding hypothesis that can be tested from a fully mapped World Ocean floor?

Alterations in microbial community composition with increasing fCO2: a mesocosm study in the eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crawfurd, Katharine J.; Alvarez-Fernandez, Santiago; Mojica, Kristina D. A.; Riebesell, Ulf; Brussaard, Corina P. D.

2017-08-01

Ocean acidification resulting from the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) by the ocean is considered a major threat to marine ecosystems. Here we examined the effects of ocean acidification on microbial community dynamics in the eastern Baltic Sea during the summer of 2012 when inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus were strongly depleted. Large-volume in situ mesocosms were employed to mimic present, future and far future CO2 scenarios. All six groups of phytoplankton enumerated by flow cytometry ( < 20 µm cell diameter) showed distinct trends in net growth and abundance with CO2 enrichment. The picoeukaryotic phytoplankton groups Pico-I and Pico-II displayed enhanced abundances, whilst Pico-III, Synechococcus and the nanoeukaryotic phytoplankton groups were negatively affected by elevated fugacity of CO2 (fCO2). Specifically, the numerically dominant eukaryote, Pico-I, demonstrated increases in gross growth rate with increasing fCO2 sufficient to double its abundance. The dynamics of the prokaryote community closely followed trends in total algal biomass despite differential effects of fCO2 on algal groups. Similarly, viral abundances corresponded to prokaryotic host population dynamics. Viral lysis and grazing were both important in controlling microbial abundances. Overall our results point to a shift, with increasing fCO2, towards a more regenerative system with production dominated by small picoeukaryotic phytoplankton.

Historic changes in length distributions of three Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks: Evidence of growth retardation.

PubMed

Svedäng, Henrik; Hornborg, Sara

2017-08-01

Understanding how combinations of fishing effort and selectivity affect productivity is central to fisheries research. We investigate the roles of fishing regulation in comparison with ecosystem status for Baltic Sea cod stock productivity, growth performance, and population stability. This case study is interesting because three cod populations with different exploitation patterns and stock status are located in three adjacent but partially, ecologically different areas. In assessing stock status, growth, and productivity, we use survey information and rather basic stock parameters without relying on age readings. Because there is an urgent interest of better understanding of the current development of the Eastern Baltic cod stock, we argue that our approach represents partly a novel way of interpreting monitoring information together with catch data in a simplified yet more informative way. Our study reports how the Eastern and Western Baltic cod have gone toward more truncated size structures between 1991 and 2016, in particular for the Eastern Baltic cod, whereas the Öresund cod show no trend. We suggest that selective fishing may disrupt fish population dynamic stability and that lower natural productivity might amplify the effects of selective fishing. In support of earlier findings on a density-dependent growth of Eastern Baltic cod, management is advised to acknowledge that sustainable exploitation levels for Eastern Baltic cod are much more limited than perceived in regular assessments. Of more general importance, our results emphasize the need to embrace a more realistic view on what ecosystems can produce regarding tractable fish biomass to facilitate a more ecosystem-based fisheries management.

The genetic prehistory of the Baltic Sea region.

PubMed

Mittnik, Alissa; Wang, Chuan-Chao; Pfrengle, Saskia; Daubaras, Mantas; Zariņa, Gunita; Hallgren, Fredrik; Allmäe, Raili; Khartanovich, Valery; Moiseyev, Vyacheslav; Tõrv, Mari; Furtwängler, Anja; Andrades Valtueña, Aida; Feldman, Michal; Economou, Christos; Oinonen, Markku; Vasks, Andrejs; Balanovska, Elena; Reich, David; Jankauskas, Rimantas; Haak, Wolfgang; Schiffels, Stephan; Krause, Johannes

2018-01-30

While the series of events that shaped the transition between foraging societies and food producers are well described for Central and Southern Europe, genetic evidence from Northern Europe surrounding the Baltic Sea is still sparse. Here, we report genome-wide DNA data from 38 ancient North Europeans ranging from ~9500 to 2200 years before present. Our analysis provides genetic evidence that hunter-gatherers settled Scandinavia via two routes. We reveal that the first Scandinavian farmers derive their ancestry from Anatolia 1000 years earlier than previously demonstrated. The range of Mesolithic Western hunter-gatherers extended to the east of the Baltic Sea, where these populations persisted without gene-flow from Central European farmers during the Early and Middle Neolithic. The arrival of steppe pastoralists in the Late Neolithic introduced a major shift in economy and mediated the spread of a new ancestry associated with the Corded Ware Complex in Northern Europe.

Semantic Approaches Applied to Scientific Ocean Drilling Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fils, D.; Jenkins, C. J.; Arko, R. A.

2012-12-01

The application of Linked Open Data methods to 40 years of data from scientific ocean drilling is providing users with several new methods for rich-content data search and discovery. Data from the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have been translated and placed in RDF triple stores to provide access via SPARQL, linked open data patterns, and by embedded structured data through schema.org / RDFa. Existing search services have been re-encoded in this environment which allows the new and established architectures to be contrasted. Vocabularies including computed semantic relations between concepts, allow separate but related data sets to be connected on their concepts and resources even when they are expressed somewhat differently. Scientific ocean drilling produces a wide range of data types and data sets: borehole logging file-based data, images, measurements, visual observations and the physical sample data. The steps involved in connecting these data to concepts using vocabularies will be presented, including the connection of data sets through Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets (VoID) and open entity collections such as Freebase and dbPedia. Demonstrated examples will include: (i) using RDF Schema for inferencing and in federated searches across NGDC and IODP data, (ii) using structured data in the data.oceandrilling.org web site, (iii) association through semantic methods of age models and depth recorded data to facilitate age based searches for data recorded by depth only.

One hundred years of hydrographic measurements in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fonselius, Stig; Valderrama, Jorge

2003-06-01

The first measurements of salinity of the deep water in the open Baltic Sea were made in the last decades of the 1800s. At a Scandinavian science meeting in Copenhagen in 1892, Professor Otto Pettersson from Sweden suggested that regular measurements of hydrographic parameters should be carried out at some important deep stations in the Baltic Sea. His suggestion was adopted and since that time we have rather complete hydrographical data from the Bornholm Deep, the Gotland Deep, and the Landsort Deep and from some stations in the Gulf of Bothnia. The measurements were interrupted in the Baltic Proper during the two World Wars. At the beginning only salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen were measured and one or two expeditions were carried out annually, mostly in summer. In the 1920s also alkalinity and pH were occasionally measured and total carbonate was calculated. A few nutrient measurements were also carried out. After World War II we find results from four or more expeditions every year and intercalibration of methods was arranged. Results of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen measurements from the Bornholm Deep, the Gotland Deep, the Landsort Deep and salinity measurements from three stations in the Gulf of Bothnia, covering the whole 20th century are presented and discussed. The salinity distribution and the variations between oxygen and hydrogen sulphide periods in the deep water of the Gotland Deep and the Landsort Deep are demonstrated. Series of phosphate and nitrate distribution in the Gotland Deep are shown from the 1950s to the present and the effects of the stagnant conditions are briefly discussed. Two large inflows of highly saline water, the first during the First World War and the second in 1951, are demonstrated. The 20th century minimum salinity of the bottom water in the Baltic Proper in 1992 is discussed.

Ocean Drilling Program: Privacy Policy

Science.gov Websites

and products Drilling services and tools Online Janus database Search the ODP/TAMU web site ODP's main web site ODP/TAMU Science Operator Home Ocean Drilling Program Privacy Policy The following is the privacy policy for the www-odp.tamu.edu web site. 1. Cookies are used in the Database portion of the web

Organic carbon sequestration in coastal sediments across the Baltic Sea over the last 150 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryves, David; Lewis, Jonathan; Rasmussen, Peter; Weckström, Kaarina; Andrén, Elinor; Clarke, Annemarie; Andersen, Thorbjørn; Yang, Handong; Hietanen, Susanah; Jilbert, Tom; Aigars, Juris; Anderson, N. John

2017-04-01

Coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to impacts from changing marine conditions, which are increasingly being driven by human activity (e.g. nutrient cycling, salinity, hydrography, sea level, climate change). Recent research into the complex and dynamic cycling of carbon in many increasingly nutrient-enriched coastal systems has suggested that they have switched from being net C sources to net C sinks over the last 150 years. This study seeks to explore carbon sequestration rates over the last 150 years from several key regions across the coastal Baltic Sea by synthesising organic carbon (OC) inventories from multiple well-dated sedimentary records from Baltic coasts. Such data will provide insight into long-term coastal change and how terrestrial human impact is influencing the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Baltic Sea. To examine past and present rates of carbon burial in key coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, a synthesis of 30-40 sediment cores from across the Baltic Sea is presented here from Baltic Denmark, Germany, Latvia, western Sweden and southern Finland, and are primarily from near-shore and shallow fjord/estuarine sites. The majority of sites span the last 100-150 years and the majority (>75%) are independently dated using 210Pb. Unsupported 210Pb inventories also allow raw sedimentation rates to be corrected for sediment focussing, permitting regionally reliable estimates of OC accumulation rates to be calculated and provide a plausible basis for upscaling OC accumulation rates within these key regions of the Baltic. Preliminary data analyses suggest a major step-change in system behaviour during the 20th century following low, stable ( 10 g OC m-2 yr-1 focussing corrected, OCFC) rates pre-1900. The initial rise in burial rates occurs early in the 1900s though is punctuated by a slight fall during the 1930s/1940s. After 1950, burial rates dramatically rise (consistently up to 45 g OCFC m-2 yr-1; 4 x pre-1900 rates), a pattern which is repeated

An update to the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT version 2)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakker, D. C. E.; Pfeil, B.; Smith, K.; Hankin, S.; Olsen, A.; Alin, S. R.; Cosca, C.; Harasawa, S.; Kozyr, A.; Nojiri, Y.; O'Brien, K. M.; Schuster, U.; Telszewski, M.; Tilbrook, B.; Wada, C.; Akl, J.; Barbero, L.; Bates, N.; Boutin, J.; Cai, W.-J.; Castle, R. D.; Chavez, F. P.; Chen, L.; Chierici, M.; Currie, K.; de Baar, H. J. W.; Evans, W.; Feely, R. A.; Fransson, A.; Gao, Z.; Hales, B.; Hardman-Mountford, N.; Hoppema, M.; Huang, W.-J.; Hunt, C. W.; Huss, B.; Ichikawa, T.; Johannessen, T.; Jones, E. M.; Jones, S. D.; Jutterström, S.; Kitidis, V.; Körtzinger, A.; Landschtzer, P.; Lauvset, S. K.; Lefèvre, N.; Manke, A. B.; Mathis, J. T.; Merlivat, L.; Metzl, N.; Murata, A.; Newberger, T.; Ono, T.; Park, G.-H.; Paterson, K.; Pierrot, D.; Ríos, A. F.; Sabine, C. L.; Saito, S.; Salisbury, J.; Sarma, V. V. S. S.; Schlitzer, R.; Sieger, R.; Skjelvan, I.; Steinhoff, T.; Sullivan, K.; Sun, H.; Sutton, A. J.; Suzuki, T.; Sweeney, C.; Takahashi, T.; Tjiputra, J.; Tsurushima, N.; van Heuven, S. M. A. C.; Vandemark, D.; Vlahos, P.; Wallace, D. W. R.; Wanninkhof, R.; Watson, A. J.

2013-08-01

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is an effort by the international marine carbon research community. It aims to improve access to carbon dioxide measurements in the surface oceans by regular releases of quality controlled and fully documented synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products. SOCAT version 2 presented here extends the data set for the global oceans and coastal seas by four years and has 10.1 million surface water fCO2 values from 2660 cruises between 1968 and 2011. The procedures for creating version 2 have been comparable to those for version 1. The SOCAT website (www.socat.info/"target="_blank">http://www.socat.info/) provides access to the individual cruise data files, as well as to the synthesis and gridded data products. Interactive online tools allow visitors to explore the richness of the data. Scientific users can also retrieve the data as downloadable files or via Ocean Data View. Version 2 enables carbon specialists to expand their studies until 2011. Applications of SOCAT include process studies, quantification of the ocean carbon sink and its spatial, seasonal, year-to-year and longer-term variation, as well as initialisation or validation of ocean carbon models and coupled-climate carbon models.

International Ocean Discovery Program U.S. Implementing Organization

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coordinates seagoing expeditions to study the history of the Earth recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the Internship :: Minorities in Scientific Ocean Drilling Fellowship Education Deep Earth Academy logo :: joidesresolution.org :: For students :: For teachers :: For scientists :: View drill sites in Google Earth Export

78 FR 25532 - Requested Administrative Waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws: Vessel OCEAN JEDI; Invitation for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-01

... Administrative Waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws: Vessel OCEAN JEDI; Invitation for Public Comments AGENCY... entered into this docket is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.regulations.gov . FOR FURTHER... OCEAN JEDI is: Intended Commercial Use Of Vessel: ``The intended commercial use of Ocean Jedi is to...

A model assessment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran sources and fate in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Armitage, James M; McLachlan, Michael S; Wiberg, Karin; Jonsson, Per

2009-06-01

The contamination of the Baltic Sea with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) has resulted in restrictions on the marketing and consumption of Baltic Sea fish, making this a priority environmental issue in the European Union. To date there is no consensus on the relative importance of different sources of PCDD/Fs to the Baltic Sea, and hence no consensus on how to address this issue. In this work we synthesized the available information to create a PCDD/F budget for the Baltic Sea, focusing on the two largest basins, the Bothnian Sea and the Baltic Proper. The non-steady state multimedia fate and transport model POPCYCLING-Baltic was employed, using recent data for PCDD/F concentrations in air and sediment as boundary conditions. The PCDD/F concentrations in water predicted by the model were in good agreement with recent measurements. The budget demonstrated that atmospheric deposition was the dominant source of PCDD/Fs to the basins as a whole. This conclusion was supported by a statistical comparison of the PCDD/F congener patterns in surface sediments from accumulation bottoms with the patterns in ambient air, bulk atmospheric deposition, and a range of potential industrial sources. Prospective model simulations indicated that the PCDD/F concentrations in the water column will continue to decrease in the coming years due to the slow response of the Baltic Sea system to falling PCDD/F inputs in the last decades, but that the decrease would be more pronounced if ambient air concentrations were to drop further in the future, for instance as a result of reduced emissions. The study illustrates the usefulness of using monitoring data and multimedia models in an integrated fashion to address complex organic contaminant issues.

Seabed geodiversity in a glaciated shelf area, the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaskela, Anu Marii; Kotilainen, Aarno Tapio

2017-10-01

Geodiversity describes the heterogeneity of the physical terrain. We have performed basin-wide geodiversity analysis on a glaciated epicontinental seabed to assess geodiversity measures and patterns, locate areas with high geodiversity, and draw conclusions on contributing processes. Geodiversity quantification is a rather new topic and is mainly practiced in land areas. We applied geodiversity methods developed for terrestrial studies to a seabed environment. Three geodiversity parameters, including the richness, patchiness, and geodiversity index, of the Baltic Sea were assessed in a GIS environment based on broad-scale datasets on seabed substrates, structures, and bedrock. A set of environmental and geological variables, which were considered to reflect geological processes under seabed conditions, were compared with the geodiversity to identify some of its drivers. We observed differences in the geodiversity levels of the Baltic subbasins, which are mainly due to basement type/bedrock, roughness, shore density, and glacier-derived processes. The geodiversity of the Baltic Sea generally increases from South to North and from open-sea to high-shore density areas (archipelagos). Crystalline bedrock areas provide more diverse seabed environments than sedimentary rock areas. The analysis helps to inform scientists, marine spatial planners, and managers about abiotic conservation values, the dynamics of the seabed environment, and potential areas with elevated biodiversity.

URI's ARMADA Research Experience Leads to Inspiring Middle School Students to Become Ocean Stewards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrett, M.

2010-12-01

After spending three weeks aboard NOAA’s David Starr Jordon, my classroom has come alive with ocean life. My research experience was part of URI’s ARMADA project. I worked alongside scientists as they conducted ‘business as usual’ on the CSCAPE expedition. CSCAPE’s mission was to survey the cetacean abundance in the Pacific Ocean. My leg of the voyage took us as far out as 300 nautical miles from the coast and from points between Newport, Oregon and San Francisco, California. Throughout the three weeks, I learned with the best of them how cetaceans are identified, photographed, counted, and biopsied. This 2005 research experience is still with me today in the classroom. I have created a “Bring the Sea to Me” program in which my middle school students teach elementary students about ocean life. My students also use video footage and photographs from my expedition to create wildlife documentaries shown at our annual Film Festival. My students have also worked with engineering students from a local university to create a life-size fin whale, which travels with us on our teaching trips, and I have since purchased a 100-gallon touch tank to give the students a hands-on experience with the organisms we collect while seining along the New Jersey coast. The science I learned while on the Jordan has allowed me to teach my students how cetaceans are surveyed, how to identify cetaceans by their blows and dorsal fins, and how to identify individuals within a species. Survey graphs are interpreted and conclusions are drawn. The students also see the importance of writing in science when they explore my journals from the expedition (www.armadaproject.org/journals/2005-2006/barrett/barrett-8-21.htm). My participation in CSCAPE inspired me beyond belief, and I can only hope that my enthusiasm for the ocean is inspiring students to become stewards of our oceans.

Use of existing hydrographic infrastructure to forecast the environmental spawning conditions for Eastern Baltic cod.

PubMed

von Dewitz, Burkhard; Tamm, Susanne; Höflich, Katharina; Voss, Rüdiger; Hinrichsen, Hans-Harald

2018-01-01

The semi-enclosed nature and estuarine characteristics, together with its strongly alternating bathymetry, make the Baltic Sea prone to much stronger interannual variations in the abiotic environment, than other spawning habitats of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Processes determining salinity and oxygen conditions in the basins are influenced both by long term gradual climate change, e.g. global warming, but also by short-term meteorological variations and events. Specifically one main factor influencing cod spawning conditions, the advection of highly saline and well-oxygenated water masses from the North Sea, is observed in irregular frequencies and causes strong interannual variations in stock productivity. This study investigates the possibility to use the available hydrographic process knowledge to predict the annual spawning conditions for Eastern Baltic cod in its most important spawning ground, the Bornholm Basin, only by salinity measurements from a specific location in the western Baltic. Such a prediction could serve as an environmental early warning indicator to inform stock assessment and management. Here we used a hydrodynamic model to hindcast hydrographic property fields for the last 40+ years. High and significant correlations were found for months early in the year between the 33m salinity level in the Arkona Basin and the oxygen-dependent cod spawning environment in the Bornholm Basin. Direct prediction of the Eastern Baltic cod egg survival in the Bornholm Basin based on salinity values in the Arkona Basin at the 33 m depth level is shown to be possible for eggs spawned by mid-age and young females, which currently predominate the stock structure. We recommend to routinely perform short-term predictions of the Eastern Baltic cod spawning environment, in order to generate environmental information highly relevant for stock dynamics. Our statistical approach offers the opportunity to make best use of permanently existing infrastructure in the

Use of existing hydrographic infrastructure to forecast the environmental spawning conditions for Eastern Baltic cod

PubMed Central

Tamm, Susanne; Höflich, Katharina; Voss, Rüdiger; Hinrichsen, Hans-Harald

2018-01-01

The semi-enclosed nature and estuarine characteristics, together with its strongly alternating bathymetry, make the Baltic Sea prone to much stronger interannual variations in the abiotic environment, than other spawning habitats of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Processes determining salinity and oxygen conditions in the basins are influenced both by long term gradual climate change, e.g. global warming, but also by short-term meteorological variations and events. Specifically one main factor influencing cod spawning conditions, the advection of highly saline and well-oxygenated water masses from the North Sea, is observed in irregular frequencies and causes strong interannual variations in stock productivity. This study investigates the possibility to use the available hydrographic process knowledge to predict the annual spawning conditions for Eastern Baltic cod in its most important spawning ground, the Bornholm Basin, only by salinity measurements from a specific location in the western Baltic. Such a prediction could serve as an environmental early warning indicator to inform stock assessment and management. Here we used a hydrodynamic model to hindcast hydrographic property fields for the last 40+ years. High and significant correlations were found for months early in the year between the 33m salinity level in the Arkona Basin and the oxygen-dependent cod spawning environment in the Bornholm Basin. Direct prediction of the Eastern Baltic cod egg survival in the Bornholm Basin based on salinity values in the Arkona Basin at the 33 m depth level is shown to be possible for eggs spawned by mid-age and young females, which currently predominate the stock structure. We recommend to routinely perform short-term predictions of the Eastern Baltic cod spawning environment, in order to generate environmental information highly relevant for stock dynamics. Our statistical approach offers the opportunity to make best use of permanently existing infrastructure in the

Attracting Doctoral Students: Case of Baltic Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tarvid, Alexander

2017-01-01

Purpose: In the context of falling demand for higher education and, in particular, doctoral studies, it is important to understand how to attract new students. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the decision-making process the PhD students of Baltic universities followed when choosing whether to continue their education at…

Modelling Potential Consequences of Different Geo-Engineering Treatments for the Baltic Sea Ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schrum, C.; Daewel, U.

2017-12-01

From 1950 onwards, the Baltic Sea ecosystem suffered increasingly from eutrophication. The most obvious reason for the eutrophication is the huge amount of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) reaching the Baltic Sea from human activities. However, although nutrient loads have been decreasing since 1980, the hypoxic areas have not decreased accordingly. Thus, geo-engineering projects were discussed and evaluated to artificially ventilate the Baltic Sea deep water and suppress nutrient release from the sediments. Here, we aim at understanding the consequences of proposed geo-engineering projects in the Baltic Sea using long-term scenario modelling. For that purpose, we utilize a 3d coupled ecosystem model ECOSMO E2E, a novel NPZD-Fish model approach that resolves hydrodynamics, biogeochemical cycling and lower and higher trophic level dynamics. We performed scenario modelling that consider proposed geo-engineering projects such as artificial ventilation of Baltic Sea deep waters and phosphorus binding in sediments with polyaluminium chlorides. The model indicates that deep-water ventilation indeed suppresses phosphorus release in the first 1-4 years of treatment. Thereafter macrobenthos repopulates the formerly anoxic bottom regions and nutrients are increasingly recycled in the food web. Consequently, overall system productivity and fish biomass increases and toxic algae blooms decrease. However, deep-water ventilation has no long-lasting effect on the ecosystem: soon after completion of the ventilation process, the system turns back into its original state. Artificial phosphorus binding in sediments in contrast decreases overall ecosystem productivity through permanent removal of phosphorus. As expected it decreases bacterial production and toxic algae blooms, but it also decreases fish production substantially. Contrastingly to deep water ventilation, artificial phosphorus binding show a long-lasting effect over decades after termination of the treatment.

Management-focused approach to investigating coastal water-quality drivers and impacts in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vigouroux, G.; Destouni, G.; Chen, Y.; Bring, A.; Jönsson, A.; Cvetkovic, V.

2017-12-01

Coastal areas link human-driven conditions on land with open sea conditions, and include crucial and vulnerable ecosystems that provide a variety of ecosystem services. Eutrophication is a common problem that is not least observed in the Baltic Sea, where coastal water quality is influenced both by land-based nutrient loading and by partly eutrophic open sea conditions. Robust and adaptive management of coastal systems is essential and necessitates integration of large scale catchment-coastal-marine systems as well as consideration of anthropogenic drivers and impacts, and climate change. To address this coastal challenge, relevant methodological approaches are required for characterization of coupled land, local coastal, and open sea conditions under an adaptive management framework for water quality. In this paper we present a new general and scalable dynamic characterization approach, developed for and applied to the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas. A simple carbon-based water quality model is implemented, dividing the Baltic Sea into main management basins that are linked to corresponding hydrological catchments on land, as well as to each other though aggregated three-dimensional marine hydrodynamics. Relevant hydrodynamic variables and associated water quality results have been validated on the Baltic Sea scale and show good accordance with available observation data and other modelling approaches. Based on its scalability, this methodology is further used on coastal zone scale to investigate the effects of hydrodynamic, hydro-climatic and nutrient load drivers on water quality and management implications for coastal areas in the Baltic Sea.

The Seamount Catalog in EarthRef.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gotberg, N. K.; Koppers, A. A.; Staudigel, H.; Perez, J.

2004-12-01

Seamounts are important to research and education in many scientific fields, providing a wide range of data on physical, chemical, biological and geological processes. In order to make a diverse set of seamount data accessible we have developed the Seamount Catalog in EarthRef.org, available through the http://earthref.org/databases/SC/. The primary goal of the Seamount Catalog is to provide access to digital data files on a large assortment of interdisciplinary seamount research. The catalog can be searched at a variety of ability or expert levels allowing it to be used from basic education to advanced research. Each seamount is described in terms of its location, height, volume, elongation, azimuth, irregularity, rifts, morphological classification and relation to other features. GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean) gazetteer data (2002; 2003) is included in the database in order to provide information on the history, discovery and names of the seamounts. Screen-optimized bathymetry maps, grid files and the original multibeam data files are available for online viewing with higher resolution downloadable versions (AI, PS, PDF) also offered. The data files for each seamount include a map made from the multibeam data only, a map made from Smith and Sandwell's (1996) predicted bathymetry, a merged map incorporating both data sets, and a map showing the differences between the two data sets. We are working towards expanding the Seamount Catalog by integrating bathymetry data from various sources, developing and linking disciplinary reference models, and integrating information from multiple disciplines and from the literature. We hope to create a data integrative environment that provides access to seamount data and the tools needed for working with that data.

Determining Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene deglaciation of the Baltic Ice Lake through sedimentological core sample analysis of IODP Site M0064

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, A. L.; Passchier, S.

2016-12-01

This study investigates the deglaciation history of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) within the Baltic Sea's Hanö Bay from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene using samples from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site M0064. The research aims to understand how the speed of deglaciation influences Baltic Ice Lake (BIL) drainage patterns and relative sea level changes on a high-resolution timescale. Glacial history of the SIS has been studied through glacial till analysis, surface exposure dating, and modeling, encompassing its most recent deglaciation 20-14ka BP, and suggests ice retreated from the project site 16.7ka BP. Between 17 and 14ka BP global sea level rose 4 meters per century, accompanied by a dramatic increase in atmospheric carbon. This period of rapid sea level rise and global warming is a valuable analog for understanding the Earth's current and projected climate. This project uses particle size analysis to better understand the late-glacial depositional environment in Hanö Bay, and ICP-OES geochemical analysis for evidence pertaining to changing sediment provenance and bottom water oxygenation in the BIL. Diamicton is present between 47 and 9 mbsf in Hole M0064D. At 8 mbsf, the sediment exhibits a prominent upward transition from well-laminated cm-scale grey to more thinly laminated reddish brown rhythmites. With calculated Al/Ti ratios, we find that there is not much provenance change in the sequence, however we see fluctuations in Mn/Al ratios, implying shifts in sediment color may be chemical, possibly indicating redox changes in the water column during sediment deposition. Although we find that particle size in the varve sequence does not change, this factor may be driving chemical fluctuations in the diamicton. These results increase the understanding of ice retreat, paleocirculation and relative sea level changes in the Baltic Sea at the onset of the last deglaciation.

High-resolution measurements of elemental mercury in surface water for an improved quantitative understanding of the Baltic Sea as a source of atmospheric mercury

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuss, Joachim; Krüger, Siegfried; Ruickoldt, Johann; Wlost, Klaus-Peter

2018-03-01

Marginal seas are directly subjected to anthropogenic and natural influences from land in addition to receiving inputs from the atmosphere and open ocean. Together these lead to pronounced gradients and strong dynamic changes. However, in the case of mercury emissions from these seas, estimates often fail to adequately account for the spatial and temporal variability of the elemental mercury concentration in surface water (Hg0wat). In this study, a method to measure Hg0wat at high resolution was devised and subsequently validated. The better-resolved Hg0wat dataset, consisting of about one measurement per nautical mile, yielded insight into the sea's small-scale variability and thus improved the quantification of the sea's Hg0 emission. This is important because global marine Hg0 emissions constitute a major source of atmospheric mercury. Research campaigns in the Baltic Sea were carried out between 2011 and 2015 during which Hg0 both in surface water and in ambient air were measured. For the former, two types of equilibrators were used. A membrane equilibrator enabled continuous equilibration and a bottle equilibrator assured that equilibrium was reached for validation. The measurements were combined with data obtained in the Baltic Sea in 2006 from a bottle equilibrator only. The Hg0 sea-air flux was newly calculated with the combined dataset based on current knowledge of the Hg0 Schmidt number, Henry's law constant, and a widely used gas exchange transfer velocity parameterization. By using a newly developed pump-CTD with increased pumping capability in the Hg0 equilibrator measurements, Hg0wat could also be characterized in deeper water layers. A process study carried out near the Swedish island Øland in August 2015 showed that the upwelling of Hg0-depleted water contributed to Hg0 emissions of the Baltic Sea. However, a delay of a few days after contact between the upwelled water and light was apparently necessary before the biotic and abiotic transformations

The new diatom training set from the Polish Baltic coast and diatom-based transfer functions as a tool for understanding past changes in the southern Baltic coastal lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutyńska, Monika; Szpikowska, Grażyna; Woszczyk, Michał; Suchińska, Anita; Burchardt, Lubomira; Messyasz, Beata

2014-05-01

The transfer function method has been developed as a useful tool for reconstruction of the past environmental changes. It is based on the assumption that the modern species, which ecological requirements are known, can be used to quantitative reconstructions of the past changes. The aim of the study was to gather test sets and to build diatom-based transfer function, which can be used to reconstruct changes in the trophic state and salinity in the coastal lakes on the Polish Baltic coast. In the previous years there were several attempts made to reconstruct these parameters in lagoonal waters on the Baltic coasts in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Netherland, Sweden and Norway. But so far there is no diatom test set and transfer function was built for the Polish coastal lakes. We sample diatoms form 12 lakes located along the polish Baltic coast. At the same time we monitor the physical-chemical conditions in the lakes, which includes lake water chemical composition (chlorides, phosphorous and sulphur), pH, salinity, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen. We collect samples form the lakes as well as from the Baltic Sea and we analyse the whole phytoplankton composition, however the special focus in put on diatoms. The results of the analysis show seasonal changes in the chemical and physical water properties. The diatom assemblage composition and species frequency also changed significantly. This study is a contribution to the projects: NN 306 064 640 financed by National Science Centre, Poland and Virtual Institute ICLEA (Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution Analysis) funded by the Helmholtz Association.

Hydrolysis of Baltic amber during thermal ageing--an infrared spectroscopic approach.

PubMed

Pastorelli, Gianluca; Shashoua, Yvonne; Richter, Jane

2013-04-01

To enable conservation of amber in museums, understanding of chemical changes is crucial. While oxidation has been investigated particularly well for this natural polymer, further degradation phenomena in relation to humidity and pollutants are poorly studied or still unknown. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was explored with regard to Baltic amber. A systematic spectroscopic survey of a wide range of thermally aged model amber samples, exposed to different microclimatic conditions, showed significant changes in their spectra. Samples aged in a humid and acidic environment or exposed to a humid and alkaline atmosphere generally exhibited a higher absorbance intensity of carbonyl groups at frequencies assigned to acids than unaged samples, samples aged in drier conditions and samples immersed in an alkaline solution. Baltic amber comprises succinate ester, which may be hydrolysed into communol and succinic acid. The survey thus provided evidence about the progress of hydrolytic reactions during degradation of Baltic amber. Infrared spectroscopy was shown to have significant potential for providing qualitative and quantitative chemical information on hydrolysis of amber, which will be of interest for the development of preventive conservation techniques for museum collections of amber objects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A gilled mushroom, Gerontomyces lepidotus gen. et sp. nov. (Basidiomycota: Agaricales), in Baltic amber.

PubMed

Poinar, George

2016-09-01

A densely scaled small mushroom in Baltic amber is described as Gerontomyces lepidotus gen. et sp. nov. and is characterized by a convex pileus 1.0 mm in diameter, distant to subdistant lamellae with smooth margins and a centrally inserted cylindrical, solid stipe. Its taxonomic placement is uncertain. This is the first mushroom described from Baltic amber. Copyright © 2016 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extreme Statistics of Storm Surges in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulikov, E. A.; Medvedev, I. P.

2017-11-01

Statistical analysis of the extreme values of the Baltic Sea level has been performed for a series of observations for 15-125 years at 13 tide gauge stations. It is shown that the empirical relation between value of extreme sea level rises or ebbs (caused by storm events) and its return period in the Baltic Sea can be well approximated by the Gumbel probability distribution. The maximum values of extreme floods/ebbs of the 100-year recurrence were observed in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga. The two longest data series, observed in Stockholm and Vyborg over 125 years, have shown a significant deviation from the Gumbel distribution for the rarest events. Statistical analysis of the hourly sea level data series reveals some asymmetry in the variability of the Baltic Sea level. The probability of rises proved higher than that of ebbs. As for the magnitude of the 100-year recurrence surge, it considerably exceeded the magnitude of ebbs almost everywhere. This asymmetry effect can be attributed to the influence of low atmospheric pressure during storms. A statistical study of extreme values has also been applied to sea level series for Narva over the period of 1994-2000, which were simulated by the ROMS numerical model. Comparisons of the "simulated" and "observed" extreme sea level distributions show that the model reproduces quite satisfactorily extreme floods of "moderate" magnitude; however, it underestimates sea level changes for the most powerful storm surges.

Maritime Geostrategy and the Development of the Chinese Navy in the Early Twenty-First Century

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

海军兵力部署与基地体系示意 图” [A Schematic Diagram of the U.S. Naval Forces Deployed and System of Bases in the Western Pacific], 舰船 知 识 [Naval & Mer- chant Ships...available at www.isa.org.jm/ en/default.htm; 李尚诣 [Li Shangyi], “认 知 海洋, 开发海洋” [Know the Ocean, Develop the Ocean], 矿冶工程 [Mining and Metallurgical

Chemical physiological and morphological studies of feral baltic salmon (Salmo salar) suffering from abnormal fry mortality

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Norrgren, L.; Andersson, T.; Bergqvist, P.A.

In 1974, abnormally high mortality was recorded among yolk-sac fry of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar) originating from feral females manually stripped and fertilized with milt from feral males. The cause of this mortality, designated M74, is unknown. The hypothesis is that xenobiotic compounds responsible for reproduction failure in higher vertebrates in the Baltic Sea also interfere with reproduction in Baltic salmon. The significance of M74 should not be underestimated, because the syndrome has caused up to 75% yearly mortality of developing Baltic salmon yolk-sac larvae in a fish hatchery dedicated to production of smolt during the last two decades. Themore » author cannot exclude the possibility that only a relatively low number of naturally spawned eggs develop normally because of M74. No individual pollutant has been shown to be responsible for the development of M74 syndrome. However, a higher total body burden of organochlorine substances may be responsible for the M74 syndrome. The presence of induced hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes in both yolk-sac fry suffering from M74 and adult feral females producing offspring affected by M74 supports this hypothesis. In addition, the P450 enzyme activity in offspring from feral fish is higher than the activity in yolk-sac fry from hatchery-raised fish, suggesting that feral Baltic salmon are influenced by organic xenobiotics.« less

Saduria entomon infected with Hysterothylacium aduncum found in situ in the stomach of cod (Gadus morhua) from the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Pawlak, J; Nadolna-Ałtyn, K; Szostakowska, B; Pachur, M; Podolska, M

2017-10-12

The parasite fauna of cod (Gadus morhus) is well described, but the life cycles of Baltic cod parasites are known only in general terms. Invertebrates commonly found in the stomach of cod are recognized as intermediate hosts in the life cycles of nematodes or acanthocephalans. The aim of this study was to determine the source of infection of Baltic cod with parasites found in situ in invertebrates present in the cod stomach. Our results indicate that Saduria entomon is both a source of infection of Baltic cod with parasites and an intermediate host in the life cycle of Hysterothylacium aduncum in the Baltic Sea.

Hot and Cold Ethnicities in the Baltic States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehala, Martin; Zabrodskaja, Anastassia

2014-01-01

The article discusses the temperatures of the main ethnic groups in the Baltic states: Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and their three Russian-speaking communities, and the Latgalian and Polish minority groups in Latvia and Lithuania, respectively. The study uses a triangulated methodology that includes a survey questionnaire for quantitative…

Turbulence structure of the marine stable boundary layer over the Baltic Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smedman, A.S.; Hoegstroem, U.

For more than half of the year the land surfaces surrounding the Baltic Sea is warmer than the sea surface, and the marine boundary layer over the Baltic is stable. Observations, at various sites in the Baltic Sea area during the last decade. also indicate frequent occurrence of low-level jets at the top of the stable boundary layer. In many cases the marine jet can be considered as an analogy in space to the evolution of the nocturnal jet with time. The frictional decoupling occurs when warm air over the land is flowing out over the sea. Data from twomore » areas together with model simulations are used in this study to characterize turbulence structure in the marine boundary layer. The measurements include profiles of wind and temperature on towers situated at two isolated islands, together with turbulence recordings and aircraft measurements. Also wave height and water surface temperature have been measured. The model simulations are performed with a second-order closure model.« less

The Nautilus Exploration Program: Utilizing Live Ocean Exploration as a Platform for STEM Education and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fundis, A.; Cook, M.; Sutton, K.; Garson, S.; Poulton, S.; Munro, S.

2016-02-01

By sparking interest in scientific inquiry and engineering design at a young age through exposure to ocean exploration and innovative technologies, and building on that interest throughout students' educational careers, the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) aims to motivate more students to be lifelong learners and pursue careers in STEM fields. Utilizing research conducted aboard Exploration Vessel Nautilus, the ship's associated technologies, and shore-based facilities at the University of Rhode Island — including the Graduate School of Oceanography and the Inner Space Center — we guide students to early career professionals through a series of educational programs focused on STEM disciplines and vocational skills. OET also raises public awareness of ocean exploration and research through a growing online presence, live streaming video, and interactions with the team aboard the ship 24 hours a day via the Nautilus Live website (www.nautiluslive.org). Annually, our outreach efforts bring research launched from Nautilus to tens of millions worldwide and allow the public, students, and scientists to participate in expeditions virtually from shore. We share the Nautilus Exploration Program's strategies, successes, and lessons learned for a variety of our education and outreach efforts including: 1) enabling global audiences access to live ocean exploration online and via social media; 2) engaging onshore audiences in live and interactive conversations with scientists and engineers on board; 3) engaging young K-12 learners in current oceanographic research via newly developed lessons and curricula; 4) onshore and offshore professional development opportunities for formal and informal educators; 5) programs and authentic research opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students onshore and aboard Nautilus; and 6) collaborative opportunities for early career and seasoned researchers to participate virtually in telepresence-enabled, interdisciplinary

Valuing the commons: An international study on the recreational benefits of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Czajkowski, Mikołaj; Ahtiainen, Heini; Artell, Janne; Budziński, Wiktor; Hasler, Berit; Hasselström, Linus; Meyerhoff, Jürgen; Nõmmann, Tea; Semeniene, Daiva; Söderqvist, Tore; Tuhkanen, Heidi; Lankia, Tuija; Vanags, Alf; Zandersen, Marianne; Żylicz, Tomasz; Hanley, Nick

2015-06-01

The Baltic Sea provides benefits to all of the nine nations along its coastline, with some 85 million people living within the catchment area. Achieving improvements in water quality requires international cooperation. The likelihood of effective cooperation is known to depend on the distribution across countries of the benefits and costs of actions needed to improve water quality. In this paper, we estimate the benefits associated with recreational use of the Baltic Sea in current environmental conditions using a travel cost approach, based on data from a large, standardized survey of households in each of the 9 Baltic Sea states. Both the probability of engaging in recreation (participation) and the number of visits people make are modeled. A large variation in the number of trips and the extent of participation is found, along with large differences in current annual economic benefits from Baltic Sea recreation. The total annual recreation benefits are close to 15 billion EUR. Under a water quality improvement scenario, the proportional increases in benefits range from 7 to 18% of the current annual benefits across countries. Depending on how the costs of actions are distributed, this could imply difficulties in achieving more international cooperation to achieve such improvements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disentangling the impact of nutrient load and climate changes on Baltic Sea hypoxia and eutrophication since 1850

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, H. E. M.; Eilola, K.; Almroth-Rosell, E.; Schimanke, S.; Kniebusch, M.; Höglund, A.; Pemberton, P.; Liu, Y.; Väli, G.; Saraiva, S.

2018-06-01

In the Baltic Sea hypoxia has been increased considerably since the first oxygen measurements became available in 1898. In 2016 the annual maximum extent of hypoxia covered an area of the sea bottom of about 70,000 km2, comparable with the size of Ireland, whereas 150 years ago hypoxia was presumably not existent or at least very small. The general view is that the increase in hypoxia was caused by eutrophication due to anthropogenic riverborne nutrient loads. However, the role of changing climate, e.g. warming, is less clear. In this study, different causes of expanding hypoxia were investigated. A reconstruction of the changing Baltic Sea ecosystem during the period 1850-2008 was performed using a coupled physical-biogeochemical ocean circulation model. To disentangle the drivers of eutrophication and hypoxia a series of sensitivity experiments was carried out. We found that the decadal to centennial changes in eutrophication and hypoxia were mainly caused by changing riverborne nutrient loads and atmospheric deposition. The impacts of other drivers like observed warming and eustatic sea level rise were comparatively smaller but still important depending on the selected ecosystem indicator. Further, (1) fictively combined changes in air temperature, cloudiness and mixed layer depth chosen from 1904, (2) exaggerated increases in nutrient concentrations in the North Sea and (3) high-end scenarios of future sea level rise may have an important impact. However, during the past 150 years hypoxia would not have been developed if nutrient conditions had remained at pristine levels.

The nutrient load from food waste generated onboard ships in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Wilewska-Bien, Magda; Granhag, Lena; Andersson, Karin

2016-04-15

The combination of the sensitive characteristics of the Baltic Sea and the intense maritime traffic makes the marine environment vulnerable to anthropogenic influences. The theoretical scenario calculated in this study shows that the annually generated food waste onboard ships in traffic in the Baltic Sea contains about 182tonnes of nitrogen and 34tonnes of phosphorus. Today, all food waste generated onboard can be legally discharged into the marine environment at a distance of 12NM from the nearest land. The annual load of nitrogen contained in the food waste corresponds to 52% of load of nitrogen from the ship-generated sewage. Future regulations for sewage discharge in the Baltic Sea will require significant reduction of total nitrogen and phosphorus released. The contribution of nutrients from food waste compared to sewage will therefore be relatively larger in the future, if food waste still can be legally discharged. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The EuroSITES network: Integrating and enhancing fixed-point open ocean observatories around Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lampitt, Richard S.; Larkin, Kate E.; EuroSITES Consortium

2010-05-01

EuroSITES is a 3 year (2008-2011) EU collaborative project (3.5MEuro) with the objective to integrate and enhance the nine existing open ocean fixed point observatories around Europe (www.eurosites.info). These observatories are primarily composed of full depth moorings and make multidisciplinary in situ observations within the water column as the European contribution to the global array OceanSITES (www.oceansites.org). In the first 18 months, all 9 observatories have been active and integration has been significant through the maintenance and enhancement of observatory hardware. Highlights include the enhancement of observatories with sensors to measure O2, pCO2, chlorophyll, and nitrate in near real-time from the upper 1000 m. In addition, some seafloor missions are also actively supported. These include seafloor platforms currently deployed in the Mediterranean, one for tsunami detection and one to monitor fluid flow related to seismic activity and slope stability. Upcoming seafloor science missions in 2010 include monitoring benthic biological communities and associated biogeochemistry as indicators of climate change in both the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean. EuroSITES also promotes the development of innovative sensors and samplers in order to progress capability to measure climate-relevant properties of the ocean. These include further developing current technologies for autonomous long-term monitoring of oxygen consumption in the mesopelagic, pH and mesozooplankton abundance. Many of these science missions are directly related to complementary activities in other European projects such as EPOCA, HYPOX and ESONET. In 2010 a direct collaboration including in situ field work will take place between ESONET and EuroSITES. The demonstration mission MODOO (funded by ESONET) will be implemented in 2010 at the EuroSITES PAP observatory. Field work will include deployment of a seafloor lander system with various sensors which will send data to shore in real

Major Environmental Issues of the Baltic Sea and Science Based Decision Support Strategies towards an Improved Environmental Status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Humborg, C.

2017-12-01

The Baltic Sea is especially susceptible to multiple human impacts due to its estuarine mixing patterns and long water residence times. Temporally and spatially, it is one of the best investigated marginal seas worldwide allowing for a deep knowledge of natural and human processes forming this unique brackish ecosystem. In this presentation, we shortly summarize the physical, biogeochemical and ecological settings of the Baltic Sea and address major human drivers and pressures threatening its ecosystem. Further, we summarize the scientific and political efforts that led to the formulation of Baltic Sea Action Plan, a milestone for eutrophication management and European environmental governance. Further, we summarize the efforts and societal pitfalls towards an Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management, strategies to decrease loads of environmental pollutants and management of marine biodiversity/habitat issues in the unique Baltic Sea context.

Ctenophore population recruits entirely through larval reproduction in the central Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Jaspers, Cornelia; Haraldsson, Matilda; Bolte, Sören; Reusch, Thorsten B H; Thygesen, Uffe H; Kiørboe, Thomas

2012-10-23

The comb jelly Mertensia ovum, widely distributed in Arctic regions, has recently been discovered in the northern Baltic Sea. We show that M. ovum also exists in the central Baltic but that the population consists solely of small-sized larvae (less than 1.6 mm). Despite the absence of adults, eggs were abundant. Experiments revealed that the larvae were reproductively active. Egg production and anticipated mortality rates suggest a self-sustaining population. This is the first account of a ctenophore population entirely recruiting through larval reproduction (paedogenesis). We hypothesize that early reproduction is favoured over growth to compensate for high predation pressure.

TBT and its metabolites in sediments: Survey at a German coastal site and the central Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Abraham, Marion; Westphal, Lina; Hand, Ines; Lerz, Astrid; Jeschek, Jenny; Bunke, Dennis; Leipe, Thomas; Schulz-Bull, Detlef

2017-08-15

Since the 1950s the organotin compound tributyltin (TBT) was intensively used in antifouling paints for marine vessels and it became of concern for the marine environment. Herein, we report on a study from 2015 on TBT and its metabolites monobutyltin (MBT) and dibutyltin (DBT) in sediments from the central Baltic Sea and a Baltic Sea coastal site with strong harbor activities (Warnemünde). Sublayers from a sediment core from the Arkona Basin were analyzed to investigate the long term organotin pressure for the Baltic Sea. For the central Baltic Sea total organotin (MBT+DBT+TBT) ranged from 100 to 500ng/g TOC with distinct areas of high organotin content probably due to historical inputs. For the coastal site total organotin ranged from 10,000 to 60,000ng/g TOC. MBT and DBT were the predominant organotin species detected. Overall, the data obtained indicate the progress of TBT degradation at the investigated sites. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research use of the AIDA www.2aida.org diabetes software simulation program: a review--part 2. Generating simulated blood glucose data for prototype validation.

PubMed

Lehmann, Eldon D

2003-01-01

The purpose of this review is to describe research applications of the AIDA diabetes software simulator. AIDA is a computer program that permits the interactive simulation of insulin and glucose profiles for teaching, demonstration, and self-learning purposes. Since March/April 1996 it has been made freely available on the Internet as a noncommercial contribution to continuing diabetes education. Up to May 2003 well over 320,000 visits have been logged at the main AIDA Website--www.2aida.org--and over 65,000 copies of the AIDA program have been downloaded free-of-charge. This review (the second of two parts) overviews research projects and ventures, undertaken for the most part by other research workers in the diabetes computing field, that have made use of the freeware AIDA program. As with Part 1 of the review (Diabetes Technol Ther 2003;5:425-438) relevant research work was identified in three main ways: (i) by personal (e-mail/written) communications from researchers, (ii) via the ISI Web of Science citation database to identify published articles which referred to AIDA-related papers, and (iii) via searches on the Internet. Also, in a number of cases research students who had sought advice about AIDA, and diabetes computing in general, provided copies of their research dissertations/theses upon the completion of their projects. Part 2 of this review highlights some more of the research projects that have made use of the AIDA diabetes simulation program to date. A wide variety of diabetes computing topics are addressed. These range from learning about parameter interactions using simulated blood glucose data, to considerations of dietary assessments, developing new diabetes models, and performance monitoring of closed-loop insulin delivery devices. Other topics include evaluation/validation research usage of such software, applying simulated blood glucose data for prototype training/validation, and other research uses of placing technical information on the Web

Oral bioavailability assessment and intestinal lymphatic transport of Org 45697 and Org 46035, two highly lipophilic novel immunomodulator analogues.

PubMed

Caliph, Suzanne M; Faassen, W A Fried; Vogel, Gerard M; Porter, Christopher J H

2009-08-01

Org 45697 (MW 600.7, clogP 7.92, soybean oil solubility 50 mg/g) and Org 46035 (MW 601.6, clog P 8.46, soybean oil solubility 40 mg/g) are two poorly water soluble (<0.1 microg/ml), highly lipophilic drug candidates with immunomodulator activity and highly analogous chemical structures. After oral administration to conscious ambulatory rats in an aqueous-based methylcellulose/Tween 80 suspension, the bioavailability of both compounds was low (< 2% of administered dose). However, bioavailability was significantly increased (> 5 fold) after oral administration in a long chain triglyceride lipid (olive oil) formulation. Subsequent studies have explored the potential for solubilising formulations, including lipid-based formulations, to enhance the oral bioavailability of Org 45697 and Org 46035 and secondly to explore the potential contribution of intestinal lymphatic transport to intestinal absorption. The experimental data show that solubilising formulations may provide for significant increases in oral bioavailability for Org 45697 and Org 46035 and that after co-administration with lipid, 35-50% of the absorbed dose may be transported to the systemic circulation via the intestinal lymph. Interestingly, the lymphatic transport of the less lipid soluble analogue, Org 46035 was approximately 40% lower than that of Org 45697 suggesting that relatively subtle differences in lipid solubility can have significant impact on the extent of lymphatic transport.

Multidecadal oscillations in past Baltic Sea hypoxia: the role of sedimentary iron-phosphorus feedbacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jilbert, Tom; Gustafsson, Bo G.; Veldhuijzen, Simon; Reed, Daniel C.; van Helmond, Niels A. G. M.; Slomp, Caroline P.

2017-04-01

The Baltic Sea currently experiences widespread deep-water hypoxia, a consequence of both anthropogenic nutrient loading and the natural susceptibility of its stratified water column to oxygen depletion. Sediment core records show that hypoxia was also prevalent in the Baltic during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) and Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA). Sedimentary iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) dynamics are known to play a key role in determining the intensity of Baltic Sea hypoxia through time. Rapid intensification of hypoxia at the onset of past centennial-scale hypoxic events during the HTM and MCA has been explained by release of P from sedimentary Fe oxides, leading to enhanced primary productivity and deep water oxygen consumption (Jilbert and Slomp, 2013). Similarly, rapid relief from hypoxia at the termination of these events reflects efficient trapping of P by Fe oxides as oxic conditions expand. Here we show that within past hypoxic events in the Baltic Sea, hypoxia intensity also varied continuously on multidecadal timescales. We observe persistent oscillations in new high-resolution records of sediment redox proxies derived from Laser Ablation (LA) ICP-MS analysis. In-phase multidecadal oscillations in molybdenum/aluminium (Mo/Al), bromine/phosphorus (Br/P) and Fe/Al indicate coupling between redox conditions, the flux of carbon to the seafloor, and mobilization of Fe in shelf areas, respectively. Using a simple box model, we show that instabilities in the response of sedimentary P release to changing oxygen concentrations and carbon flux were the likely cause of the observed oscillations. When prescribing a non-linear relationship between P release, oxygen concentration and carbon flux, and forcing the model with external P loadings typical of the HTM and MCA, the simulated time-series of deep-water oxygen show pronounced oscillations similar to those observed in the sediment records. However, when external P loads typical of the modern anthropogenic

[The Baltic countries as the birthplace of embryology. Contingencies of a transnational region of science].

PubMed

Riha, Ortrun; Schmuck, Thomas

2010-01-01

Modern embryology is grounded on the research of Pander (theory of germ-layers), von Baer (human egg) and Rathke (branchial arches in mammals). All these scientists lived and worked in the Baltic region. They held professorships at the universities of Koenigsberg and Dorpat and at the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, thus moving between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Czardom. Since the Baltic countries are not commonly considered to be predestined as a birthplace of embryology, special attention is turned to the coincidences that, there of all places, made those people focus on that special field of research. Considering the peripheral position of the Baltic, the paper examines personal relations, national identities, cultural exchange, and local working conditions, including room for development as well as formidable obstacles.

76 FR 68332 - International Fisheries; Pacific Tuna Fisheries; Fishing Restrictions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-04

...://www.iattc.org/ResolutionsActiveENG.htm . Changes to Tuna Conservation Measures for 2011-2013... fishing vessels that often leads to loss of data critical to weather forecasting, tsunami warnings, search... of Climate Observations at http://osmc.noaa.gov/Monitor/OSMC/OSMC.html , also provides information...

The Geomatics.org.UK Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bramald, Tom; Powell, Jonathan

2006-01-01

In this article, the authors describe how pupils can benefit from some unusual and exciting free resources of geomatics.org.uk. Geomatics.org.uk is a project that provides free resources to support teaching and learning in a variety of subjects including maths and geography, often in a cross-curricular way. Via the project website, it is possible,…

Identifying source regions for the atmospheric input of PCDD/Fs to the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sellström, Ulla; Egebäck, Anna-Lena; McLachlan, Michael S.

PCDD/F contamination of the Baltic Sea has resulted in the European Union imposing restrictions on the marketing of several fish species. Atmospheric deposition is the major source of PCDD/Fs to the Baltic Sea, and hence there is a need to identify the source regions of the PCDD/Fs in ambient air over the Baltic Sea. A novel monitoring strategy was employed to address this question. During the winter of 2006-2007 air samples were collected in Aspvreten (southern Sweden) and Pallas (northern Finland). Short sampling times (24 h) were employed and only samples with stable air mass back trajectories were selected for analysis of the 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD/F congeners. The range in the PCDD/F concentrations from 40 samples collected at Aspvreten was a factor of almost 50 (range 0.6-29 fg TEQ/m 3). When the samples were grouped according to air mass origin into seven compass sectors, the variability was much lower (typically less than a factor of 3). This indicates that air mass origin was the primary source of the variability. The contribution of each sector to the PCDD/F contamination over the Baltic Sea during the winter half year of 2006/2007 was calculated from the average PCDD/F concentration for each sector and the frequency with which the air over the Baltic Sea came from that sector. Air masses originating from the south-southwest, south-southeast and east segments contributed 65% of the PCDDs and 75% of the PCDFs. Strong correlations were obtained between the concentrations of most of the PCDD/F congeners and the concentration of soot. These correlations can be used to predict the PCDD/F concentrations during the winter half year from inexpensive soot measurements.

Impact of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) for ship traffic on the future air quality in the Baltic Sea region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karl, Matthias; Geyer, Beate; Bieser, Johannes; Matthias, Volker; Quante, Markus; Jalkanen, Jukka-Pekka; Johansson, Lasse; Fridell, Erik

2017-04-01

Deposition of nitrogen compounds originating from shipping activities contribute to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and coastal areas in the Baltic Sea region. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from shipping on the Baltic Sea are comparable to the combined land-based emissions of NOx from Finland and Sweden and have been relatively stable over the last decade. However, expected future growth of maritime transport will result in higher fuel consumption and, if not compensated by increased transport efficiency or other measures, lead to higher total emissions of NOx from shipping. For the Baltic Sea a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) will become effective in 2021 - permitting only new built ships that are compliant with stringent Tier III emission limits - with the target of reducing NOx-emissions. In order to study the effect of implementing a Baltic Sea NECA-2021 on air quality and nitrogen deposition two future scenarios were designed; one with implementation of a NECA for the Baltic Sea starting in 2021 and another with no NECA implemented. The same increase of ship traffic was assumed for both future scenarios. Since complete fleet renewal with low NOx-emitting engines is not expected until 20-30 years after the NECA entry date, year 2040 was chosen as future scenario year. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate the current and future air quality situation. The nested simulation runs with CMAQ were performed on a horizontal resolution of 4 km × 4 km for the entire Baltic Sea region. The meteorological year 2012 was chosen for the simulation of the current and future air quality situation since the 2m-temperature and precipitation anomalies of 2012 are closely aligned to the 2004-2014 decadal average over Baltic Proper. High-resolution meteorology obtained from COSMO-CLM was used for the regional simulations. Ship emissions were generated with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM) by the Finnish Meteorological

Remote sensing of chlorophyll in the Baltic Sea at basin scale from 1997 to 2012 using merged multi-sensor data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitarch, Jaime; Volpe, Gianluca; Colella, Simone; Krasemann, Hajo; Santoleri, Rosalia

2016-03-01

A 15-year (1997-2012) time series of chlorophyll a (Chl a) in the Baltic Sea, based on merged multi-sensor satellite data was analysed. Several available Chl a algorithms were sea-truthed against the largest in situ publicly available Chl a data set ever used for calibration and validation over the Baltic region. To account for the known biogeochemical heterogeneity of the Baltic, matchups were calculated for three separate areas: (1) the Skagerrak and Kattegat, (2) the central Baltic, including the Baltic Proper and the gulfs of Riga and Finland, and (3) the Gulf of Bothnia. Similarly, within the operational context of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) the three areas were also considered as a whole in the analysis. In general, statistics showed low linearity. However, a bootstrapping-like assessment did provide the means for removing the bias from the satellite observations, which were then used to compute basin average time series. Resulting climatologies confirmed that the three regions display completely different Chl a seasonal dynamics. The Gulf of Bothnia displays a single Chl a peak during spring, whereas in the Skagerrak and Kattegat the dynamics are less regular and composed of highs and lows during winter, progressing towards a small bloom in spring and a minimum in summer. In the central Baltic, Chl a follows a dynamics of a mild spring bloom followed by a much stronger bloom in summer. Surface temperature data are able to explain a variable fraction of the intensity of the summer bloom in the central Baltic.<

Global Soil Information Facilities - Component Worldgrids.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reuter, H. I.; Hengl, T.

2012-04-01

GSIF (Global Soil Information Facilities) is ISRIC's framework for production of open soil data. It has been inspired by global environmental data initiatives (e.g. oneGeology, GBIF). The main practical motivation for GSIF is to build cyber-infrastructure to collate legacy (i.e., historic) soil data currently under threat of being lost forever and to generate new soil information. The objective of the component worldgrids is a (de)-central repository for collecting, storing, accessing and interacting with gridded data sets of global soil covariate data for production mapping, while being part of a larger GSIF. It is the physical implementation of the expectation that ISRIC would lead and coordinate a project to assemble a core data set of global environmental covariates to (partly) support local efforts to produce global soil property maps. Currently over 100 layers with a 5 and 1 km resolution with a global coverage can be accessed via www.worldgrids.org. Three different functionalities are implemented to extract data in an OGC complained matter: i) single point overlay ii) mass point overlay; iii) zone grid overlay with reporting of different statistical parameters. The presentation will focus on datasets, functionalities, access via the R-project and ArcGIS globalsoilmap.net Toolbox as well on future enhancements to the worldgrids platform.

Active subsurface cellular function in the Baltic Sea Basin, IODP Exp 347

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reese, B. K.; Zinke, L. A.; Bird, J. T.; Lloyd, K. G.; Marshall, I.; Amend, J.; Jørgensen, B. B.

2016-12-01

The Baltic Sea Basin is a unique depositional setting that has experienced periods of glaciation and deglaciation as a result of global temperature fluctuations over the course of several hundred thousand years. This has resulted in laminated sediments formed during periods with strong permanent salinity stratification. The high sedimentation rates (100-500 cm/1000 y) make this an ideal setting to understand the microbial structure of a deep biosphere community in a high-organic matter environment. The responses of deep sediment microbial communities to variations in conditions during and after deposition are poorly understood. Samples were collected through scientific drilling during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 347 on board the Greatship Manisha, September-November 2013. We examined the active microbial community structure using the 16S rRNA gene transcript and active functional genes through metatranscriptome sequencing. Major biogeochemical shifts have been observed in response to the depositional history between the limnic, brackish, and marine phases. The microbial community structure in the BSB is diverse and reflective of the unique changes in the geochemical profile. These data further define the existence life in the deep subsurface and the survival mechanisms required for this extreme environment.

Exploring coupled 4D-Var data assimilation using an idealised atmosphere-ocean model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Polly; Fowler, Alison; Lawless, Amos; Haines, Keith

2014-05-01

exploring the effect of the assimilation window length in coupled assimilations. These experiments will facilitate a greater theoretical understanding of the coupled atmosphere-ocean data assimilation problem and thus help guide the design and implementation of different coupling strategies within operational systems. This research is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The ESA funded component is part of the Data Assimilation Projects - Coupled Model Data Assimilation initiative whose goal is to advance data assimilation techniques in fully coupled atmosphere-ocean models (see http://www.esa-da.org/). It is being conducted in parallel to the development of prototype weakly coupled data assimilation systems at both the UK Met Office and ECMWF.

Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System: The Gulf Component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernard, L. J.; Moersdorf, P. F.

2005-05-01

The United States is developing an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) as the U.S. component of the international Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). IOOS consists of: (1) a coastal observing system for the U.S. EEZ, estuaries, and Great Lakes; and (2) a contribution to the global component of GOOS focused on climate and maritime services. The coastal component will consist of: (1) a National Backbone of observations and products from our coastal ocean supported by federal agencies; and (2) contributions of Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (RCOOS). The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is one of eleven RCOOS. This paper describes how GCOOS is progressing as a system of systems to carry out data collection, analysis, product generation, dissemination of information, and data archival. These elements are provided by federal, state, and local government agencies, academic institutions, non-government organization, and the private sector. This end-to-end system supports the seven societal goals of the IOOS, as provided by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy: detect and forecast oceanic components of climate variability, facilitate safe and efficient marine operations, ensure national security, manage marine resources, preserve and restore healthy marine ecosystems, mitigate natural hazards, and ensure public health. The initial building blocks for GCOOS include continuing in situ observations, satellite products, models, and other information supported by federal and state government, private industry, and academia. GCOOS has compiled an inventory of such activities, together with descriptions, costs, sources of support, and possible out-year budgets. These activities provide information that will have broader use as they are integrated and enhanced. GCOOS has begun that process by several approaches. First, GCOOS has established a web site (www.gcoos.org) which is a portal to such activities and contains pertinent information

Microplastics in the Baltic Sea water: fibers everywhere.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khatmullina, Lilia; Bagaev, Andrey; Chubarenko, Irina

2017-04-01

Presence of thin synthetic fibres (microfibres, tens of micrometres in diameter) in the surface waters and sediments is documented in different studies; however, the data on their exact abundances in the marine environment are commonly not presented owing to the shortcomings of the sampling procedure and general absence of well-established methodology for microplastics data collection. Nevertheless, we made an attempt to qualitatively analyse the amounts of microplastic fibres in the water column of the Baltic Sea. Water samples acquired during 6 cruises over the Baltic Sea Proper in 2015-2016 were filtered using 174 μm filters, which were subsequently analysed by microscope. From the total of 95 examined filters, 63% contained fibres. They were identified by colour and the reaction to the mechanical action of a thin needle: justification of anthropogenic origin was considered to be enough; any questionable objects were discarded. Fibres comprise more than 90% of the whole microplastic particles found in the near-bottom layers in the coastal zone and around 24% of microplastics in the surface and intermediate waters, with mean concentrations of 0.71 and 0.07 fibres per litre, respectively. Although the methodology still requires a lot of enhancement, even the preliminary results indicate ubiquitous distribution of the microfibres in the water column of the Baltic Sea with surface and bottom layers revealing higher abundances of microfibres in comparison with intermediate layers, and open-sea waters being less contaminated than the coastal ones. Apart from enhancing the sampling technics, we consider that it is crucial to understand principal physical features of fibers behavior in the marine environment (e.g., settling, entrainment by currents), as it would provide an opportunity to parameterize their transport and further on to model distribution of fibers in the water column. The research is supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant number 15-17-10020.

Clustering in Engineering Education in the Baltic Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahrens, Andreas; Zascerinska, Jelena

2011-01-01

The contemporary situation in the Baltic region, namely, the lack of working places due to the structural problems, a high unemployment rate, the migration of highly qualified people and the low rate of self-employees, demands on innovation as an engine of the economic development with a strong impact on sustainable development in the European…

Ensemble-based evaluation of extreme water levels for the eastern Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eelsalu, Maris; Soomere, Tarmo

2016-04-01

The risks and damages associated with coastal flooding that are naturally associated with an increase in the magnitude of extreme storm surges are one of the largest concerns of countries with extensive low-lying nearshore areas. The relevant risks are even more contrast for semi-enclosed water bodies such as the Baltic Sea where subtidal (weekly-scale) variations in the water volume of the sea substantially contribute to the water level and lead to large spreading of projections of future extreme water levels. We explore the options for using large ensembles of projections to more reliably evaluate return periods of extreme water levels. Single projections of the ensemble are constructed by means of fitting several sets of block maxima with various extreme value distributions. The ensemble is based on two simulated data sets produced in the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. A hindcast by the Rossby Centre Ocean model is sampled with a resolution of 6 h and a similar hindcast by the circulation model NEMO with a resolution of 1 h. As the annual maxima of water levels in the Baltic Sea are not always uncorrelated, we employ maxima for calendar years and for stormy seasons. As the shape parameter of the Generalised Extreme Value distribution changes its sign and substantially varies in magnitude along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, the use of a single distribution for the entire coast is inappropriate. The ensemble involves projections based on the Generalised Extreme Value, Gumbel and Weibull distributions. The parameters of these distributions are evaluated using three different ways: maximum likelihood method and method of moments based on both biased and unbiased estimates. The total number of projections in the ensemble is 40. As some of the resulting estimates contain limited additional information, the members of pairs of projections that are highly correlated are assigned weights 0.6. A comparison of the ensemble-based projection of

Modelling environmentally friendly fairways using Lagrangian trajectories: a case study for the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soomere, Tarmo; Berezovski, Mihhail; Quak, Ewald; Viikmäe, Bert

2011-10-01

We address possibilities of minimising environmental risks using statistical features of current-driven propagation of adverse impacts to the coast. The recently introduced method for finding the optimum locations of potentially dangerous activities (Soomere et al. in Proc Estonian Acad Sci 59:156-165, 2010) is expanded towards accounting for the spatial distributions of probabilities and times for reaching the coast for passively advecting particles released in different sea areas. These distributions are calculated using large sets of Lagrangian trajectories found from Eulerian velocity fields provided by the Rossby Centre Ocean Model with a horizontal resolution of 2 nautical miles for 1987-1991. The test area is the Gulf of Finland in the northeastern Baltic Sea. The potential gain using the optimum fairways from the Baltic Proper to the eastern part of the gulf is an up to 44% decrease in the probability of coastal pollution and a similar increase in the average time for reaching the coast. The optimum fairways are mostly located to the north of the gulf axis (by 2-8 km on average) and meander substantially in some sections. The robustness of this approach is quantified as the typical root mean square deviation (6-16 km) between the optimum fairways specified from different criteria. Drastic variations in the width of the `corridors' for almost optimal fairways (2-30 km for the average width of 15 km) signifies that the sensitivity of the results with respect to small changes in the environmental criteria largely varies in different parts of the gulf.

Comparing Commercial WWW Browsers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Notess, Greg R.

1995-01-01

Four commercial World Wide Web browsers are evaluated for features such as handling of WWW protocols and different URLs: FTP, Telnet, Gopher and WAIS, and e-mail and news; bookmark capabilities; navigation features; file management; and security support. (JKP)

Organic matter export to the seafloor in the Baltic Sea: Drivers of change and future projections.

PubMed

Tamelander, Tobias; Spilling, Kristian; Winder, Monica

2017-12-01

The impact of environmental change and anthropogenic stressors on coastal marine systems will strongly depend on changes in the magnitude and composition of organic matter exported from the water column to the seafloor. Knowledge of vertical export in the Baltic Sea is synthesised to illustrate how organic matter deposition will respond to climate warming, climate-related changes in freshwater runoff, and ocean acidification. Pelagic heterotrophic processes are suggested to become more important in a future warmer climate, with negative feedbacks to organic matter deposition to the seafloor. This is an important step towards improved oxygen conditions in the near-bottom layer that will reduce the release of inorganic nutrients from the sediment and hence counteract further eutrophication. The evaluation of these processes in ecosystem models, validated by field observations, will significantly advance the understanding of the system's response to environmental change and will improve the use of such models in management of coastal areas.

Isotopic signature of short term climate oscillations in the sediments of the Gulf of Gdansk (Southern Baltic Sea, Poland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paczek, Urszula; Tudyka, Konrad; Bałdys, Piotr; Pazdur, Anna

2010-05-01

The Gulf of Gdańsk is a part of the southern Baltic Sea - an intra-continental, shallow arm of the Atlantic Ocean entirely located on continental crust. The gulf occupies the area of ca. 5000 km2. Its northern border is a conventional line between the Cape Rozewie (Poland) and the Cape Taran (Russia). The Gulf of Gdańsk is under impact of inflowing salty waters from the North Sea but also there is a great effect of the Vistula River marked. The river is one of two the most important sources of material in the gulf. Cliffs erosion is the second one. The interplay of marine and land waters is multiplied by impact of two different climates - continental and maritime. The subject of intended research is a core of muddy sediments collected within the framework of project carried by the Branch of Marine Geology of the Polish Geological Institute in Gdańsk. The core was 300 cm long and was taken using Kullenberg core sampler in 2006 from the depth of 32 m. Since 2009 the research has been led in cooperation with the Department of Radioisotopes, Institute of Physics, Silesian University of Technology. In our study we use δ18O and δ13C measured in organic mater of sediments with mass spectrometer. Radiocarbon concentration was measured using gas proportional counters using organic mater . 14C dates were corrected according to isotopic fractioning with measured δ13C. We found systematic inversions of dates that were probably caused by changing of ?R (regional difference from the modeled global surface ocean reservoir age) during Baltic evolution. The attention was also paid on recognition of sedimentation process that is a very good indicator of dynamics in sedimentary environment. The grain size analysis was carried out for 300 samples using method of laser diffraction. Results showed great variability in bulk sediment composition that indicates susceptibility to changes in climatic and hydrodynamic conditions of studied area. Excluding the top ca. 30 cm of the core

Sustainable Phosphorus Loadings from Effective and Cost-Effective Phosphorus Management Around the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Bryhn, Andreas C.

2009-01-01

Nutrient over-enrichment of the Baltic Sea, accompanied by intensified algal blooms and decreasing water clarity, has aroused widespread concern in the surrounding countries during the last four decades. This work has used a well-tested dynamic mass-balance model to investigate which decrease in total phosphorus loading would be required to meet the environmental goal to restore the trophic state in the Baltic Sea to pre-1960s levels. Furthermore, the extent to which various abatement options may decrease the phosphorus loading in a cost-effective manner has been studied. Upgrading urban sewage treatment in the catchment could, alone or in combination with banning phosphates in detergents, be sufficient to meet the set environmental goal, at an estimated annual basin-wide cost of 0.21–0.43 billion euro. Such a plan would potentially decrease the total phosphorus loading to the Baltic Sea with 6,650–10,200 tonnes per year. PMID:19412551

76 FR 73771 - Requested Administrative Waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws: Vessel OCEAN VUE; Invitation for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-29

... Administrative Waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws: Vessel OCEAN VUE; Invitation for Public Comments AGENCY... entered into this docket is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.regulations.gov . FOR FURTHER... OCEAN VUE is: Intended Commercial Use of Vessel: ``conduct water tour for vacationers & tourists...

Stable Isotope Evidence for Late Medieval (14th–15th C) Origins of the Eastern Baltic Cod (Gadus morhua) Fishery

PubMed Central

Orton, David C.; Makowiecki, Daniel; de Roo, Tessa; Johnstone, Cluny; Harland, Jennifer; Jonsson, Leif; Heinrich, Dirk; Enghoff, Inge Bødker; Lõugas, Lembi; Van Neer, Wim; Ervynck, Anton; Hufthammer, Anne Karin; Amundsen, Colin; Jones, Andrew K. G.; Locker, Alison; Hamilton-Dyer, Sheila; Pope, Peter; MacKenzie, Brian R.; Richards, Michael; O'Connell, Tamsin C.; Barrett, James H.

2011-01-01

Although recent historical ecology studies have extended quantitative knowledge of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) exploitation back as far as the 16th century, the historical origin of the modern fishery remains obscure. Widespread archaeological evidence for cod consumption around the eastern Baltic littoral emerges around the 13th century, three centuries before systematic documentation, but it is not clear whether this represents (1) development of a substantial eastern Baltic cod fishery, or (2) large-scale importation of preserved cod from elsewhere. To distinguish between these hypotheses we use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to determine likely catch regions of 74 cod vertebrae and cleithra from 19 Baltic archaeological sites dated from the 8th to the 16th centuries. δ13C and δ15N signatures for six possible catch regions were established using a larger sample of archaeological cod cranial bones (n = 249). The data strongly support the second hypothesis, revealing widespread importation of cod during the 13th to 14th centuries, most of it probably from Arctic Norway. By the 15th century, however, eastern Baltic cod dominate within our sample, indicating the development of a substantial late medieval fishery. Potential human impact on cod stocks in the eastern Baltic must thus be taken into account for at least the last 600 years. PMID:22110675

Projected future climate change and Baltic Sea ecosystem management.

PubMed

Andersson, Agneta; Meier, H E Markus; Ripszam, Matyas; Rowe, Owen; Wikner, Johan; Haglund, Peter; Eilola, Kari; Legrand, Catherine; Figueroa, Daniela; Paczkowska, Joanna; Lindehoff, Elin; Tysklind, Mats; Elmgren, Ragnar

2015-06-01

Climate change is likely to have large effects on the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Simulations indicate 2-4 °C warming and 50-80 % decrease in ice cover by 2100. Precipitation may increase ~30 % in the north, causing increased land runoff of allochthonous organic matter (AOM) and organic pollutants and decreased salinity. Coupled physical-biogeochemical models indicate that, in the south, bottom-water anoxia may spread, reducing cod recruitment and increasing sediment phosphorus release, thus promoting cyanobacterial blooms. In the north, heterotrophic bacteria will be favored by AOM, while phytoplankton production may be reduced. Extra trophic levels in the food web may increase energy losses and consequently reduce fish production. Future management of the Baltic Sea must consider the effects of climate change on the ecosystem dynamics and functions, as well as the effects of anthropogenic nutrient and pollutant load. Monitoring should have a holistic approach, encompassing both autotrophic (phytoplankton) and heterotrophic (e.g., bacterial) processes.

Looking West: Russian Perspectives of the Baltics Through the Lens of the Great Patriotic War

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-13

legacy of the Great Patriotic War is still potent in the minds of Russian officials. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Russia; Baltics; Great Patriotic War; Estonia...thinking towards the Baltic region, and they indicate that the legacy of the Great Patriotic War is still potent in the minds of Russian officials...real in the minds of Russian citizens. The war also represents the preeminent subject of study by the Russian military. The military and political

Build a WWW Homepage for Your School!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chrobak, Kimberly

1995-01-01

Discusses the use of World Wide Web (WWW) Homepage for school information. Topics include school sites; installation of a WWW browser; file tags; sites for beginner's guides to the language (HTML); two Usenet discussion groups; and a sample lesson plan including objective, procedure, and evaluation. (AEF)

Internet FAQ Archives - Online Education - faqs.org

Science.gov Websites

faqs.org Internet FAQ Archives - Online Education faqs.org faqs.org - Internet FAQ Archives Internet FAQ Archives Online Education Internet RFC Index Usenet FAQ Index Other FAQs Documents Tools IFC Rated FAQs Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP Archives The Internet RFC series of documents is also available from

LES Modeling of Lateral Dispersion in the Ocean on Scales of 10 m to 10 km

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-20

ocean on scales of 0.1-10 km that can be implemented in larger-scale ocean models. These parameterizations will incorporate the effects of local...ocean on scales of 0.1-10 km that can be implemented in larger-scale ocean models. These parameterizations will incorporate the effects of local...www.fields.utoronto.ca/video-archive/static/2013/06/166-1766/mergedvideo.ogv) and at the Nonlinear Effects in Internal Waves Conference held at Cornell University

Lipid biomarker signatures as tracers for harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Talbot, Helen M.; Sidgwick, Frances; Sivonen, Kaarina; Schwark, Lorenz

2017-01-01

The recent proliferation of harmful cyanobacterial blooms (cyanoHABs) in the Baltic and other marginal seas poses a severe threat for the health of infested ecosystems as e.g. the massive export and decay of cyanobacterial biomass facilitates the spread of bottom water hypoxia. There is evidence that cyanoHABs occurred repeatedly in the Baltic Sea but knowledge of their spatiotemporal distribution and the cyanobacteria that contributed to them is limited. In this study, we examined representatives of the major bloom-forming heterocystous cyanobacteria (i.e. Aphanizomenon, Dolichospermum (formerly Anabaena) and Nodularia) to establish lipid fingerprints that allow tracking these environmentally important diazotrophs in the modern and past Baltic Sea. The distribution of normal and mid-chain branched alkanes, fatty acid methyl esters, bacteriohopanepolyols and heterocyst glycolipids permitted a clear chemotaxonomic separation of the different heterocystous cyanobacteria but also indicated a close phylogenetic relationship between representatives of the genera Aphanizomenon and Dolichospermum. Compared to the discontinuous nature of phytoplankton surveys studies, the distinct lipid profiles reported here will allow obtaining detailed spatiotemporal information on the frequency and intensity of Baltic Sea cyanoHABs as well as their community composition using the time-integrated biomarker signatures recorded in surface and subsurface sediments. As heterocystous cyanobacteria of the genera Aphanizomenon, Dolichospermum and Nodularia are generally known to form massive blooms in many brackish as well as lacustrine systems worldwide, the chemotaxonomic markers introduced in this study may allow investigating cyanoHABs in a great variety of contemporary environments from polar to tropical latitudes. PMID:29036222

PREFACE: 5th Baltic Conference on Silicate Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mezinskis, G.; Bragina, L.; Colombo, P.; Frischat, G. H.; Grabis, J.; Greil, P.; Deja, J.; Kaminskas, R.; Kliava, J.; Medvids, A.; Nowak, I.; Siauciunas, R.; Valancius, Z.; Zalite, I.

2011-12-01

Logo This Volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering presents a selection of the contributions to the 5th Baltic Conference on Silicate Materials (BaltSilica2011) held at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia from 23-25 May 2011. The conference was organized by Riga Technical University (Latvia) and Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania). The series of Baltic conferences on silicate materials was started since 2004: the first conference was held in Riga, Latvia, 2004; the second conference was held in Kaunas, Lithuania 2005; the third was held again in Riga, Latvia, 2007, and the fourth was held in Kaunas, Lithuania 2009. BaltSilica 2011 was attended by around 50 participants from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Ukraine and Russia. In comparison with previous silicate materials conferences, the broadening of participating countries is an indication of the interest of scientists, engineers and students to exchange research ideas, latest results, and to find new research topics for cooperation in the fields of silicate, high temperature materials, and inorganic nanomaterials. The scientific programme included 8 invited plenary lectures 23 oral presentations and 25 posters [1]. Scientific themes covered in the conference and in this special issue: Natural and Artificial Stone Materials; Traditional and New Ceramic and Glass-Like Materials; Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials. This volume consists of 23 selected proceeding papers. The Editor of this special issue is grateful to all the contributors to BaltSilica 2011. I am also very grateful to the scientific committee, the local organizing committee, the session chairs, the referees who refereed the submitted articles to this issue, and to students from the Department of Silicate, High Temperature and Inorganic Nanomaterials Technology of the Riga Technical University who ensured the smooth running of the conference. Particular thanks goes to eight plenary

NASA Simulation Shows Ocean Turbulence in the North Atlantic

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-21

This image shows a simulated snapshot of ocean turbulence in the North Atlantic Ocean in March 2012, from a groundbreaking super-high-resolution global ocean simulation (approximately 1.2 miles, or 2 kilometers, horizontal resolution) developed at JPL (http://wwwcvs.mitgcm.org/viewvc/MITgcm/MITgcm_contrib/llc_hires/llc_4320/). The colors represent the magnitude of surface relative vorticity, a measure of the spin of fluid parcels. The image emphasizes fast-rotating, small-scale (defined here as 6.2 to 31-mile, or 10 to 50 kilometer, range) turbulence, especially during the winter. High levels of relative vorticity caused by small-scale turbulence are believed to strongly transport heat and carbon vertically in the ocean. The image appears in a study (Su et al. 2018), entitled "Ocean submesoscales as a key component of the global heat budget," published recently in Nature Communications. The study suggests that upper-ocean small-scale turbulence transports heat upward in the ocean at a level five times larger than larger-scale heat transport by ocean eddies, significantly affecting the exchange of heat between the ocean interior and atmosphere. Such interactions have a crucial impact on the Earth's climate. A movie is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22256

Evaluating trophic cascades as drivers of regime shifts in different ocean ecosystems

PubMed Central

Pershing, Andrew J.; Mills, Katherine E.; Record, Nicholas R.; Stamieszkin, Karen; Wurtzell, Katharine V.; Byron, Carrie J.; Fitzpatrick, Dominic; Golet, Walter J.; Koob, Elise

2015-01-01

In ecosystems that are strongly structured by predation, reducing top predator abundance can alter several lower trophic levels—a process known as a trophic cascade. A persistent trophic cascade also fits the definition of a regime shift. Such ‘trophic cascade regime shifts' have been reported in a few pelagic marine systems—notably the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and eastern Scotian Shelf—raising the question of how common this phenomenon is in the marine environment. We provide a general methodology for distinguishing top-down and bottom-up effects and apply this methodology to time series from these three ecosystems. We found evidence for top-down forcing in the Black Sea due primarily to gelatinous zooplankton. Changes in the Baltic Sea are primarily bottom-up, strongly structured by salinity, but top-down forcing related to changes in cod abundance also shapes the ecosystem. Changes in the eastern Scotian Shelf that were originally attributed to declines in groundfish are better explained by changes in stratification. Our review suggests that trophic cascade regime shifts are rare in open ocean ecosystems and that their likelihood increases as the residence time of water in the system increases. Our work challenges the assumption that negative correlation between consecutive trophic levels implies top-down forcing.

Interferometric Water Level Tilt Meter Development in Finland and Comparison with Combined Earth Tide and Ocean Loading Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruotsalainen, Hannu

2018-05-01

A modern third-generation interferometric water level tilt meter was developed at the Finnish Geodetic Institute in 2000. The tilt meter has absolute scale and can do high-precision tilt measurements on earth tides, ocean tide loading and atmospheric loading. Additionally, it can be applied in various kinds of geodynamic and geophysical research. The principles and results of the historical 100-year-old Michelson-Gale tilt meter, as well as the development of interferometric water tube tilt meters of the Finnish Geodetic Institute, Finland, are reviewed. Modern Earth tide model tilt combined with Schwiderski ocean tide loading model explains the uncertainty in historical tilt observations by Michelson and Gale. Earth tide tilt observations in Lohja2 geodynamic station, southern Finland, are compared with the combined model earth tide and four ocean tide loading models. The observed diurnal and semidiurnal harmonic constituents do not fit well with combined models. The reason could be a result of the improper harmonic modelling of the Baltic Sea tides in those models.

Acid-base properties of Baltic Sea dissolved organic matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, Karoline; Schneider, Bernd; Kuliński, Karol; Schulz-Bull, Detlef E.

2017-09-01

Calculations related to the marine CO2 system that are based on alkalinity data may be strongly biased if the contributions of organic compounds are ignored. In coastal seas, concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) are frequently high and alkalinity from inorganic compounds is low. In this study, based on measurements of total alkalinity, total CO2, and pH, we determined the organic alkalinity, Aorg, in water from the central Baltic Sea. The maximum Aorg measured in the surface mixed layer during the spring bloom was > 50 μmol/kg-SW but the Aorg decreased with depth and approached zero below the permanent halocline. This behavior could be attributed to the decreased pH of deeper water layers. The data were used to calculate the bulk dissociation constant, KDOM, for marine DOM and the fraction f of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) that acts as a carrier for acid-base functional groups. The p KDOM (7.27) agreed well with the value (7.34) previously estimated in a preliminary study of organic alkalinity in the Baltic Sea. The fraction of carbon atoms carrying acid-base groups was 17% and was somewhat higher than previously reported (12%). Spike experiments performed using artificial seawater and three different humic/fulvic substances tested whether the acid-base properties of these substances explain the results of our field study. Specifically, Aorg was determined at different concentrations (DOC) of the added humic/fulvic substances. The relationship between Aorg and the DOC concentrations indicated that humic/fulvic substances are more acidic (p KDOM < 6.5) than the bulk DOC natural occurring in the Baltic Sea.

Simulation of nitrate reduction in groundwater - An upscaling approach from small catchments to the Baltic Sea basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, A. L.; Donnelly, C.; Refsgaard, J. C.; Karlsson, I. B.

2018-01-01

This paper describes a modeling approach proposed to simulate the impact of local-scale, spatially targeted N-mitigation measures for the Baltic Sea Basin. Spatially targeted N-regulations aim at exploiting the considerable spatial differences in the natural N-reduction taking place in groundwater and surface water. While such measures can be simulated using local-scale physically-based catchment models, use of such detailed models for the 1.8 million km2 Baltic Sea basin is not feasible due to constraints on input data and computing power. Large-scale models that are able to simulate the Baltic Sea basin, on the other hand, do not have adequate spatial resolution to simulate some of the field-scale measures. Our methodology combines knowledge and results from two local-scale physically-based MIKE SHE catchment models, the large-scale and more conceptual E-HYPE model, and auxiliary data in order to enable E-HYPE to simulate how spatially targeted regulation of agricultural practices may affect N-loads to the Baltic Sea. We conclude that the use of E-HYPE with this upscaling methodology enables the simulation of the impact on N-loads of applying a spatially targeted regulation at the Baltic Sea basin scale to the correct order-of-magnitude. The E-HYPE model together with the upscaling methodology therefore provides a sound basis for large-scale policy analysis; however, we do not expect it to be sufficiently accurate to be useful for the detailed design of local-scale measures.

Helioviewer.org: Simple Solar and Heliospheric Data Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughitt, V. K.; Ireland, J.; Mueller, D.

2011-12-01

Helioviewer.org is a free and open-source web application for exploring solar physics data in a simple and intuitive manner. Over the past several years, Helioviewer.org has enabled thousands of users from across the globe to explore the inner heliosphere, providing access to over ten million images from the SOHO, SDO, and STEREO missions. While Helioviewer.org has seen a surge in use by the public in recent months, it is still ultimately a science tool. The newest version of Helioviewer.org provides access to science-quality data for all available images through the Virtual Solar Observatory (VSO). In addition to providing a powerful platform for browsing heterogeneous sets of solar data, Helioviewer.org also seeks to be as flexible and extensible as possible, providing access to much of its functionality via a simple Application Programming Interface (API). Recently, the Helioviewer.org API was used for two such applications: a Wordpress plugin, and a Python library for solar physics data analysis (SunPy). These applications are discussed and examples of API usage are provided. Finally, Helioviewer.org is undergoing continual development, with new features being added on a regular basis. Recent updates to Helioviewer.org are discussed, along with a preview of things to come.

HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan--a regional programme of measures for the marine environment based on the Ecosystem Approach.

PubMed

Backer, Hermanni; Leppänen, Juha-Markku; Brusendorff, Anne Christine; Forsius, Kaj; Stankiewicz, Monika; Mehtonen, Jukka; Pyhälä, Minna; Laamanen, Maria; Paulomäki, Hanna; Vlasov, Nikolay; Haaranen, Tarja

2010-05-01

The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) Baltic Sea Action Plan, adopted by the coastal countries of the Baltic Sea and the European Community in November 2007, is a regional intergovernmental programme of measures for the protection and management of the marine environment explicitly based on the Ecosystem Approach. The Action Plan is structured around a set of Ecological Objectives used to define indicators and targets, including effect-based nutrient input ceilings, and to monitor implementation. The Action Plan strongly links Baltic marine environmental concerns to important socio-economic fields such as agriculture and fisheries and promotes cross-sectoral tools including marine spatial planning. Due to complementarities with the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Action Plan is in essence a pilot for this process without neglecting the important role of the Russian Federation - the only Baltic coastal country not a member of the EU. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Future nutrient load scenarios for the Baltic Sea due to climate and lifestyle changes.

PubMed

Hägg, Hanna Eriksson; Lyon, Steve W; Wällstedt, Teresia; Mörth, Carl-Magnus; Claremar, Björn; Humborg, Christoph

2014-04-01

Dynamic model simulations of the future climate and projections of future lifestyles within the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin (BSDB) were considered in this study to estimate potential trends in future nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads were estimated using a simple proxy based only on human population (to account for nutrient sources) and stream discharges (to account for nutrient transport). This population-discharge proxy provided a good estimate for nutrient loads across the seven sub-basins of the BSDB considered. All climate scenarios considered here produced increased nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea over the next 100 years. There was variation between the climate scenarios such that sub-basin and regional differences were seen in future nutrient runoff depending on the climate model and scenario considered. Regardless, the results of this study indicate that changes in lifestyle brought about through shifts in consumption and population potentially overshadow the climate effects on future nutrient runoff for the entire BSDB. Regionally, however, lifestyle changes appear relatively more important in the southern regions of the BSDB while climatic changes appear more important in the northern regions with regards to future increases in nutrient loads. From a whole-ecosystem management perspective of the BSDB, this implies that implementation of improved and targeted management practices can still bring about improved conditions in the Baltic Sea in the face of a warmer and wetter future climate.

Anatomizing one of the largest saltwater inflows into the Baltic Sea in December 2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gräwe, Ulf; Naumann, Michael; Mohrholz, Volker; Burchard, Hans

2015-11-01

In December 2014, an exceptional inflow event into the Baltic Sea was observed, a so-called Major Baltic Inflow (MBI). Such inflow events are important for the deep water ventilation in the Baltic Sea and typically occur every 3-10 years. Based on first observational data sets, this inflow had been ranked as the third largest since 100 years. With the help of a multinested modeling system, reaching from the North Atlantic (8 km resolution) to the Western Baltic Sea (600 m resolution, which is baroclinic eddy resolving), this event is reproduced in detail. The model gave a slightly lower salt transport of 3.8 Gt, compared to the observational estimate of four Gt. Moreover, by using passive tracers to mark the different inflowing water masses, including an age tracer, the inflowing water masses could be tracked and their paths and timing through the different basins could be reproduced and investigated. The analysis is supported by the recently developed Total Exchange Flow (TEF) to quantify the volume transport in different salinity classes. To account for uncertainties in the modeled velocity and tracer fields, a Monte Carlo Analysis (MCA) is applied to correct possible biases and errors. With the help of the MCA, 95% confidence intervals are computed for the transport estimates. Based on the MCA, the "best guess" of the volume transport is 291.0 ± 13.65 km3 and 3.89 ± 0.18 Gt for the total salt transport.

Indicator Properties of Baltic Zooplankton for Classification of Environmental Status within Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

PubMed

Gorokhova, Elena; Lehtiniemi, Maiju; Postel, Lutz; Rubene, Gunta; Amid, Callis; Lesutiene, Jurate; Uusitalo, Laura; Strake, Solvita; Demereckiene, Natalja

2016-01-01

The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires the EU Member States to estimate the level of anthropogenic impacts on their marine systems using 11 Descriptors. Assessing food web response to altered habitats is addressed by Descriptor 4 and its indicators, which are being developed for regional seas. However, the development of simple foodweb indicators able to assess the health of ecologically diverse, spatially variable and complex interactions is challenging. Zooplankton is a key element in marine foodwebs and thus comprise an important part of overall ecosystem health. Here, we review work on zooplankton indicator development using long-term data sets across the Baltic Sea and report the main findings. A suite of zooplankton community metrics were evaluated as putative ecological indicators that track community state in relation to Good Environmental Status (GES) criteria with regard to eutrophication and fish feeding conditions in the Baltic Sea. On the basis of an operational definition of GES, we propose mean body mass of zooplankton in the community in combination with zooplankton stock measured as either abundance or biomass to be applicable as an integrated indicator that could be used within the Descriptor 4 in the Baltic Sea. These metrics performed best in predicting zooplankton being in-GES when considering all datasets evaluated. However, some other metrics, such as copepod biomass, the contribution of copepods to the total zooplankton biomass or biomass-based Cladocera: Copepoda ratio, were equally reliable or even superior in certain basin-specific assessments. Our evaluation suggests that in several basins of the Baltic Sea, zooplankton communities currently appear to be out-of-GES, being comprised by smaller zooplankters and having lower total abundance or biomass compared to the communities during the reference conditions; however, the changes in the taxonomic structure underlying these trends vary widely across the sea basins due to

Dissent and Nationalism in the Soviet Baltic.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

and which, in the final analysis, also has an internal policing function, is manned on the principle of extraterri- toriality, which means that local...descriptor of current antiestablish- ment activities and attitudes in the Baltic region. The common mean - ing of "dissent," i.e., deviation by a minority...denied any means of support. The regime’s intentions to eradicate the Catholic religion in Lithuania were unmistakable. Despite the critical situation in

Salinity Gradient of the Baltic Sea Limits the Reproduction and Population Expansion of the Newly Invaded Comb Jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi

PubMed Central

Jaspers, Cornelia; Møller, Lene Friis; Kiørboe, Thomas

2011-01-01

The recent invasion of the comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi into northern European waters is of major public and scientific concern. One of the key features making M. leidyi a successful invader is its high fecundity combined with fast growth rates. However, little is known about physiological limitations to its reproduction and consequent possible abiotic restrictions to its dispersal. To evaluate the invasion potential of M. leidyi into the brackish Baltic Sea we studied in situ egg production rates in different regions and at different salinities in the laboratory, representing the salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. During October 2009 M. leidyi actively reproduced over large areas of the Baltic Sea. Egg production rates scaled with animal size but decreased significantly with decreasing salinity, both in the field (7–29) and in laboratory experiments (6–33). Temperature and zooplankton, i.e. food abundance, could not explain the observed differences. Reproduction rates at conditions representing the Kattegat, south western and central Baltic Sea, respectively, were 2.8 fold higher at the highest salinities (33 and 25) than at intermediate salinities (10 and 15) and 21 times higher compared from intermediate to the lowest salinity tested (6). Higher salinity areas such as the Kattegat, and to a lower extent the south western Baltic, seem to act as source regions for the M. leidyi population in the central Baltic Sea where a self-sustaining population, due to the low salinity, cannot be maintained. PMID:21887373

Building a Global Ocean Science Education Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scowcroft, G. A.; Tuddenham, P. T.; Pizziconi, R.

2016-02-01

It is imperative for ocean science education to be closely linked to ocean science research. This is especially important for research that addresses global concerns that cross national boundaries, including climate related issues. The results of research on these critical topics must find its way to the public, educators, and students of all ages around the globe. To facilitate this, opportunities are needed for ocean scientists and educators to convene and identify priorities and strategies for ocean science education. On June 26 and 27, 2015 the first Global Ocean Science Education (GOSE) Workshop was convened in the United States at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. The workshop, sponsored by the Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE) and the College of Exploration, had over 75 participants representing 15 nations. The workshop addressed critical global ocean science topics, current ocean science research and education priorities, advanced communication technologies, and leveraging international ocean research technologies. In addition, panels discussed elementary, secondary, undergraduate, graduate, and public education across the ocean basins with emphasis on opportunities for international collaboration. Special presentation topics included advancements in tropical cyclone forecasting, collaborations among Pacific Islands, ocean science for coastal resiliency, and trans-Atlantic collaboration. This presentation will focus on workshop outcomes as well as activities for growing a global ocean science education network. A summary of the workshop report will also be provided. The dates and location for the 2016 GOES Workshop will be announced. See http://www.coexploration.net/gose/index.html

36 year trends in dissolved organic carbon export from Finnish rivers to the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Räike, Antti; Kortelainen, Pirkko; Mattsson, Tuija; Thomas, David N

2012-10-01

Increasing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in lakes, rivers and streams in northern mid latitudes have been widely reported during the last two decades, but relatively few studies have dealt with trends in DOC export. We studied the export of DOC from Finnish rivers to the Baltic Sea between 1975 and 2010, and estimated trends in DOC fluxes (both flow normalised and non-normalised). The study encompassed the whole Finnish Baltic Sea catchment area (301,000 km(2)) covering major land use patterns in the boreal zone. Finnish rivers exported annually over 900,000 t DOC to the Baltic Sea, and the mean area specific export was 3.5 t km(-2). The highest export (7.3t km(-2)) was measured in peat dominated catchments, whereas catchments rich in lakes had the lowest export (2.2 t km(-2)). Inter-annual variation in DOC export was high and controlled mainly by hydrology. There was no overall trend in the annual water flow, although winter flow increased in northern Finland over 36 years. Despite the numerous studies showing increases in DOC concentrations in streams and rivers in the northern hemisphere, we could not find any evidence of increases in DOC export to the northern Baltic Sea from Finnish catchments since 1975. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research use of the AIDA www.2aida.org diabetes software simulation program: a review-part 1. decision support testing and neural network training.

PubMed

Lehmann, Eldon D

2003-01-01

The purpose of this two-part review is to overview research use of the AIDA diabetes software simulator. AIDA is a diabetes computer program that permits the interactive simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose profiles for teaching, demonstration, and self-learning purposes. It has been made freely available, without charge, on the Internet as a noncommercial contribution to continuing diabetes education. Since its launch in 1996 over 300,000 visits have been logged at the main AIDA Website-www.2aida.org-and over 60,000 copies of the AIDA program have been downloaded free-of-charge. This review describes research projects and ventures, undertaken for the most part by other research workers in the diabetes computing field, that have made use of the freeware AIDA software. Relevant research work was identified in three main ways: (i) by personal (e-mail/written) communications from researchers, (ii) via the ISI Web of Science citation database to identify published articles that referred to AIDA-related papers, and (iii) via searches on the Internet. In a number of cases research students who had sought advice about AIDA, and diabetes computing in general, provided copies of their research dissertations/theses upon the completion of their projects. The two reviews highlight some of the many and varied research projects that have made use of the AIDA diabetes simulation software to date. A wide variety of diabetes computing topics have been addressed. In Part 1 of the review, these range from testing decision support prototypes to training artificial neural networks. In Part 2 of the review, issues surrounding dietary assessments, developing new diabetes models, and performance monitoring of closed-loop insulin delivery devices are considered. Overall, research projects making use of AIDA have been identified in Australia, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These reviews confirm an unexpected but useful benefit of distributing

Costs and benefits of low-sulphur fuel standard for Baltic Sea shipping.

PubMed

Antturi, Jim; Hänninen, Otto; Jalkanen, Jukka-Pekka; Johansson, Lasse; Prank, Marje; Sofiev, Mikhail; Ollikainen, Markku

2016-12-15

The maximum allowable fuel sulphur content for shipping in the Baltic Sea dropped from 1%S to 0.1%S in 1 January 2015. We provide a cost-benefit analysis of the sulphur reduction policy in the Baltic Sea Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA). We calculated the abatement costs based on shipowners' optimal decision-making in choosing between low-sulphur fuel and a sulphur scrubber, and the benefits were modelled through a high-resolution impact pathway analysis, which took into account the formation and dispersion of the emissions, and considered the positive health impacts resulting from lowered ambient PM 2.5 concentrations. Our basic result indicates that for the Baltic Sea only, the latest sulphur regulation is not cost-effective. The expected annual cost is roughly €465 M and benefit 2200 saved Disability Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) or monetized €105 M. Based on our sensitivity analysis, the benefits yet have a potential to exceed the costs. The analysis neither takes into account the acidifying impact of sulphur nor the impact North Sea shipping has on the cost-benefit ratio. Lastly, a similar approach is found highly recommendable to study the implications of the upcoming Tier III NO x standard for shipping. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plastic pollution on the Baltic beaches of Kaliningrad region, Russia.

PubMed

Esiukova, Elena

2017-01-30

Contamination of sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea in Kaliningrad region is evaluated on the base of surveys carried out from June 2015 to January 2016. Quantity of macro/meso/microplastic objects in the upper 2cm of the sandy sediments of the wrack zone at 13 sampling sites all along the Russian coast is reported. Occurrence of paraffin and amber pieces at the same sites is pointed out. Special attention is paid to microplastics (range 0.5-5mm): its content ranges between 1.3 and 36.3 items per kg dry sediment. The prevailing found type is foamed plastic. No sound differences in contamination are discovered between beaches with high and low anthropogenic load. Mean level of contamination is of the same order of magnitude as has been reported by other authors for the Baltic Sea beaches. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nitrogen in the Baltic Sea--policy implications of stock effects.

PubMed

Hart, Rob; Brady, Mark

2002-09-01

We develop an optimal control model for cost-effective management of pollution, including two state variables, pollution stock and ecosystem quality. We apply it to Baltic Sea pollution by nitrogen leachates from agriculture. We present a sophisticated, non-linear model of leaching abatement costs, and a simple model of nitrogen stocks. We find that significant abatement is achievable at reasonable cost, despite the countervailing effects of existing agricultural policies such as price supports. Successful abatement should lead to lower nitrogen stocks in the sea in 5 years or less. However, the rate of ecosystem recovery is less certain. The results are highly dependent on the rate of self-cleaning of the Baltic Sea, and less so on the discount rate. Choice of target has a radical effect on the abatement path chosen. Cost-effectiveness demands such a choice, and should therefore be used with care when stock effects are present.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Counterproliferation Papers, Future Warfare Series, Number 54)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

parts to detect a nuclear explosion: seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide. Figure 3. CTBTO International Monitoring System Sites26...Conference,” (Oct. 14, 2009), www.armscontrol.org.. [17] from earthquakes and mining explosions, but have proved effective in detecting past nuclear...hydroacoustic monitoring stations detect sound waves in the oceans, and the 60 infrasound stations detect above ground, ultra-low frequency sound waves

Two centuries of extreme events over the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stendel, Martin; den Besselaar Else, van; Abdel, Hannachi; Jaak, Jaagus; Elizabeth, Kent; Christiana, Lefebvre; Gudrun, Rosenhagen; Anna, Rutgersson; Frederik, Schenk; der Schrier Gerard, van; Tim, Woolings

2017-04-01

Two centuries of extreme events over the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions In the framework of the BACC 2 (for the Baltic Sea) and NOSCCA projects (for the North Sea region), studies of past and present variability and changes in atmospheric variables within the North Sea region over the instrumental period (roughly the past 200 years) have been investigated. Findings on trends in temperature and precipitation have already been presented. Here we focus on data homogeneity issues and examine how reliable reanalyses are in this context. Unlike most other regions in the world, there is a wealth of old observations available for the Baltic and North Sea regions, most of it in handwritten form in meteorological journals and other publications. These datasets need to be carefully digitised and homogenized. For this, a thorough quality control must be applied; otherwise the digitised datasets may prove useless or even counterproductive. We present evidence that this step cannot be conducted without human interference and thus cannot be fully automated. Furthermore, inhomogeneities due to e.g. instrumentation and station relocations need to be addressed. A wealth of reanalysis products is available, which can help detect such inhomogeneities in observed time series, but at the same time are prone to biases and/or spurious trends themselves e.g. introduced by changes in the availability and quality of the underlying assimilated data. It therefore in general remains unclear in how far we can simulate the pre-satellite era with respect to homogeneity with reanalyses based only on parts of the observing system. Extreme events and changes in extreme situations are more important and of greater (societal) significance than changes in mean climate. However, changes in extreme weather events are difficult to assess not only because they are, per definition, rare events, but also due to the homogeneity issues outlined above. Taking these into account, we present evidence for changes

Meteorological conditions influencing the formation of level ice within the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazur, A. K.; Krezel, A.

2012-12-01

The Baltic Sea is covered by ice every winter and on average, the ice-covered area is 45% of the total area of the Baltic Sea. The beginning of ice season usually starts in the end of November, ice extent is the largest between mid-February and mid-March and sea ice disappears completely in May. The ice covered areas during a typical winter are the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga. The studies of sea ice in the Baltic Sea are related to two aspects: climate and marine transport. Depending on the local weather conditions during the winter different types of sea ice can be formed. From the point of winter shipping it is important to locate level and deformed ice areas (rafted ice, ridged ice, and hummocked ice). Because of cloud and daylight independency as well as good spatial resolution, SAR data seems to be the most suitable source of data for sea ice observation in the comparatively small area of the Baltic Sea. We used ASAR Wide Swath Mode data with spatial resolution 150 m. We analyzed data from the three winter seasons which were examples of severe, typical and mild winters. To remove the speckle effect the data were resampled to 250 m pixel size and filtred using Frost filter 5x5. To detect edges we used Sobel filter. The data were also converted into grayscale. Sea ice classification was based on Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA). Object-based methods are not a common tool in sea ice studies but they seem to accurately separate level ice within the ice pack. The data were segmented and classified using eCognition Developer software. Level ice were classified based on texture features defined by Haralick (Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix homogeneity, GLCM contrast, GLCM entropy and GLCM correlation). The long-term changes of the Baltic Sea ice conditions have been already studied. They include date of freezing, date of break-up, sea ice extent and some of work also ice thickness. There is a little knowledge about the relationship of

Breaker zone aerosol dynamics in the southern Baltic Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zielinski, T.; Zielinski, A.

This paper presents the results of lidar based investigations of aerosol concentrations and their size distributions over the breaker zones. The measurements were carried out under various weather conditions over breaker zones of the Gulf of Gdansk (1992) and from a station on the open Baltic Sea (International Experiment BAEX in 1993).

Autonomous observing platform CO2 data shed new light on the Southern Ocean carbon cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olsen, Are

2017-06-01

While the number of surface ocean CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) measurements has soared the recent decades, the Southern Ocean remains undersampled. Williams et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GB005541) now present pCO2 estimates based on data from pH-sensor equipped Bio-Argo floats, which have been measuring in the Southern Ocean since 2014. The authors demonstrate the utility of these data for understanding the carbon cycle in this region, which has a large influence on the distribution of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. Biogeochemical sensors deployed on autonomous platforms hold the potential to shape our view of the ocean carbon cycle in the coming decades.

Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education: A collective story of Estonian adult educators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jõgi, Larissa; Karu, Katrin

2017-03-01

Adult Education has many values, including experiences and co-operation among people, and the fact that adult education is full of stories from adult educators, which can help to understand trends in the past and developments in the present. Established in 1991 as part of a more general regional cooperation among five Nordic and three Baltic countries (NB8), Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education has been mutually enriching and has resulted in the growth of a professional network. The cooperation has led participants through a time of new sources of values, knowledge and contacts, socialisation and transformation, inspiration and challenges, which has influenced their experiences and professional identities. This paper is based on the results of a study entitled "Nordic-Baltic cooperation in adult education: Experience and stories" and focuses on the experiences and professional identities of two generations of Estonian adult educators. The empirical data for the study were collected using narrative-biographical interviews. The paper discusses two research questions: (1) What is the perception and influence of experiences for adult educators? and (2) How have their experiences influenced the professional identity of adult educators?

Ocean Data from MODIS at the NASA Goddard DAAC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, Gregory G.; Wharton, Stephen (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Terra satellite carrying the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was successfully launched on December 18, 1999. Some of the 36 different wavelengths that MODIS samples have never before been measured from space. New ocean data products, which have not been derived on a global scale before, are made available for research to the scientific community. For example, MODIS uses a new split window in the four-micron region for the better measurement of Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and provides the unprecedented ability (683 nm band) to measure chlorophyll fluorescence. At full ocean production, more than a thousand different ocean products in three major categories (ocean color, sea surface temperature, and ocean primary production) are archived at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at the rate of approx. 230GB/day. The challenge is to distribute such large volumes of data to the ocean community. It is achieved through a combination of public and restricted EOS Data Gateways, the GES DAAC Search and Order WWW interface, and an FTP site that contains samples of MODIS data. A new Search and Order WWW interface at http://acdisx.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/ developed at the GES DAAC is based on a hierarchical organization of data, will always return non-zero results. It has a very convenient geographical representation of five-minute data granule coverage for each day MODIS Data Support Team (MDST) continues the tradition of quality support at the GES DAAC for the ocean color data from the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) and the Sea Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) by providing expert assistance to users in accessing data products, information on visualization tools, documentation for data products and formats (Hierarchical Data Format-Earth Observing System (HDF-EOS)), information on the scientific content of products and metadata. Visit the MDST website at http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN DOCS/MODIS/index.html

The SURA Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction (SCOOP) Program: Adapting Web 2.0 technologies to power next generation science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogden, P.; Partners, S.

2008-12-01

The Web 2.0 has helped globalize the economy and change social interactions, but the full impact on coastal sciences has yet to be realized. The SCOOP program (www.OpenIOOS.org/about/sura.html), an initiative of the Coastal Research Committee of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), has been using Web 2.0 technologies to create infrastructure for a multi-disciplinary Distributed Coastal Laboratory (DCL). In the spirit of the Web 2.0, SCOOP strives to provide an open-access virtual facility where "virtual visiting" scientists can log in, perform experiments (e.g., evaluate new wetting/drying algorithms in several different inundation models), potentially contribute to the assembly of resources (e.g., leave their algorithms for others), and then move on. The SCOOP prototype has focused on storm surge and waves (the initial science focus), and integrates a real-time data network to evaluate the predictions. The multi-purpose SCOOP components support a sensor-web initiative (www.OOSTethys.org) that is co-led by SURA. SCOOP also includes portals with real-time visualization, workflow configuration and decision-tool prototypes (www.OpenIOOS.org), powered by distributed computing resources from multiple universities across the nation (www.sura.org/SURAgrid). Based on our experience, we propose three key ingredients for initiatives to have the biggest impact on coastal science: (1) standards, (2) working prototypes and (3) communities of interest. We strongly endorse the Open Geospatial Consortium - a geospatial analog of the World Wide Web consortium - and other international consensus-standards bodies that engage government, private sector and academic involvement. But these standards are often highly complex, which can be an impediment to their use. We have overcome such hurdles with the second key ingredient: a focused working prototype. The prototype should include guides and resources that make it easy for others to apply, test, and revise the

Tolerance and potential for adaptation of a Baltic Sea rockweed under predicted climate change conditions.

PubMed

Rugiu, Luca; Manninen, Iita; Rothäusler, Eva; Jormalainen, Veijo

2018-03-01

Climate change is threating species' persistence worldwide. To predict species responses to climate change we need information not just on their environmental tolerance but also on its adaptive potential. We tested how the foundation species of rocky littoral habitats, Fucus vesiculosus, responds to combined hyposalinity and warming projected to the Baltic Sea by 2070-2099. We quantified responses of replicated populations originating from the entrance, central, and marginal Baltic regions. Using replicated individuals, we tested for the presence of within-population tolerance variation. Future conditions hampered growth and survival of the central and marginal populations whereas the entrance populations fared well. Further, both the among- and within-population variation in responses to climate change indicated existence of genetic variation in tolerance. Such standing genetic variation provides the raw material necessary for adaptation to a changing environment, which may eventually ensure the persistence of the species in the inner Baltic Sea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Russian Dreams and Prussian Ghosts: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University and Debates over Historical Memory and Identity in Kaliningrad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarkson, Alexander

2017-01-01

This article examines how the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University and the Kaliningrad State Technical University have come to exert considerable influence over debates surrounding historical memory and identity in the Kaliningrad region. Under the direct control of the Russian Federation, the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad is surrounded by…

A user-friendly workflow for analysis of Illumina gene expression bead array data available at the arrayanalysis.org portal.

PubMed

Eijssen, Lars M T; Goelela, Varshna S; Kelder, Thomas; Adriaens, Michiel E; Evelo, Chris T; Radonjic, Marijana

2015-06-30

Illumina whole-genome expression bead arrays are a widely used platform for transcriptomics. Most of the tools available for the analysis of the resulting data are not easily applicable by less experienced users. ArrayAnalysis.org provides researchers with an easy-to-use and comprehensive interface to the functionality of R and Bioconductor packages for microarray data analysis. As a modular open source project, it allows developers to contribute modules that provide support for additional types of data or extend workflows. To enable data analysis of Illumina bead arrays for a broad user community, we have developed a module for ArrayAnalysis.org that provides a free and user-friendly web interface for quality control and pre-processing for these arrays. This module can be used together with existing modules for statistical and pathway analysis to provide a full workflow for Illumina gene expression data analysis. The module accepts data exported from Illumina's GenomeStudio, and provides the user with quality control plots and normalized data. The outputs are directly linked to the existing statistics module of ArrayAnalysis.org, but can also be downloaded for further downstream analysis in third-party tools. The Illumina bead arrays analysis module is available at http://www.arrayanalysis.org . A user guide, a tutorial demonstrating the analysis of an example dataset, and R scripts are available. The module can be used as a starting point for statistical evaluation and pathway analysis provided on the website or to generate processed input data for a broad range of applications in life sciences research.

Challenges for the Baltic Sea Regional Stability

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

statements show that Russia still has ambitions to expand her influence and control over the Baltic Sea region. Reduction of U.S. military presence in Europe...combat support units during 2013-2015, such as A-10 squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, the 603rd Air Control Squadron at Aviano Air Base in ...other hand, such continued cooperation in the period of defense austerity would be the main option for sharing and reaching cost effectiveness

Silicon dynamics in the Oder estuary, Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastuszak, Marianna; Conley, Daniel J.; Humborg, Christoph; Witek, Zbigniew; Sitek, Stanisław

2008-10-01

Studies on dissolved silicate (DSi) and biogenic silica (BSi) dynamics were carried out in the Oder estuary, Baltic Sea in 2000-2005. The Oder estuary proved to be an important component of the Oder River-Baltic Sea continuum where very intensive seasonal DSi uptake during spring and autumn, but also BSi regeneration during summer take place. Owing to the regeneration process annual DSi patterns in the river and the estuary distinctly differed; the annual patterns of DSi in the estuary showed two maxima and two minima in contrast to one maximum- and one minimum-pattern in the Oder River. DSi concentrations in the river and in the estuary were highest in winter (200-250 μmol dm - 3 ) and lowest (often less than 1 μmol dm - 3 ) in spring, concomitant with diatom growth; such low values are known to be limiting for new diatom growth. Secondary DSi summer peaks at the estuary exit exceeded 100 μmol dm - 3 , and these maxima were followed by autumn minima coinciding with the autumn diatom bloom. Seasonal peaks in BSi concentrations (ca. 100 μmol dm - 3 ) occurred during the spring diatom bloom in the Oder River. Mass balance calculations of DSi and BSi showed that DSi + BSi import to the estuary over a two year period was 103.2 kt and that can be compared with the DSi export of 98.5 kt. The difference between these numbers gives room for ca. 2.5 kt BSi to be annually exported to the Baltic Sea. Sediment cores studies point to BSi annual accumulation on the level of 2.5 kt BSi. BSi import to the estuary is on the level of ca. 10.5 kt, thus ca. 5 kt of BSi is annually converted into the DSi, increasing the pool of DSi that leaves the system. BSi concentrations being ca. 2 times higher at the estuary entrance than at its exit remain in a good agreement with the DSi and BSi budgeting presented in the paper.

Seal dynamics on the Swedish west coast: Scenarios of competition as Baltic grey seal intrude on harbour seal territory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svensson, Carl Johan

2012-07-01

The Kattegat-Skagerrak region on the Swedish west coast is home to an abundant harbour seal population (Phoca vitulina) and a small scattered grey seal population (Halichoerus grypus). In addition, grey seal from the growing population in the Baltic Sea frequently migrate into the Kattegat-Skagerrak. Harbour seals on the west coast of Sweden show relatively high population growth (approximately 9%) compared to the Baltic grey seal in ice-free habitats (approximately 6%), which, in theory, makes harbour seal the stronger competitor of the two in this region. However, incidents of disease in harbour seals that lower population growth are becoming more frequent. These epidemics are primarily caused by the Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV), and may reduce population size with up to 70%. This study models the average development under potential scenarios of competing harbour- and Baltic grey seal populations using Leslie matrices and the Lotka-Volterra model of inter-specific competition. The model is parameterised with previously published data, and resource overlap is incorporated through density dependent pup survival. Using numerical methods short- and long-term abundances are simulated under weak, moderate and strong competition and for different frequencies of PDV epidemics. Results show that the harbour seals are resilient to competition while exerting a negative effect on grey seal abundance under moderate to strong competition. Hence Baltic grey seal benefit from weaker levels of competition. Under moderate and strong competition grey seal abundance is a direct function of the PDV frequency as this reduces the competitive strength of harbour seals. Theoretically this means that higher frequencies of PDV or other pathogens epidemics could facilitate an expansion of Baltic grey seal into Kattegat-Skagerrak. Independent of interaction strength and frequency of epidemics the projected changes to abundances are slow (50-100 years), and even in exceedingly stable

Decadal-scale changes of dinoflagellates and diatoms in the anomalous baltic sea spring bloom.

PubMed

Klais, Riina; Tamminen, Timo; Kremp, Anke; Spilling, Kristian; Olli, Kalle

2011-01-01

The algal spring bloom in the Baltic Sea represents an anomaly from the winter-spring bloom patterns worldwide in terms of frequent and recurring dominance of dinoflagellates over diatoms. Analysis of approximately 3500 spring bloom samples from the Baltic Sea monitoring programs revealed (i) that within the major basins the proportion of dinoflagellates varied from 0.1 (Kattegat) to >0.8 (central Baltic Proper), and (ii) substantial shifts (e.g. from 0.2 to 0.6 in the Gulf of Finland) in the dinoflagellate proportion over four decades. During a recent decade (1995-2004) the proportion of dinoflagellates increased relative to diatoms mostly in the northernmost basins (Gulf of Bothnia, from 0.1 to 0.4) and in the Gulf of Finland, (0.4 to 0.6) which are typically ice-covered areas. We hypothesize that in coastal areas a specific sequence of seasonal events, involving wintertime mixing and resuspension of benthic cysts, followed by proliferation in stratified thin layers under melting ice, favors successful seeding and accumulation of dense dinoflagellate populations over diatoms. This head-start of dinoflagellates by the onset of the spring bloom is decisive for successful competition with the faster growing diatoms. Massive cyst formation and spreading of cyst beds fuel the expanding and ever larger dinoflagellate blooms in the relatively shallow coastal waters. Shifts in the dominant spring bloom algal groups can have significant effects on major elemental fluxes and functioning of the Baltic Sea ecosystem, but also in the vast shelves and estuaries at high latitudes, where ice-associated cold-water dinoflagellates successfully compete with diatoms.

RES-E Support Policies In The Baltic States: Development Aspect (Part I)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobinaite, V.; Priedite, I.

2015-02-01

Despite quite similar conditions (natural resources) for electricity production from renewable energy sources (RES-E) in three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), significant differences exist in these countries as to the RES-E production volume. In Latvia this volume is the highest, while in Estonia and Lithuania it is half as high. One of the factors that determine the RES-E production volumes is support policies, which in the Baltic States are different. The main objective of this work was to analyze and compare these support policies. The results have shown that for rapid RES-E development the most effective policy is to be market-oriented (as in Estonia), whereas for more stable development such policy should be producer-oriented (as in Lithuania).

Legacy phosphorus in the Baltic Sea and implications for reversing eutrophication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCrackin, M. L.; Gustafsson, B.; Humborg, C.; Hong, B.; Svanbäck, A.; Swaney, D. P.; Viktorsson, L.

2015-12-01

Eutrophication has depleted concentrations of dissolved oxygen in bottom waters of the Baltic Sea, resulting in the world's largest "dead" zone. A number of measures have been implemented to reduce nutrient inputs and, indeed, between 1995 and 2012 phosphorus (P) loads to the sea deceased 19%. The long-term accumulation and subsequent release of P from both the catchment and marine sediments combined with 30-year water residence times could significantly delay recovery from eutrophication. We estimated net P accumulation (legacy P) for the Baltic Sea using the Net Anthropogenic Phosphorus Inputs (NAPI) approach and historical records of food and feed trade and riverine fluxes. Net P inputs to the catchment peaked at 0.7 million tons per year during the 1970's and since the political and economical changes in Eastern Europe during the 1990's, decreased to 0.2-0.3 million tons per year. P accumulation on land is ten times greater than accumulation in the sea (20 million and 2 million tons, respectively). Of the P retained on land, the majority (18-19 million tons) is in agricultural lands, with the balance in lake sediments. Of the 2 million tons in the sea, two-thirds are in sediments and one-third in the water column. The success of nutrient management actions in reducing river nutrient fluxes will lead to improvement in the Baltic Sea environment, but the massive accumulation of P on land will complicate efforts to achieve complete recovery.

Microplastic concentrations in beach sediments along the German Baltic coast.

PubMed

Stolte, Andrea; Forster, Stefan; Gerdts, Gunnar; Schubert, Hendrik

2015-10-15

The contamination with microplastic particles and fibres was evaluated on beaches along the German Baltic coast. Sediments were sampled near the Warnow and Oder/Peene estuaries, on Rügen island and along the Rostock coast to derive possible entry pathways. Seasonal variations were monitored along the Rostock coast from March to July 2014. After density separation in saline solution, floating particles were found to be dominated by sand grains. Water surface tension is shown to be sufficient to explain floatation of grains with sizes less than 1.5mm. Selecting intensely coloured particles and fibres, we find lower limits of the microplastic concentrations of 0-7 particles/kg and 2-11 fibres/kg dry sediment. The largest microplastic contaminations are measured at the Peene outlet into the Baltic Sea and in the North Sea Jade Bay. City discharges, industrial production sites, fishing activity and tourism are the most likely sources for the highest microplastic concentrations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new proposal concerning the botanical origin of Baltic amber.

PubMed

Wolfe, Alexander P; Tappert, Ralf; Muehlenbachs, Karlis; Boudreau, Marc; McKellar, Ryan C; Basinger, James F; Garrett, Amber

2009-10-07

Baltic amber constitutes the largest known deposit of fossil plant resin and the richest repository of fossil insects of any age. Despite a remarkable legacy of archaeological, geochemical and palaeobiological investigation, the botanical origin of this exceptional resource remains controversial. Here, we use taxonomically explicit applications of solid-state Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy, coupled with multivariate clustering and palaeobotanical observations, to propose that conifers of the family Sciadopityaceae, closely allied to the sole extant representative, Sciadopitys verticillata, were involved in the genesis of Baltic amber. The fidelity of FTIR-based chemotaxonomic inferences is upheld by modern-fossil comparisons of resins from additional conifer families and genera (Cupressaceae: Metasequoia; Pinaceae: Pinus and Pseudolarix). Our conclusions challenge hypotheses advocating members of either of the families Araucariaceae or Pinaceae as the primary amber-producing trees and correlate favourably with the progressive demise of subtropical forest biomes from northern Europe as palaeotemperatures cooled following the Eocene climate optimum.

A new proposal concerning the botanical origin of Baltic amber

PubMed Central

Wolfe, Alexander P.; Tappert, Ralf; Muehlenbachs, Karlis; Boudreau, Marc; McKellar, Ryan C.; Basinger, James F.; Garrett, Amber

2009-01-01

Baltic amber constitutes the largest known deposit of fossil plant resin and the richest repository of fossil insects of any age. Despite a remarkable legacy of archaeological, geochemical and palaeobiological investigation, the botanical origin of this exceptional resource remains controversial. Here, we use taxonomically explicit applications of solid-state Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy, coupled with multivariate clustering and palaeobotanical observations, to propose that conifers of the family Sciadopityaceae, closely allied to the sole extant representative, Sciadopitys verticillata, were involved in the genesis of Baltic amber. The fidelity of FTIR-based chemotaxonomic inferences is upheld by modern–fossil comparisons of resins from additional conifer families and genera (Cupressaceae: Metasequoia; Pinaceae: Pinus and Pseudolarix). Our conclusions challenge hypotheses advocating members of either of the families Araucariaceae or Pinaceae as the primary amber-producing trees and correlate favourably with the progressive demise of subtropical forest biomes from northern Europe as palaeotemperatures cooled following the Eocene climate optimum. PMID:19570786

Ship Noise in the SW Indian Ocean Recorded by Ocean Bottom Seismic and Hydroacoustic Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barruol, G.; Dreo, R.; Fontaine, F. R.; Scholz, J. R.; Sigloch, K.

2016-12-01

In the frame of the RHUM-RUM project (Réunion Hotspot and Upper Mantle - Réunions Unterer Mantel, www.rhum-rum.net), a network of 57 ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) has been installed on the ocean floor around La Réunion Island, but also on the neighbouring Southwest and Central Indian Ridges. The OBS were equipped by wide- and broad-band three-components seismic and hydroacoustic sensors. They were deployed in Nov. 2012, and depending on the configuration, they recorded for 8 to 13 months. Interestingly, part of the network was located beneath a NE-SW trending lane of very dense ship traffic connecting SE-Asia and the South-Atlantic region. By combining the vessel position - provided by AIS GPS data - and our geophysical data recorded on the ocean floor, we analyze the seismic and hydroacoustic ship signatures. From spectral analyzes, we show clear signals over the whole high-frequency range available from our instruments (between 1 and 50 Hz). The RHUM-RUM network covering latitude between 17 and 34° South, this allows to detect numerous vessels and to compare the noise characteristics (frequency content, polarization) of each vessel. We also investigate the possibility of using the polarization of the noise emitted by ships passing above an ocean-bottom seismometer, to help retrieving the orientation of the OBS horizontal components on the ocean floor in the geographic reference frame.

Framing environmental risks in the Baltic Sea: a news media analysis.

PubMed

Jönsson, Anna Maria

2011-03-01

Scientific complexity and uncertainty is a key challenge for environmental risk governance and to understand how risks are framed and communicated is of utmost importance. The Baltic Sea ecosystem is stressed and exposed to different risks like eutrophication, overfishing, and hazardous chemicals. Based on an analysis of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, this study discusses media representations of these risks. The results show that the reporting on the Baltic Sea has been fairly stable since the beginning of the 1990s. Many articles acknowledge several risks, but eutrophication receives the most attention and is also considered the biggest threat. Authorities, experts, organizations, and politicians are the dominating actors, while citizens and industry representatives are more or less invisible. Eutrophication is not framed in terms of uncertainty concerning the risk and consequences, but rather in terms of main causes.

Impaired immune function in seals and laboratory rats exposed to dioxin-like compounds from Baltic herring

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ross, P.S.; Swart, R.L. de; Timmerman, H.H.

Complex mixtures of lipophilic contaminants have been shown to affect certain top predators in the aquatic food chain, including seals. A recent demonstration that harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) fed Baltic Sea herring displayed impaired natural killer cell activity and T-lymphocyte function represented the first demonstration of immunotoxicity induced by ambient levels of contaminants in the environment. While these animals had a lower ability to respond to immunizations with inactivated vaccines, specific antibody responses, and in vitro antigen-specific lymphoproliferative responses, obvious constraints limited the ability to extend these results with host resistance tests or an evaluation of thymus and other lymphoidmore » organs. The authors therefore set up a parallel study by exposing pregnant laboratory rats to the same Baltic herring contaminant mixture as received the seals. They then examined immune function parameters and host resistance to virus infection. As in the seals, rat pups of the Baltic group had impaired T-lymphocyte function. In addition, thymus cells and/or their precursors appeared to be targeted, as their numbers and function were reduced in the rats. Following challenge with rat cytomegalovirus in a host resistance study, rat pups in the Baltic group had impaired natural killer cell responses to the virus infection, and lower specific CD8 + (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte) responses following in vitro stimulation. By extrapolation, these results suggest that the impaired immune responses observed in the Baltic group of seals may lead to a less effective defense against virus infections in marine mammals inhabiting polluted coastal waters. Toxicological profiles and results of both the captive seal and laboratory rat experiments tend to implicate the 2,3,7,8-TCDD-like PCB, dioxin and furan congeners in the immunosuppression, and point to a major role for the PCBs.« less

An update to the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT version 2)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakker, D. C. E.; Pfeil, B.; Smith, K.; Hankin, S.; Olsen, A.; Alin, S. R.; Cosca, C.; Harasawa, S.; Kozyr, A.; Nojiri, Y.; O'Brien, K. M.; Schuster, U.; Telszewski, M.; Tilbrook, B.; Wada, C.; Akl, J.; Barbero, L.; Bates, N. R.; Boutin, J.; Bozec, Y.; Cai, W.-J.; Castle, R. D.; Chavez, F. P.; Chen, L.; Chierici, M.; Currie, K.; de Baar, H. J. W.; Evans, W.; Feely, R. A.; Fransson, A.; Gao, Z.; Hales, B.; Hardman-Mountford, N. J.; Hoppema, M.; Huang, W.-J.; Hunt, C. W.; Huss, B.; Ichikawa, T.; Johannessen, T.; Jones, E. M.; Jones, S. D.; Jutterström, S.; Kitidis, V.; Körtzinger, A.; Landschützer, P.; Lauvset, S. K.; Lefèvre, N.; Manke, A. B.; Mathis, J. T.; Merlivat, L.; Metzl, N.; Murata, A.; Newberger, T.; Omar, A. M.; Ono, T.; Park, G.-H.; Paterson, K.; Pierrot, D.; Ríos, A. F.; Sabine, C. L.; Saito, S.; Salisbury, J.; Sarma, V. V. S. S.; Schlitzer, R.; Sieger, R.; Skjelvan, I.; Steinhoff, T.; Sullivan, K. F.; Sun, H.; Sutton, A. J.; Suzuki, T.; Sweeney, C.; Takahashi, T.; Tjiputra, J.; Tsurushima, N.; van Heuven, S. M. A. C.; Vandemark, D.; Vlahos, P.; Wallace, D. W. R.; Wanninkhof, R.; Watson, A. J.

2014-03-01

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT), an activity of the international marine carbon research community, provides access to synthesis and gridded fCO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) products for the surface oceans. Version 2 of SOCAT is an update of the previous release (version 1) with more data (increased from 6.3 million to 10.1 million surface water fCO2 values) and extended data coverage (from 1968-2007 to 1968-2011). The quality control criteria, while identical in both versions, have been applied more strictly in version 2 than in version 1. The SOCAT website (http://www.socat.info/) has links to quality control comments, metadata, individual data set files, and synthesis and gridded data products. Interactive online tools allow visitors to explore the richness of the data. Applications of SOCAT include process studies, quantification of the ocean carbon sink and its spatial, seasonal, year-to-year and longerterm variation, as well as initialisation or validation of ocean carbon models and coupled climate-carbon models. Data coverage Repository-References: Individual data set files and synthesis product: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.811776 Gridded products: doi:10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.SOCAT_V2_GRID Available at: http://www.socat.info/ Coverage: 79° S to 90° N; 180° W to 180° E Location Name: Global Oceans and Coastal Seas Date/Time Start: 16 November 1968 ate/Time End: 26 December 2011

Diversity of Pico- to Mesoplankton along the 2000 km Salinity Gradient of the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Hu, Yue O. O.; Karlson, Bengt; Charvet, Sophie; Andersson, Anders F.

2016-01-01

Microbial plankton form the productive base of both marine and freshwater ecosystems and are key drivers of global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients. Plankton diversity is immense with representations from all major phyla within the three domains of life. So far, plankton monitoring has mainly been based on microscopic identification, which has limited sensitivity and reproducibility, not least because of the numerical majority of plankton being unidentifiable under the light microscope. High-throughput sequencing of taxonomic marker genes offers a means to identify taxa inaccessible by traditional methods; thus, recent studies have unveiled an extensive previously unknown diversity of plankton. Here, we conducted ultra-deep Illumina sequencing (average 105 sequences/sample) of rRNA gene amplicons of surface water eukaryotic and bacterial plankton communities sampled in summer along a 2000 km transect following the salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. Community composition was strongly correlated with salinity for both bacterial and eukaryotic plankton assemblages, highlighting the importance of salinity for structuring the biodiversity within this ecosystem. In contrast, no clear trends in alpha-diversity for bacterial or eukaryotic communities could be detected along the transect. The distribution of major planktonic taxa followed expected patterns as observed in monitoring programs, but groups novel to the Baltic Sea were also identified, such as relatives to the coccolithophore Emiliana huxleyi detected in the northern Baltic Sea. This study provides the first ultra-deep sequencing-based survey on eukaryotic and bacterial plankton biogeography in the Baltic Sea. PMID:27242706

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Röhr, Maria Emilia; Boström, Christoffer; Canal-Vergés, Paula; Holmer, Marianne

2016-11-01

Although seagrasses cover only a minor fraction of the ocean seafloor, their carbon sink capacity accounts for nearly one-fifth of the total oceanic carbon burial and thus play a critical structural and functional role in many coastal ecosystems. We sampled 10 eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in Finland and 10 in Denmark to explore seagrass carbon stocks (Corg stock) and carbon accumulation rates (Corg accumulation) in the Baltic Sea area. The study sites represent a gradient from sheltered to exposed locations in both regions to reflect expected minimum and maximum stocks and accumulation. The Corg stock integrated over the top 25 cm of the sediment averaged 627 g C m-2 in Finland, while in Denmark the average Corg stock was over 6 times higher (4324 g C m-2). A conservative estimate of the total organic carbon pool in the regions ranged between 6.98 and 44.9 t C ha-1. Our results suggest that the Finnish eelgrass meadows are minor carbon sinks compared to the Danish meadows, and that majority of the Corg produced in the Finnish meadows is exported. Our analysis further showed that > 40 % of the variation in the Corg stocks was explained by sediment characteristics, i.e. dry density, porosity and silt content. In addition, our analysis show that the root : shoot ratio of Z. marina explained > 12 % and the contribution of Z. marina detritus to the sediment surface Corg pool explained > 10 % of the variation in the Corg stocks. The mean monetary value for the present carbon storage and carbon sink capacity of eelgrass meadows in Finland and Denmark, were 281 and 1809 EUR ha-1, respectively. For a more comprehensive picture of seagrass carbon storage capacity, we conclude that future blue carbon studies should, in a more integrative way, investigate the interactions between sediment biogeochemistry, seascape structure, plant species architecture and the hydrodynamic regime.

Past occurrences of hypoxia in the Baltic Sea and the role of climate variability, environmental change and human impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zillén, Lovisa; Conley, Daniel J.; Andrén, Thomas; Andrén, Elinor; Björck, Svante

2008-12-01

The hypoxic zone in the Baltic Sea has increased in area about four times since 1960 and widespread oxygen deficiency has severely reduced macro benthic communities below the halocline in the Baltic Proper and the Gulf of Finland, which in turn has affected food chain dynamics, fish habitats and fisheries in the entire Baltic Sea. The cause of increased hypoxia is believed to be enhanced eutrophication through increased anthropogenic input of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus. However, the spatial variability of hypoxia on long time-scales is poorly known: and so are the driving mechanisms. We review the occurrence of hypoxia in modern time (last c. 50 years), modern historical time (AD 1950-1800) and during the more distant past (the last c. 10 000 years) and explore the role of climate variability, environmental change and human impact. We present a compilation of proxy records of hypoxia (laminated sediments) based on long sediment cores from the Baltic Sea. The cumulated results show that the deeper depressions of the Baltic Sea have experienced intermittent hypoxia during most of the Holocene and that regular laminations started to form c. 8500-7800 cal. yr BP ago, in association with the formation of a permanent halocline at the transition between the Early Littorina Sea and the Littorina Sea s. str. Laminated sediments were deposited during three main periods (i.e. between c. 8000-4000, 2000-800 cal. yr BP and subsequent to AD 1800) which overlap the Holocene Thermal Maximum (c. 9000-5000 cal. yr BP), the Medieval Warm Period (c. AD 750-1200) and the modern historical period (AD 1800 to present) and coincide with intervals of high surface salinity (at least during the Littorina s. str.) and high total organic carbon content. This study implies that there may be a correlation between climate variability in the past and the state of the marine environment, where milder and dryer periods with less freshwater run-off correspond to increased salinities

Surface wave effects on water temperature in the Baltic Sea: simulations with the coupled NEMO-WAM model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alari, Victor; Staneva, Joanna; Breivik, Øyvind; Bidlot, Jean-Raymond; Mogensen, Kristian; Janssen, Peter

2016-08-01

Coupled circulation (NEMO) and wave model (WAM) system was used to study the effects of surface ocean waves on water temperature distribution and heat exchange at regional scale (the Baltic Sea). Four scenarios—including Stokes-Coriolis force, sea-state dependent energy flux (additional turbulent kinetic energy due to breaking waves), sea-state dependent momentum flux and the combination these forcings—were simulated to test the impact of different terms on simulated temperature distribution. The scenario simulations were compared to a control simulation, which included a constant wave-breaking coefficient, but otherwise was without any wave effects. The results indicate a pronounced effect of waves on surface temperature, on the distribution of vertical temperature and on upwelling's. Overall, when all three wave effects were accounted for, did the estimates of temperature improve compared to control simulation. During the summer, the wave-induced water temperature changes were up to 1 °C. In northern parts of the Baltic Sea, a warming of the surface layer occurs in the wave included simulations in summer months. This in turn reduces the cold bias between simulated and measured data, e.g. the control simulation was too cold compared to measurements. The warming is related to sea-state dependent energy flux. This implies that a spatio-temporally varying wave-breaking coefficient is necessary, because it depends on actual sea state. Wave-induced cooling is mostly observed in near-coastal areas and is the result of intensified upwelling in the scenario, when Stokes-Coriolis forcing is accounted for. Accounting for sea-state dependent momentum flux results in modified heat exchange at the water-air boundary which consequently leads to warming of surface water compared to control simulation.

Modeling riverine nutrient transport to the Baltic Sea: a large-scale approach.

PubMed

Mörth, Carl-Magnus; Humborg, Christoph; Eriksson, Hanna; Danielsson, Asa; Medina, Miguel Rodriguez; Löfgren, Stefan; Swaney, Dennis P; Rahm, Lars

2007-04-01

We developed for the first time a catchment model simulating simultaneously the nutrient land-sea fluxes from all 105 major watersheds within the Baltic Sea drainage area. A consistent modeling approach to all these major watersheds, i.e., a consistent handling of water fluxes (hydrological simulations) and loading functions (emission data), will facilitate a comparison of riverine nutrient transport between Baltic Sea subbasins that differ substantially. Hot spots of riverine emissions, such as from the rivers Vistula, Oder, and Daugava or from the Danish coast, can be easily demonstrated and the comparison between these hot spots, and the relatively unperturbed rivers in the northern catchments show decisionmakers where remedial actions are most effective to improve the environmental state of the Baltic Sea, and, secondly, what percentage reduction of riverine nutrient loads is possible. The relative difference between measured and simulated fluxes during the validation period was generally small. The cumulative deviation (i.e., relative bias) [Sigma(Simulated - Measured)/Sigma Measured x 100 (%)] from monitored water and nutrient fluxes amounted to +8.2% for runoff, to -2.4% for dissolved inorganic nitrogen, to +5.1% for total nitrogen, to +13% for dissolved inorganic phosphorus and to +19% for total phosphorus. Moreover, the model suggests that point sources for total phosphorus compiled by existing pollution load compilations are underestimated because of inconsistencies in calculating effluent loads from municipalities.

Continental-scale transport of sediments by the Baltic Ice Stream elucidated by coupled grain size and Nd provenance analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boswell, Steven M.; Toucanne, Samuel; Creyts, Timothy T.; Hemming, Sidney R.

2018-05-01

We introduce a methodology for determining the transport distance of subglacially comminuted and entrained sediments. We pilot this method on sediments from the terminal margin of the Baltic Ice Stream, the largest ice stream of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.83) between the εNd and latitudes of circum-Baltic river sediments enables us to use εNd as a calibrated measure of distance. The proportion of subglacially transported sediments in a sample is estimated from grain size ratios in the silt fraction (<63 μm). Coupled εNd and grain size analyses reveal a common erosion source for the Baltic Ice Stream sediments located near the Åland sill, more than 850 km upstream from the terminal moraines. This result is in agreement with both numerical modeling and geomorphological investigations of Fennoscandinavian erosion, and is consistent with rapid ice flow into the Baltic basins prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. The methodology introduced here could be used to infer the distances of glacigenic sediment transport from Late Pleistocene and earlier glaciations.

Operational Marine Data Acquisition and Delivery Powered by Web and Geospatial Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, R.; Buck, J. J. H.

2015-12-01

As novel sensor types and new platforms are deployed to monitor the global oceans, the volumes of scientific and environmental data collected in the marine context are rapidly growing. In order to use these data in both the traditional operational modes and in innovative "Big Data" applications the data must be readily understood by software agents. One approach to achieving this is the application of both World Wide Web and Open Geospatial Consortium standards: namely Linked Data1 and Sensor Web Enablement2 (SWE). The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is adopting this strategy in a number of European Commission funded projects (NETMAR; SenseOCEAN; Ocean Data Interoperability Platform - ODIP; and AtlantOS) to combine its existing data archiving architecture with SWE components (such as Sensor Observation Services) and a Linked Data interface. These will evolve the data management and data transfer from a process that requires significant manual intervention to an automated operational process enabling the rapid, standards-based, ingestion and delivery of data. This poster will show the current capabilities of BODC and the status of on-going implementation of this strategy. References1. World Wide Web Consortium. (2013). Linked Data. Available:http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data. Last accessed 7th April 20152. Open Geospatial Consortium. (2014). Sensor Web Enablement (SWE). Available:http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/markets-technologies/swe. Last accessed 8th October 2014

A Diamond in the String of Pearls :The Strategic Importance of Sri Lanka for Indian Ocean Regional Stability

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-04

21 st Century Seapower, 2007. 87 “Sri Lanka – 2004 Tsunami,” www.disasterassessment.org/documents/B11- Srilanka -tsunami.pdf/ (accessed 14 April... Srilanka - tsunami.pdf/ (accessed 14 April 2011). Srivastava, Siddharth. “India Blasts Rivals’ Role in Sri Lanka.” Asia Times, 10 June 2009. http

A Digital 3D-Reconstruction of the Younger Dryas Baltic Ice Lake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakobsson, M.; Alm, G.; Bjorck, S.; Lindeberg, G.; Svensson, N.

2005-12-01

A digital 3D-reconstruction of the final stage of the ice dammed Baltic Ice Lake (BIL), dated to the very end of the Younger Dryas cold period (ca. 11 600 cal. yr BP) has been compiled using a combined bathymetric-topographic Digital Terrain Model (DTM), Scandinavian ice sheet limits, Baltic Sea Holocene bottom sediment thickness information, and a paleoshoreline database maintained at the Lund University. The combined bathymetric-topographic Digital Terrain Model (DTM) model used to reconstruct the ice dammed lake was compiled specifically for this study from publicly available data sets. The final DTM is in the form of a digital grid on Lamberts Equal Area projection with a resolution of 500 x 500 m, which permits a much more detailed reconstruction of the BIL than previously made. The lake was constructed through a series of experiments where mathematical algorithms were applied to fit the paleolake's surface through the shoreline database. The accumulated Holocene bottom sediments in the Baltic Sea were subsequently subtracted from the present bathymetry in our reconstruction. This allows us to estimate the Baltic Ice Lake's paleobathymetry, area, volume, and hypsometry, which will comprise key input data to lake/climate modeling exercises following this study. The Scandinavian ice sheet margin eventually retreated north of Mount Billingen, which was the high point in terrain of Southern central Sweden bordering to lower terrain further to the North. As a consequence, the BIL was catastrophically drained through this area, resulting in a 25 m drop of the lake level. With our digital BIL model we estimate that approximately 7, 800 km3 of water drained during this event and that the ice dammed lake area was reduced with ca 18 percent. The digital BIL reconstruction is analyzed using 3D-visualization techniques that provide new detailed information on the paleogeography in the area, both before and after the lake drainage, with implications for interpretations of

Energy and the environment in the Baltic Sea region: A study of cooperative action from the Estonian perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brauer, Alex P.

Due to their geographic proximity and shared natural resources, cooperation on energy-related and environmental issues is particularly important for the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. Currently, two projects are underway that have placed the level of cooperation within the region under the microscope: the environmental management work undertaken by the Helsinki Commission for the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (HELCOM) and the Nord Stream pipeline project, which, when completed, will provide the direct transportation of natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic seafloor. Although both have been declared inclusive and decidedly Baltic ventures by some regional actors, reception of the cooperative efforts amongst the littoral Baltic countries has been markedly different. This study addresses these varying reactions by examining Estonia's participation in and subsequent perspectives on the HELCOM and Nord Stream projects. A theoretical framework grounded in the discipline of international relations is utilized to analyze Estonia's role in the projects and its position as a small state in a regional context. The primary areas of focus are how historical experiences and current levels of cooperation in the two endeavors have shaped Estonia's responses and, ultimately, its 'realist' perception of global politics. The study concludes that Estonia appears to have more substantive participation in HELCOM than in the Nord Stream project because of the tendency of states to securitize and, thus, prioritize the energy policy area over the environmental. Estonian foreign policy behavior, however, perpetuates the state-centric and power-centered policy processes that dominate the international political system.

Recruitment processes in Baltic sprat - A re-evaluation of GLOBEC Germany hypotheses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voss, Rüdiger; Peck, Myron A.; Hinrichsen, Hans-Harald; Clemmesen, Catriona; Baumann, Hannes; Stepputtis, Daniel; Bernreuther, Matthias; Schmidt, Jörn O.; Temming, Axel; Köster, Fritz W.

2012-12-01

The GLOBEC Germany program (2002-2007) had the ambitious goal to resolve the processes impacting the recruitment dynamics of Baltic sprat (Sprattus sprattus L.) by examining various factors affecting early life history stages. At the start of the research program, a number of general recruitment hypotheses were formulated, i.e. focusing on (1) predation, (2) food availability, (3) physical parameters, (4) the impact of current systems, and finally (5) the importance of top-down vs bottom-up effects. The present study synthesizes the results of field sampling (2002 and 2003), laboratory experiments, and modeling studies to re-evaluate these hypotheses for the Baltic sprat stock. Recruitment success was quite different in the 2 years investigated. Despite a lower spawning stock biomass in 2003, the total number of recruits was almost 2-fold higher that year compared to 2002. The higher recruitment success in 2003 could be attributed to enhanced survival success during the post-larval/juvenile stage, a life phase that appears to be critical for recruitment dynamics. In the state of the Baltic ecosystem during the period of investigation, we consider bottom-up control (e.g. temperature, prey abundance) to be more important than top-down control (predation mortality). This ranking in importance does not vary seasonally. Prevailing water circulation patterns and the transport dynamics of larval cohorts have a strong influence on sprat recruitment success. Pronounced transport to coastal areas is detrimental for year-class strength particularly at high sprat stock sizes. A suggested mechanism is density-dependant regulation of survival via intra- and inter-specific competition for prey in coastal areas. A documented change in larval vertical migration behavior between the early 1990s and early 2000s increased the transport potential to the coast, strengthening the coupling between inter-annual differences in the magnitude and direction of wind-driven surface currents and

Decadal-Scale Changes of Dinoflagellates and Diatoms in the Anomalous Baltic Sea Spring Bloom

PubMed Central

Klais, Riina; Tamminen, Timo; Kremp, Anke; Spilling, Kristian; Olli, Kalle

2011-01-01

The algal spring bloom in the Baltic Sea represents an anomaly from the winter-spring bloom patterns worldwide in terms of frequent and recurring dominance of dinoflagellates over diatoms. Analysis of approximately 3500 spring bloom samples from the Baltic Sea monitoring programs revealed (i) that within the major basins the proportion of dinoflagellates varied from 0.1 (Kattegat) to >0.8 (central Baltic Proper), and (ii) substantial shifts (e.g. from 0.2 to 0.6 in the Gulf of Finland) in the dinoflagellate proportion over four decades. During a recent decade (1995–2004) the proportion of dinoflagellates increased relative to diatoms mostly in the northernmost basins (Gulf of Bothnia, from 0.1 to 0.4) and in the Gulf of Finland, (0.4 to 0.6) which are typically ice-covered areas. We hypothesize that in coastal areas a specific sequence of seasonal events, involving wintertime mixing and resuspension of benthic cysts, followed by proliferation in stratified thin layers under melting ice, favors successful seeding and accumulation of dense dinoflagellate populations over diatoms. This head-start of dinoflagellates by the onset of the spring bloom is decisive for successful competition with the faster growing diatoms. Massive cyst formation and spreading of cyst beds fuel the expanding and ever larger dinoflagellate blooms in the relatively shallow coastal waters. Shifts in the dominant spring bloom algal groups can have significant effects on major elemental fluxes and functioning of the Baltic Sea ecosystem, but also in the vast shelves and estuaries at high latitudes, where ice-associated cold-water dinoflagellates successfully compete with diatoms. PMID:21747911

A new fossil soldier beetle (Coleoptera, Cantharidae, Silinae) from Eocene Baltic amber.

PubMed

Fanti, Fabrizio; Pankowski, Michael J

2018-01-09

A new genus and species of fossil soldier beetle Markus karenae gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Eocene Baltic amber. Its morphological characteristics place it in the taxonomic position of the subfamily Silinae. It is characterized by a particular lateral pronotal shape with two difform processes, pronotum slightly longer than wide, with a blunt and evident angle near the basal angles, anterior and posterior margins flat and with shallow punctation, and lateral margin strongly granulose and in relief. Furthermore, each of its legs has a claw with one acute tooth at the base, except for the posterior legs where the tooth appears to be blunt. The new taxon is morphologically compared with the other fossil representatives of Silinae from Baltic amber, and with extant Palearctic genera.

Local adaptation and oceanographic connectivity patterns explain genetic differentiation of a marine diatom across the North Sea–Baltic Sea salinity gradient

PubMed Central

Sjöqvist, C; Godhe, A; Jonsson, P R; Sundqvist, L; Kremp, A

2015-01-01

Drivers of population genetic structure are still poorly understood in marine micro-organisms. We exploited the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition for investigating the seascape genetics of a marine diatom, Skeletonema marinoi. Eight polymorphic microsatellite loci were analysed in 354 individuals from ten locations to analyse population structure of the species along a 1500-km-long salinity gradient ranging from 3 to 30 psu. To test for salinity adaptation, salinity reaction norms were determined for sets of strains originating from three different salinity regimes of the gradient. Modelled oceanographic connectivity was compared to directional relative migration by correlation analyses to examine oceanographic drivers. Population genetic analyses showed distinct genetic divergence of a low-salinity Baltic Sea population and a high-salinity North Sea population, coinciding with the most evident physical dispersal barrier in the area, the Danish Straits. Baltic Sea populations displayed reduced genetic diversity compared to North Sea populations. Growth optima of low salinity isolates were significantly lower than those of strains from higher native salinities, indicating local salinity adaptation. Although the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition was identified as a barrier to gene flow, migration between Baltic Sea and North Sea populations occurred. However, the presence of differentiated neutral markers on each side of the transition zone suggests that migrants are maladapted. It is concluded that local salinity adaptation, supported by oceanographic connectivity patterns creating an asymmetric migration pattern between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, determines genetic differentiation patterns in the transition zone. PMID:25892181

Parasitation of sea trout (Salmo trutta trutta L.) from the spawning ground and German coastal waters off Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Unger, Patrick; Palm, Harry W

2016-01-01

A total of 52 sea trouts, Salmo trutta trutta, were studied for parasites, originating from German freshwater streams and coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. While 35 specimens were caught mainly close to the shoreline in the Baltic Sea, 17 were sampled during their spawning migration in Warnow River and other neighboring rivers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A total of 12 different metazoan parasite species were found in sea trout originating from the Baltic Sea, including five digeneans, two cestodes, three nematodes, and two acanthocephalans. Marine and freshwater species were found. In the migratory trout, seven different parasite species were recorded (one digenean, two cestodes, one nematode, and one acanthocephalan), demonstrating lower parasite diversity and load during the spawning migration compared with the fish from the Baltic Sea. The anisakid nematodes Anisakis simplex (sensu stricto), Contraceacum rudolphii, and Hysterothylacium aduncum were identified by molecular analyses of the ITS-1, 5.8S, ITS-2, and flanking sequences of the rDNA. Together with the digenean Derogenes varicus, Hemiurus communis and H. luehei, and the cestode Diphyllobothrium dendriticum seven new host records for sea trout from the German part of the Baltic Sea are made.

Ocean Acidification Effects on Atlantic Cod Larval Survival and Recruitment to the Fished Population

PubMed Central

Stiasny, Martina H.; Mittermayer, Felix H.; Sswat, Michael; Voss, Rüdiger; Jutfelt, Fredrik; Chierici, Melissa; Puvanendran, Velmurugu; Mortensen, Atle; Reusch, Thorsten B. H.; Clemmesen, Catriona

2016-01-01

How fisheries will be impacted by climate change is far from understood. While some fish populations may be able to escape global warming via range shifts, they cannot escape ocean acidification (OA), an inevitable consequence of the dissolution of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in marine waters. How ocean acidification affects population dynamics of commercially important fish species is critical for adapting management practices of exploited fish populations. Ocean acidification has been shown to impair fish larvae’s sensory abilities, affect the morphology of otoliths, cause tissue damage and cause behavioural changes. Here, we obtain first experimental mortality estimates for Atlantic cod larvae under OA and incorporate these effects into recruitment models. End-of-century levels of ocean acidification (~1100 μatm according to the IPCC RCP 8.5) resulted in a doubling of daily mortality rates compared to present-day CO2 concentrations during the first 25 days post hatching (dph), a critical phase for population recruitment. These results were consistent under different feeding regimes, stocking densities and in two cod populations (Western Baltic and Barents Sea stock). When mortality data were included into Ricker-type stock-recruitment models, recruitment was reduced to an average of 8 and 24% of current recruitment for the two populations, respectively. Our results highlight the importance of including vulnerable early life stages when addressing effects of climate change on fish stocks. PMID:27551924

Ocean Acidification Effects on Atlantic Cod Larval Survival and Recruitment to the Fished Population.

PubMed

Stiasny, Martina H; Mittermayer, Felix H; Sswat, Michael; Voss, Rüdiger; Jutfelt, Fredrik; Chierici, Melissa; Puvanendran, Velmurugu; Mortensen, Atle; Reusch, Thorsten B H; Clemmesen, Catriona

2016-01-01

How fisheries will be impacted by climate change is far from understood. While some fish populations may be able to escape global warming via range shifts, they cannot escape ocean acidification (OA), an inevitable consequence of the dissolution of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in marine waters. How ocean acidification affects population dynamics of commercially important fish species is critical for adapting management practices of exploited fish populations. Ocean acidification has been shown to impair fish larvae's sensory abilities, affect the morphology of otoliths, cause tissue damage and cause behavioural changes. Here, we obtain first experimental mortality estimates for Atlantic cod larvae under OA and incorporate these effects into recruitment models. End-of-century levels of ocean acidification (~1100 μatm according to the IPCC RCP 8.5) resulted in a doubling of daily mortality rates compared to present-day CO2 concentrations during the first 25 days post hatching (dph), a critical phase for population recruitment. These results were consistent under different feeding regimes, stocking densities and in two cod populations (Western Baltic and Barents Sea stock). When mortality data were included into Ricker-type stock-recruitment models, recruitment was reduced to an average of 8 and 24% of current recruitment for the two populations, respectively. Our results highlight the importance of including vulnerable early life stages when addressing effects of climate change on fish stocks.

A Network for Standardized Ocean Color Validation Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zibordi, Giuseppe; Holben, Brent; Hooker, Stanford; Melin, Frederic; Berthon, Jean-Francois; Slutsker, Ilya; Giles, David; Vandemark, Doug; Feng, Hui; Rutledge, Ken;

The Ocean Acidification Curriculum Collection - sharing ocean science resources for k-12 classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, P.

2016-02-01

The fish and shellfish provided by ecosystems that abound in the waters of Puget Sound have sustained the Suquamish Tribe for millennia. However, years of development, pollution and over-harvest have reduced some fish and shellfish populations to just a fraction of their former abundance. Now, ocean acidification (OA) and climate change pose additional threats to these essential natural resources. Ocean acidification can't be stopped; however, many of the other human-caused stressors to ocean health can. If human behaviors that harm ocean health can be modified to reduce impacts, fish populations and ecosystems could become more resilient to the changing ocean conditions. School is arguably the best place to convey the ideas and awareness needed for people to adopt new behaviors. Students are open to new ideas and they influence their peers and parents. In addition, they are captive audiences in classrooms for many years.The Suquamish Tribe is helping to foster new generations of ocean stewards by creating an online searchable database (OACurriculumCollection.org). This site is designed to facilitate finding, reviewing and sharing free educational materials on OA. At the same time, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released providing a great opportunity to get new materials into classrooms. OA provides highly appropriate context to teach many of the ideas in the new standards making it attractive to teachers looking for interesting and relevant materials. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how teachers can use the site as a place to find and share materials on OA. We will also present a framework developed by teachers for understanding OA, its impacts, and the many ways students can help ease the impacts on ocean ecosystems. We will provide examples of how OA can be used as context and content for the NGSS and finally, we will discuss the failures and successes on our journey to get relevant materials into the classroom.

77 FR 2513 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-18

... Environmental Impact Statement for Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean AGENCY: National Marine... Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean.'' Based on... Web page at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/eis/arctic.htm . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT...

Perpetual Ocean - Gulf Stream

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

This image shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through Decmeber 2007. Go here to view a video of this data: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7009056027/ NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Lack of recognition of genetic biodiversity: International policy and its implementation in Baltic Sea marine protected areas.

PubMed

Laikre, Linda; Lundmark, Carina; Jansson, Eeva; Wennerström, Lovisa; Edman, Mari; Sandström, Annica

2016-10-01

Genetic diversity is needed for species' adaptation to changing selective pressures and is particularly important in regions with rapid environmental change such as the Baltic Sea. Conservation measures should consider maintaining large gene pools to maximize species' adaptive potential for long-term survival. In this study, we explored concerns regarding genetic variation in international and national policies that governs biodiversity and evaluated if and how such policy is put into practice in management plans governing Baltic Sea Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany. We performed qualitative and quantitative textual analysis of 240 documents and found that agreed international and national policies on genetic biodiversity are not reflected in management plans for Baltic Sea MPAs. Management plans in all countries are largely void of goals and strategies for genetic biodiversity, which can partly be explained by a general lack of conservation genetics in policies directed toward aquatic environments.

Oceans 2.0 API: Programmatic access to Ocean Networks Canada's sensor data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heesemann, M.; Ross, R.; Hoeberechts, M.; Pirenne, B.; MacArthur, M.; Jeffries, M. A.; Morley, M. G.

2017-12-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is a not-for-profit society that operates and manages innovative cabled observatories on behalf of the University of Victoria. These observatories supply continuous power and Internet connectivity to various scientific instruments located in coastal, deep-ocean and Arctic environments. The data from the instruments are relayed to the University of Victoria where they are archived, quality-controlled and made freely available to researchers, educators, and the public. The Oceans 2.0 data management system currently contains over 500 terabytes of data collected over 11 years from thousands of sensors. In order to facilitate access to the data, particularly for large datasets and long-time series of high-resolution data, a project was started in 2016 create a comprehensive Application Programming Interface, the "Oceans 2.0 API," to provide programmatic access to all ONC data products. The development is part of a project entitled "A Research Platform for User-Defined Oceanographic Data Products," funded through CANARIE, a Canadian organization responsible for the design and delivery of digital infrastructure for research, education and innovation [1]. Providing quick and easy access to ONC Data Products from within custom software solutions, allows researchers, modelers and decision makers to focus on what is important: solving their problems, answering their questions and making informed decisions. In this paper, we discuss how to access ONC's vast archive of data programmatically, through the Oceans 2.0 API. In particular we discuss the following: Access to ONC Data Products Access to ONC sensor data in near real-time Programming language support Use Cases References [1] CANARIE. Internet: https://www.canarie.ca/; accessed March 6, 2017.

Structural evolution and petroleum productivity of the Baltic basin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ulmishek, G.F.

The Baltic basin is an oval depression located in the western part of the Russian craton; it occupies the eastern Baltic Sea and adjacent onshore areas. The basin contains more than 5,000 m of sedimentary rocks ranging from latest Proterozoic to Tertiary in age. These rocks consist of four tectonostratigraphic sequences deposited during major tectonic episodes of basin evolution. Principal unconformities separate the sequences. The basin is underlain by a rift probably filled with Upper Proterozoic rocks. Vendian and Lower Cambrian rocks (Baikalian sequence) form two northeast-trending depressions. The principal stage of the basin development was during deposition of amore » thick Middle Cambrian-Lower Devonian (Caledonian) sequence. This stage was terminated by the most intense deformations in the basin history. The Middle Devonian-Carboniferous (Hercynian) and Permian-Tertiary (Kimmerian-Alpine) tectonic and depositional cycles only slightly modified the basin geometry and left intact the main structural framework of underlying rocks. The petroleum productivity of the basin is related to the Caledonian tectonostratigraphic sequence that contains both source rocks and reservoirs. However, maturation of source rocks, migration of oil, and formation of fields took place mostly during deposition of the Hercynian sequence.« less

Assessment of Marine Mammal Impact Zones for Use of Military Sonar in the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Andersson, Mathias H; Johansson, Torbjörn

2016-01-01

Military sonars are known to have caused cetaceans to strand. Navies in shallow seas use different frequencies and sonar pulses, commonly frequencies between 25 and 100 kHz, compared with most studied NATO sonar systems that have been evaluated for their environmental impact. These frequencies match the frequencies of best hearing in the harbor porpoises and seals resident in the Baltic Sea. This study uses published temporary and permanent threshold shifts, measured behavioral response thresholds, technical specifications of a sonar system, and environmental parameters affecting sound propagation common for the Baltic Sea to estimate the impact zones for harbor porpoises and seals.

Warm Ocean Temperatures Blanket the Far-Western Pacific

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

These data, taken during a 10-day collection cycle ending March 9, 2001, show that above-normal sea-surface heights and warmer ocean temperatures(indicated by the red and white areas) still blanket the far-western tropical Pacific and much of the north (and south) mid-Pacific. Red areas are about 10centimeters (4 inches) above normal; white areas show the sea-surface height is between 14 and 32 centimeters (6 to 13 inches) above normal.

This build-up of heat dominating the Western Pacific was first noted by TOPEX/Poseidon oceanographers more than two years ago and has outlasted the El Nino and La Nina events of the past few years. See: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/990127.html . This warmth contrasts with the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska and tropical Pacific where lower-than-normal sea levels and cool ocean temperatures continue (indicated by blue areas). The blue areas are between 5 and 13centimeters (2 and 5 inches) below normal, whereas the purple areas range from 14 to 18 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) below normal. Actually, the near-equatorial ocean cooled through the fall of 2000 and into mid-winter and continues almost La Nina-like.

Looking at the entire Pacific basin, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation's warm horseshoe and cool wedge pattern still dominates this sea-level height image. Most recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea-surface temperature data also clearly illustrate the persistence of this basin-wide pattern. They are available at http://psbsgi1.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/PSB/EPS/SST/climo.html

The U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For more information on the TOPEX/Poseidon project, see: http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov

PAH and PCB in the Baltic -- A budget approach including fluxes, occurrence and concentration variability in air, suspended and settling particulates in water, surface sediments and river water

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Broman, D.; Axelman, J.; Bandh, C.

In order to study the fate and occurrence of two groups of hydrophobic compounds in the Baltic aquatic environment a large number of samples were collected from the southern Baltic proper to the northern Bothnian Bay for the analyses of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The following sample matrices were collected; bottom surface sediments (0--1 cm, collected with gravity corer), settling particulate matter (collected with sediment traps), open water samples and over water samples (suspended particulates and dissolved fraction sampled by filtration) and air samples (aerosols and vapor phase sampled by filtration). All samples (except over watermore » and air) were collected at open sea in the Baltic. The analyses results have been used to make a model approach on the whole Baltic and to elucidate different aspects of the behavior of PAHs and PCBs in the Baltic, such as the occurrence of the compounds in water and sediment, the total content as well as the concentration variabilities over such a large geographical area, Further, the data on settling particulate matter as well as the air concentration data were used to estimate the total fluxes of PAHs and PCBs to the bottoms of the Baltic and t o the total water area of the Baltic, respectively. Further, data on the PAH and PCB content in river water from four major rivers provides rough estimates of the riverine input to the Baltic. The dynamics of PAHs and PCBs within the water mass have also been studied in terms of settling velocities and residence times in the water mass for these type of compounds in the open Baltic.« less

First results of the Nordic and Baltic GNSS Analysis Centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lahtinen, Sonja; Pasi, Häkli; Jivall, Lotti; Kempe, Christina; Kollo, Karin; Kosenko, Ksenija; Pihlak, Priit; Prizginiene, Dalia; Tangen, Oddvar; Weber, Mette; Paršeliūnas, Eimuntas; Baniulis, Rimvydas; Galinauskas, Karolis

2018-03-01

The Nordic Geodetic Commission (NKG) has launched a joint NKG GNSS Analysis Centre that aims to routinely produce high qualityGNSS solutions for the common needs of the NKG and the Nordic and Baltic countries. A consistent and densified velocity field is needed for the constraining of the gla-cial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modelling that is a key component of maintaining the national reference frame realisations in the area. We described the methods of the NKG GNSS Analysis Centre including the defined processing setup for the local analysis centres (LAC) and for the combination centres.We analysed the results of the first 2.5 years (2014.5-2016). The results showed that different subnets were consistent with the combined solution within 1-2 mm level. We observed the so called network effect affecting our reference frame alignment. However, the accuracy of the reference frame alignment was on a few millimetre level in the area of the main interest (Nordic and Baltic Countries). TheNKGGNSS AC was declared fully operational in April 2017.

A Metagenomics Transect into the Deepest Point of the Baltic Sea Reveals Clear Stratification of Microbial Functional Capacities

PubMed Central

Poole, Anthony M.; Sjöberg, Britt-Marie; Sjöling, Sara

2013-01-01

The Baltic Sea is characterized by hyposaline surface waters, hypoxic and anoxic deep waters and sediments. These conditions, which in turn lead to a steep oxygen gradient, are particularly evident at Landsort Deep in the Baltic Proper. Given these substantial differences in environmental parameters at Landsort Deep, we performed a metagenomic census spanning surface to sediment to establish whether the microbial communities at this site are as stratified as the physical environment. We report strong stratification across a depth transect for both functional capacity and taxonomic affiliation, with functional capacity corresponding most closely to key environmental parameters of oxygen, salinity and temperature. We report similarities in functional capacity between the hypoxic community and hadal zone communities, underscoring the substantial degree of eutrophication in the Baltic Proper. Reconstruction of the nitrogen cycle at Landsort deep shows potential for syntrophy between archaeal ammonium oxidizers and bacterial denitrification at anoxic depths, while anaerobic ammonium oxidation genes are absent, despite substantial ammonium levels below the chemocline. Our census also reveals enrichment in genetic prerequisites for a copiotrophic lifestyle and resistance mechanisms reflecting adaptation to prevalent eutrophic conditions and the accumulation of environmental pollutants resulting from ongoing anthropogenic pressures in the Baltic Sea. PMID:24086414

The Baltic Republics and Language Ideological Debates Surrounding European Union Accession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle

2005-01-01

This paper describes the impact of European Union accession negotiations on language ideological debates regarding minority (language) and citizenship rights in the Baltic Republics. It explores issues pertaining to the transferability of standards developed for established democracies in the West to the situation of democratising countries in…

A new species of Diochus from Baltic amber (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Diochini)

PubMed Central

Chatzimanolis, Stylianos; Engel, Michael S.

2011-01-01

Abstract The first fossil of the staphylinine tribe Diochini Casey is described and figured from an inclusion in mid-Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber. Diochus electrus sp. n. is distinguished from its congeners and the diversity of rove beetles (Staphylinidae s.l.) is summarized briefly. PMID:22144854

Magnetic enhancement of Baltic Sea sapropels by greigite magnetofossils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinholdsson, M.; Snowball, I.; Zillén, L.; Lenz, C.; Conley, D. J.

2013-03-01

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are known to biosynthesise single-domain magnetite (Fe3O4) for geomagnetic navigation and their relict magnetosomes (called magnetofossils) can control the magnetic properties of lake and marine sediments. Magnetotactic bacteria also produce greigite (Fe3S4) magnetosomes but, compared to those made of magnetite, relatively little is known about the sedimentary environments where they are produced and the magnetic properties of the preserved particles. We studied the magnetic properties of sediment cores from two basins (the North Central Baltic Proper and eastern Gotland Basin) that currently experience hypoxia and we discovered the magnetic enhancement of older laminated sapropels, which are a signal of past occurrences of anoxia and hypoxia in the Baltic Sea. Magnetic concentrates extracted from the laminated sapropels were characterised by transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and we identified only single-domain greigite (Fe3S4) particles with a mean size of 55×75 nm, which we interpret as magnetofossils due to diagnostic chains of individual particles separated by an intact dividing membrane. The degree of magnetic enhancement in the laminated sapropels has a positive relationship with loss-on-ignition data, which indicates a link between the production of greigite magnetosomes, organic matter supply and preservation and redox conditions. The coercive force of collections of non-interacting greigite magnetofossils is ∼13 mT, which is considerably lower than the magnetite counterparts (∼30 mT) and strictly non-bacterial and larger greigite single-domain grains (∼60 mT). The values of the interparametric ratios of SIRM/χ, χARM/SIRM and χARM/χ that we obtain for our greigite magnetofossils overlap with those previously considered to be diagnostic of magnetosomal magnetite. The presence of bacterial greigite, which is easily detected by magnetic measurements, forms a proxy for hypoxia and

PHOTOCHEMICAL MINERALIZATION OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC NITROGEN TO AMMONIUM IN THE BALTIC SEA

EPA Science Inventory

Solar radiation-induced photochemistry can be considered as a new source of nutrients when photochemical reactions release bioavailable nitrogen from biologically non-reactive dissolved organic nitrogen (DON). Pretreatments of Baltic Sea waters in the dark indicated that >72% of ...

WWW database of optical constants for astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henning, Th.; Il'In, V. B.; Krivova, N. A.; Michel, B.; Voshchinnikov, N. V.

1999-04-01

The database we announce contains references to the papers, data files and links to the Internet resources related to measurements and calculations of the optical constants of the materials of astronomical interest: different silicates, ices, oxides, sulfides, carbides, carbonaceous species from amorphous carbon to graphite and diamonds, etc. We describe the general structure and content of the database which has now free access via Internet: http://www.astro.spbu.ru/JPDOC/entry.html\\ or \\ http:// www. astro.uni-jena.de/Users/database/entry.html

The European Marine Observing Network and the development of an Integrated European Ocean Observing System. An EuroGOOS perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez, Vicente; Gorringe, Patrick; Nolan, Glenn

2016-04-01

The ocean benefits many sectors of society, being the biggest reservoir of heat, water, carbon and oxygen and playing a fundamental role regulating the earth's climate. We rely on the oceans for food, transport, energy and recreation. Therefore, a sustained marine observation network is crucial to further our understanding of the oceanic environment and to supply scientific data to meet society's need. Marine data and observations in Europe, collected primarily by state governmental agencies, is offered via five Regional Operational Oceanographic Systems (ROOS) within the context of EuroGOOS (http://www.eurogos.eu), an International Non-Profit Association of national governmental agencies and research organizations (40 members from 19 member states) committed to European-scale operational oceanography within the context of the Intergovernmental Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Strong cooperation within these regions, enabling the involvement of additional partners and countries, forms the basis of EuroGOOS work. Ocean data collected from different type of sensors (e.g. moored buoys, tide gauges, Ferrybox systems, High Frequency radars, gliders and profiling floats) is accessible to scientist and other end users through data portals and initiatives such as the European Marine Observations and Data Network (EMODnet) (www.emodnet.eu) and the Copernicus Marine Service Copernicus (www.copernicus.eu). Although a relatively mature European ocean observing capability already exists and its well-coordinated at European level, some gaps have been identified, for example the demand for ecosystem products and services, or the case that biogeochemical observations are still relatively sparse particularly in coastal and shelf seas. Assessing gaps based on the capacity of the observing system to answer key societal challenges e.g. site suitability for aquaculture and ocean energy, oil spill response and contextual oceanographic products for fisheries and ecosystems is still

Variability of the Baltic Sea level and floods in the Gulf of Finland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulikov, E. A.; Medvedev, I. P.

2013-03-01

The statistical analysis of the long-term data on the variability of the Baltic Sea level has revealed the complicated character of the wave field structure. The wave field formed by the variable winds and the disturbances of the atmospheric pressure in the Baltic Sea is a superposition of standing oscillations with random phases. The cross spectral analysis of the synchronous observation series of the level in the Gulf of Finland has shown that the nodal lines of the standing dilatational waves are clearly traced with frequencies corresponding to the distance from the nodal line to the top of the gulf (a quarter of the wave length). Several areas of the water basin with clearly expressed resonant properties may be distinguished: the Gulfs of Finland, Riga, and Bothnia, Neva Bay, etc. The estimations of the statistical correlation of the sea level oscillations with the variation of the wind and atmospheric pressure indicate the dominant role of the zonal wind component during the formation of the floods in the Gulf of Finland. The probable reason for the extreme floods in St. Petersburg may be the resonance rocking of the eigenmode oscillations corresponding to the basic fundamental seiche mode of the Gulf of Finland with a period of 27 h when the repeated atmospheric disturbances in the Baltic Sea occur with a period of 1-2 days.

Deep sea habitats in the chemical warfare dumping areas of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Czub, Michał; Kotwicki, Lech; Lang, Thomas; Sanderson, Hans; Klusek, Zygmunt; Grabowski, Miłosz; Szubska, Marta; Jakacki, Jaromir; Andrzejewski, Jan; Rak, Daniel; Bełdowski, Jacek

2018-03-01

The Baltic Sea is a severely disturbed marine ecosystem that has previously been used as a dumping ground for Chemical Warfare Agents (CW). The presence of unexploded underwater ordnance is an additional risk factor for offshore activities and an environmental risk for the natural resources of the sea. In this paper, the focus is on descriptions of the marine habitat based on the observations arising from studies linked to the CHEMSEA, MODUM and DAIMON projects. Investigated areas of Bornholm, Gotland and Gdańsk Deeps are similarly affected by the Baltic Sea eutrophication, however, at depths greater than 70m several differences in local hydrological regimes and pore-water heavy metal concentrations between those basins were observed. During the lifespan of presented studies, we were able to observe the effects of Major Baltic Inflow, that started in December 2014, on local biota and their habitats, especially in the Bornholm Deep area. Reappearance of several meiofauna taxa and one macrofauna specimen was observed approximately one year after this phenomenon, however it's ecological effects already disappeared in March 2017. According to our findings and to the EUNIS Habitat Classification, the three reviewed areas should be characterized as Deep Sea Muddy Sands, while the presence of suspicious bomb-like objects both beneath and on top of the sediments confirms their CW dumpsite status. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distribution of metal concentrations in sediments of the coastal zone of the Gulf of Riga and open part of the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seisuma, Z.; Kulikova, I.

2012-11-01

The comparison of spatial and temporal distribution of Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Mn and Fe concentrations in sediments from the Gulf of Riga and open Baltic Sea along the coastal zone is presented for the first time. There were considerable differences in Pb, Zn, Mn and Fe levels in sediment at various stations of the Gulf of Riga. A significant difference of Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn levels was found in sediments of various stations in the open Baltic coast. The amount of Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn and Fe levels also differed significantly in the sediments of the Gulf of Riga in different years. A considerable yearly difference in amount of Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni and Mn levels was found in sediments in the open Baltic coast. The essential highest values of Pb and Zn in coastal sediments of the open Baltic Sea are stated in comparison with the Gulf of Riga. The concentrations of other metals have only a tendency to be higher in coastal sediments of the open Baltic Sea in comparison with the Gulf of Riga. Natural and anthropogenic factors were proved to play an important role in determining resultant metals concentrations in the regions.

High resolution model studies of transport of sedimentary material in the south-western Baltic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seifert, Torsten; Fennel, Wolfgang; Kuhrts, Christiane

2009-02-01

The paper presents high resolution model simulations of transport, deposition and resuspension of sedimentary material in the south-western Baltic, based on an upgrade of the sediment transport model described in the work of Kuhrts et al. [Kuhrts, C., Fennel, W., Seifert, T., 2004. Model studies of transport of sedimentary material in the Western Baltic. Journal of Marine Systems 52, 167.]. In the western Baltic, a grid spacing of at least 1 nautical mile is required to resolve the shallow and narrow bathymetry and the associated current patterns. A series of experimental model simulations is carried out with forcing data for the year 1993, which include a sequence of storms in January. Compared to earlier model versions, a more detailed description of potential deposition areas can be provided. The study quantifies the influence of enhanced bottom roughness caused by biological structures, like mussels and worm holes, provides estimates of the regional erosion risks for fine grained sediments, and analyses scenarios of the settling and spreading of material at dumping sites. Although the effects of changed bottom roughness, as derived from more detailed, re-classified sea floor data, are relatively small, the sediment transport and deposition patterns are clearly affected by the variation of the sea bed properties.

Distribution of soft-bottom macrofauna in the deep open Baltic Sea in relation to environmental variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laine, Ari O.

2003-05-01

To analyse the large-scale distribution of soft-bottom macrofauna in the open Baltic Sea, samples for species abundance and biomass were collected in 1996-1997. Benthic community structure was used to classify and describe different assemblages and the observed distribution of communities was related to environmental factors. Distinct benthic assemblages were found that were dominated by only a few species ( Harmothoe sarsi, Saduria entomon, Monoporeia affinis, Pontoporeia femorata and Macoma balthica). These assemblages were related to different subareas and/or depth zones of the Baltic Sea. Salinity or the combined effects of salinity, dissolved oxygen and sediment organic matter content best explained the patterns in community distribution, indicating the importance of hydrography and sediment quality as structuring factors of the macrozoobenthos communities. When compared to long-term studies on Baltic macrozoobenthos it is evident that the results represent only a momentary state in the succession of the open-sea communities, which have been affected by past changes in hydrography, and will be subject to future changes in accordance with the variable environment, affected by climate.

Using Virtual Reality to Bring Ocean Science Field Experiences to the Classroom and Beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waite, A. J.; Rosenberg, A.; Frehm, V.; Gravinese, P.; Jackson, J.; Killingsworth, S.; Williams, C.

2017-12-01

While still in its infancy, the application of virtual reality (VR) technology to classroom education provides unparalleled opportunities to transport students to otherwise inaccessible localities and increase awareness of and engagement in STEAM fields. Here we share VR programming in development by the ANGARI Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to advancing ocean science research and education. ANGARI Foundation's series of thematic VR films features the research of ocean scientists from onboard the Foundation's research vessel, R/V ANGARI. The films are developed and produced through an iterative process between expedition scientists, the film production team, and ANGARI staff and Educator Council members. Upon completion of filming, the K-12 and informal educators of ANGARI's Educator Council work with ANGARI staff and affiliated scientists to develop and implement standards-aligned (e.g. Next Generation Science Standards and International Baccalaureate) lesson plans for the classroom. The goal of ANGARI Foundation's VR films is to immerse broad audiences in the marine environment, while actively engaging them in the at-sea scientific methods of expert scientists, ultimately increasing knowledge of our oceans and promoting their conservation. The foundation's VR films and developed lessons are made available for free to the public via YouTube and www.ANGARI.org. While South Florida educators may request that ANGARI Foundation visit their classrooms and bring the necessary headsets to run the experience, the Foundation is also partnering with VR hardware companies to facilitate the acquisition and adoption of VR headsets by schools in the U.S. and abroad. In this presentation we will share our most recent VR film that highlights coral reef ecosystems and the Florida Reef Tract, taking an interdisciplinary approach to investigating how it has changed over time and the issues and opportunities it currently faces. We will also discuss classroom

Saving the Baltic Sea, the inland waters of its drainage basin, or both? spatial perspectives on reducing P-loads in eastern Sweden.

PubMed

Andersson, Ingela; Jarsjö, Jerker; Petersson, Mona

2014-11-01

Nutrient loads from inland sources to the Baltic Sea and adjacent inland waters need to be reduced in order to prevent eutrophication and meet requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP). We here investigate the spatial implications of using different possible criteria for reducing water-borne phosphorous (P) loads in the Northern Baltic Sea River Basin District (NBS-RBD) in Sweden. Results show that most catchments that have a high degree of internal eutrophication do not express high export of P from their outlets. Furthermore, due to lake retention, lake catchments with high P-loads per agricultural area (which is potentially of concern for the WFD) did not considerably contribute to the P-loading of the Baltic Sea. Spatially uniform water quality goals may, therefore, not be effective in NBS-RBD, emphasizing more generally the need for regional adaptation of WFD and BSAP-related goals.

First fossil representatives of Pharaxonothinae Crowson (Coleoptera: Erotylidae): indirect evidence for cycads existence in Baltic amber forest.

PubMed

Alekseev, Vitalii I; Bukejs, Andris

2017-10-19

A new species of Erotylidae, Cycadophila (s. str.) mumia sp. nov., the first fossil representative of the subfamily Pharaxo-nothinae, is described and illustrated from Eocene Baltic amber. A second closely related specimen is reported but not described as new due to poor preservation in amber. The occurrence of representatives of the Recent cycad-specialized genus in Baltic amber can indirectly indicate the presence of their host plants (Cycadales: Cycadophyta: Cycadopsida) in the Eocene amber forest.

Relationships between colored dissolved organic matter and dissolved organic carbon in different coastal gradients of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Harvey, E Therese; Kratzer, Susanne; Andersson, Agneta

2015-06-01

Due to high terrestrial runoff, the Baltic Sea is rich in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the light-absorbing fraction of which is referred to as colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). Inputs of DOC and CDOM are predicted to increase with climate change, affecting coastal ecosystems. We found that the relationships between DOC, CDOM, salinity, and Secchi depth all differed between the two coastal areas studied; the W Gulf of Bothnia with high terrestrial input and the NW Baltic Proper with relatively little terrestrial input. The CDOM:DOC ratio was higher in the Gulf of Bothnia, where CDOM had a greater influence on the Secchi depth, which is used as an indicator of eutrophication and hence important for Baltic Sea management. Based on the results of this study, we recommend regular CDOM measurements in monitoring programmes, to increase the value of concurrent Secchi depth measurements.

Methane anomalies in the oxygenated upper waters of the central Baltic Sea associated with zooplankton abundance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmale, Oliver; Wäge, Janine; Morholz, Volker; Rehder, Gregor; Wasmund, Norbert; Gräwe, Ulf; Labrenz, Matthias; Loick-Wilde, Natalie

2017-04-01

Apart from the sediment as the dominant source of methane in the aquatic realm the process of methane production in well-oxygenated waters has received considerable attention during the last years. The paradox of methane accumulation in these relatively shallow waters, commonly termed as "oceanic methane paradox", has been sporadically observed in lakes as well as in marine ecosystems like the Gulf of Mexico, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, Arctic waters or above the continental shelf off the coast of Spain and Africa. Even if this phenomenon has been described in the literature over the last decades, the potential sources of shallow methane accumulation are still controversially discussed. We report on methane enrichments that were observed during summer in the upper water column of the Gotland Basin, central Baltic Sea. In the eastern part of the basin methane concentrations just below the thermocline (in about 30 m water depth) varied between 15 and 77 nM, in contrast to the western part of the basin where no methane enrichments could be detected. Stable carbon isotope ratios of methane (delta 13C-CH4 of -67.6‰) clearly indicated its in situ biogenic origin. This is supported by clonal sequences from the depth with high methane concentrations in the eastern Gotland Basin, which cluster with the clade Methanomicrobiacea, a family of methanogenic Archaea. Hydroacoustic observation in combination with plankton net tows displayed a seston enrichment (size >100 micro meter) in a layer between 30-50 m depth. The dominant species in the phytoplankton, Dinophysis norvegica, was concentrated at 10-20 m depth, and showed higher concentrations in the eastern Gotland Basin in comparison with the western part of the basin. In contrast to the western Gotland Basin, the zooplankton community in the eastern part was dominated by the copepod species Temora longicornis. Laboratory incubations of a T. longicornis dominated seston fraction (>100 micro meter) sampled in the depth

Spatio-temporal dynamics of a fish predator: Density-dependent and hydrographic effects on Baltic Sea cod population

PubMed Central

Bartolino, Valerio; Tian, Huidong; Bergström, Ulf; Jounela, Pekka; Aro, Eero; Dieterich, Christian; Meier, H. E. Markus; Cardinale, Massimiliano; Bland, Barbara

2017-01-01

Understanding the mechanisms of spatial population dynamics is crucial for the successful management of exploited species and ecosystems. However, the underlying mechanisms of spatial distribution are generally complex due to the concurrent forcing of both density-dependent species interactions and density-independent environmental factors. Despite the high economic value and central ecological importance of cod in the Baltic Sea, the drivers of its spatio-temporal population dynamics have not been analytically investigated so far. In this paper, we used an extensive trawl survey dataset in combination with environmental data to investigate the spatial dynamics of the distribution of the Eastern Baltic cod during the past three decades using Generalized Additive Models. The results showed that adult cod distribution was mainly affected by cod population size, and to a minor degree by small-scale hydrological factors and the extent of suitable reproductive areas. As population size decreases, the cod population concentrates to the southern part of the Baltic Sea, where the preferred more marine environment conditions are encountered. Using the fitted models, we predicted the Baltic cod distribution back to the 1970s and a temporal index of cod spatial occupation was developed. Our study will contribute to the management and conservation of this important resource and of the ecosystem where it occurs, by showing the forces shaping its spatial distribution and therefore the potential response of the population to future exploitation and environmental changes. PMID:28207804

47 CFR 80.1061 - Special requirements for 406.0-406.1 MHz EPIRB stations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., VA 22209, www.rtcm.org, e-mail at [email protected]org. (b) The 406.0-406.1 EPIRB must contain as an... Kingdom, Telephone: +44 20-7728 1391, Facsimile: +44 20-7728 1170; www.cospas-sarsat.org. The RTCM... St., Suite 1060, Arlington, VA 22209, http://www.rtcm.org, e-mail at [email protected]org. (1) After a 406.0...

High Frequency Acoustic Reflection and Transmission in Ocean Sediments

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-30

06-1-0766 http://www.arlut.utexas.edu LONG-TERM GOALS Development of a physical model of high-frequency acoustic interaction with the...shallow water. OBJECTIVES 1) A comparative study of acoustic sediment interaction models including visco-elastic, Biot, BICSQS, and grain...experimental measurements of the bistatic return, for the purpose of defining the best physical model of high-frequency acoustic interaction with the ocean

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomopy is a Python toolbox to perform x-ray data processing, image reconstruction and data exchange tasks at synchrotron facilities. The dependencies of the software are currently as follows: -Python related python standard library (http://docs.python.org/2/library/) numpy (http://www.numpy.org/) scipy (http://scipy.org/) matplotlib (http://matplotlip.org/) sphinx (http://sphinx-doc.org) pil (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/) pyhdf (http://pysclint.sourceforge.net/pyhdf/) h5py (http://www.h5py.org) pywt (http://www.pybytes.com/pywavelets/) file.py (https://pyspec.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pyspec/trunk/pyspec/ccd/files.py) -C/C++ related: gridec (anonymous?? C-code written back in 1997 that uses standard C library) fftw (http://www.fftw.org/) tomoRecon (multi-threaded C++ verion of gridrec. Author: Mark Rivers from APS. http://cars9.uchicago.edu/software/epics/tomoRecon.html) epics (http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/)

ACHP | Historic Preservation Organizations

Science.gov Websites

www.ahlp.org American Cultural Resources Association www.acra-crm.org American Institute of Architects www.aia.org National Alliance of Preservation Commissions http://napc.uga.edu/ National Association of Tribal

Baltic Sea Blue Carbon: Role of environmental factors influencing the carbon sink capacity of eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Röhr, E.; Holmer, M.; Boström, C.

2016-02-01

Although the global seagrass coverage area is less than 0.2 % of the worlds ocean floor, the carbon sink capacity of seagrasses may account up to 18 % of oceanic carbon burial and thus play a critical structural and functional role in many coastal ecosystems. Recent studies have shown considerable variation in the global estimates for seagrass meadow Corg accumulation rates and stocks, and indicate lack of understanding the factors influencing this variability. We sampled 20 eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in Finland and Denmark to study the variation in Corg accumulation rates and stocks within the Baltic Sea area. The study sites in both regions spanned a gradient from sheltered to exposed locations. The estimates for Corg accumulation rates at the Finnish eelgrass meadows were two orders of magnitude lower than the estimates for the Danish sites. The Corg stock integrated over the top 25 cm of sediment showed similar pattern, suggesting that the Finnish eelgrass meadows are carbon sources rather than carbon sinks, and the produced Corg is exported from the meadows. In contrast, at the Danish sites both Corg accumulation rates and areal Corg stock was more varying suggesting, that in this region the meadows function both as carbon sinks and sources. Our analysis further showed that a large percentage (> 55 %) of the variation in the Corg stocks was explained by sediment characteristics (density, fraction of silt and grain size distribution). In addition, the contribution of Zostera marina detritus to the sediment Corg pool explained >14 % of the variation in the Corg stocks. In order to get more reliable regional and global estimates of the role of seagrass meadows in the ocean carbon cycle, more studies accounting for the full range of environmental and species characteristics are urgently needed.

EarthRef.org: Exploring aspects of a Cyber Infrastructure in Earth Science and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staudigel, H.; Koppers, A.; Tauxe, L.; Constable, C.; Helly, J.

2004-12-01

EarthRef.org is the common host and (co-) developer of a range of earth science databases and IT resources providing a test bed for a Cyberinfrastructure in Earth Science and Education (CIESE). EarthRef.org data base efforts include in particular the Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM), the Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC), the Educational Resources for Earth Science Education (ERESE) project, the Seamount Catalog, the Mid-Ocean Ridge Catalog, the Radio-Isotope Geochronology (RiG) initiative for CHRONOS, and the Microbial Observatory for Fe oxidizing microbes on Loihi Seamount (FeMO; the most recent development). These diverse databases are developed under a single database umbrella and webserver at the San Diego Supercomputing Center. All the data bases have similar structures, with consistent metadata concepts, a common database layout, and automated upload wizards. Shared resources include supporting databases like an address book, a reference/publication catalog, and a common digital archive making database development and maintenance cost-effective, while guaranteeing interoperability. The EarthRef.org CIESE provides a common umbrella for synthesis information as well as sample-based data, and it bridges the gap between science and science education in middle and high schools, validating the potential for a system wide data infrastructure in a CIESE. EarthRef.org experiences have shown that effective communication with the respective communities is a key part of a successful CIESE facilitating both utility and community buy-in. GERM has been particularly successful at developing a metadata scheme for geochemistry and in the development of a new electronic journal (G-cubed) that has made much progress in data publication and linkages between journals and community data bases. GERM also has worked, through editors and publishers, towards interfacing databases with the publication process, to accomplish a more scholarly and database friendly data

Ensemble sea ice forecast for predicting compressive situations in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehtiranta, Jonni; Lensu, Mikko; Kokkonen, Iiro; Haapala, Jari

2017-04-01

Forecasting of sea ice hazards is important for winter shipping in the Baltic Sea. In current numerical models the ice thickness distribution and drift are captured well, but compressive situations are often missing from forecast products. Its inclusion is requested by the shipping community, as compression poses a threat to ship operations. As compressing ice is capable of stopping ships for days and even damaging them, its inclusion in ice forecasts is vital. However, we have found that compression can not be predicted well in a deterministic forecast, since it can be a local and a quickly changing phenomenon. It is also very sensitive to small changes in the wind speed and direction, the prevailing ice conditions, and the model parameters. Thus, a probabilistic ensemble simulation is needed to produce a meaningful compression forecast. An ensemble model setup was developed in the SafeWIN project for this purpose. It uses the HELMI multicategory ice model, which was amended for making simulations in parallel. The ensemble was built by perturbing the atmospheric forcing and the physical parameters of the ice pack. The model setup will provide probabilistic forecasts for the compression in the Baltic sea ice. Additionally the model setup provides insight into the uncertainties related to different model parameters and their impact on the model results. We have completed several hindcast simulations for the Baltic Sea for verification purposes. These results are shown to match compression reports gathered from ships. In addition, an ensemble forecast is in preoperational testing phase and its first evaluation will be presented in this work.

The influence of environmental conditions on early life stages of flounder (Platichthys flesus) in the central Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ustups, Didzis; Müller-Karulis, Bärbel; Bergstrom, Ulf; Makarchouk, Andrej; Sics, Ivo

2013-01-01

Flounder (Platichthys flesus) is a temperate marine fish that is well adapted to the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. There are two sympatric flounder populations in the Baltic Sea, pelagic and demersal spawners, which differ in their spawning habitat and egg characteristics. In the present study, pelagic spawning flounder of the central Baltic Sea was studied. We examined whether variations in hydrological regime can explain fluctuations in flounder early life stages that have occurred over the past 30 years (1970-2005). Using generalized additive modeling to explain the abundance of flounder eggs and larvae in a Latvian ichthyoplankton dataset, we evaluate the hypothesis that the available reproductive volume, defined as the water column with dissolved oxygen larger than 1 ml/l and salinity between 10.6 and 12 PSU, affects the survival of flounder ichthyoplankton and determines recruitment success. Both reproductive volume and spawning stock biomass were significant factors determining flounder ichthyoplankton abundance. Different measures of water temperature did not contribute significantly to the variability of eggs or larvae. However, recruitment did not correlate to the supply of larvae. The findings presented in this study on the relationship between flounder reproduction, spawning stock biomass and reproductive volume, as well as the lack of correlation to recruitment, are valuable for the understanding of flounder ecology in the Baltic Sea, and for developing the management of the species.

Investigating Undergraduate Science Students' Conceptions and Misconceptions of Ocean Acidification.

PubMed

Danielson, Kathryn I; Tanner, Kimberly D

2015-01-01

Scientific research exploring ocean acidification has grown significantly in past decades. However, little science education research has investigated the extent to which undergraduate science students understand this topic. Of all undergraduate students, one might predict science students to be best able to understand ocean acidification. What conceptions and misconceptions of ocean acidification do these students hold? How does their awareness and knowledge compare across disciplines? Undergraduate biology, chemistry/biochemistry, and environmental studies students, and science faculty for comparison, were assessed on their awareness and understanding. Results revealed low awareness and understanding of ocean acidification among students compared with faculty. Compared with biology or chemistry/biochemistry students, more environmental studies students demonstrated awareness of ocean acidification and identified the key role of carbon dioxide. Novel misconceptions were also identified. These findings raise the question of whether undergraduate science students are prepared to navigate socioenvironmental issues such as ocean acidification. © 2015 K. I. Danielson and K. D. Tanner. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Content of strontium-90 and cesium-137 in a number of regions of the Baltic Sea in 1982

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lazarev, L.N.; Flegontov, V.M.; Gedenov, L.I.

1985-07-01

The authors present the data gathered from the samples of water and bed deposits taken at various sites in the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Riga, and the Gulf of Finland. By means of the radiochemical method using ferrocyanide-carbonate concentration, they determine strotium-90 and cesium-137 content. The authors conclude by noting an increase in the cesium-137 content in the deep waters of the Baltic Sea and in bed deposits, and by cautioning that this development commands close attention.

76 FR 18706 - Fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean; Pelagic Fisheries; Vessel Identification Requirements

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-05

...; Vessel Identification Requirements AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and... be required to display its official number, preceded by the characters ``USA-''. The intent of the... and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. All Personal Identifying...

MyOcean Information System : achievements and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loubrieu, T.; Dorandeu, J.; Claverie, V.; Cordier, K.; Barzic, Y.; Lauret, O.; Jolibois, T.; Blower, J.

2012-04-01

MyOcean system (http://www.myocean.eu) objective is to provide a Core Service for the Ocean. This means MyOcean is setting up an operational service for forecasts, analysis and expertise on ocean currents, temperature, salinity, sea level, primary ecosystems and ice coverage. The production of observation and forecasting data is distributed through 12 production centres. The interface with the external users (including web portal) and the coordination of the overall service is managed by a component called service desk. Besides, a transverse component called MIS (myOcean Information System) aims at connecting the production centres and service desk together, manage the shared information for the overall system and implement a standard Inspire interface for the external world. 2012 is a key year for the system. The MyOcean, 3-year project, which has set up the first versions of the system is ending. The MyOcean II, 2-year project, which will upgrade and consolidate the system is starting. Both projects are granted by the European commission within the GMES Program (7th Framework Program). At the end of the MyOcean project, the system has been designed and the 2 first versions have been implemented. The system now offers an integrated service composed with 237 ocean products. The ocean products are homogeneously described in a catalogue. They can be visualized and downloaded by the user (identified with a unique login) through a seamless web interface. The discovery and viewing interfaces are INSPIRE compliant. The data production, subsystems availability and audience are continuously monitored. The presentation will detail the implemented information system architecture and the chosen software solutions. Regarding the information system, MyOcean II is mainly aiming at consolidating the existing functions and promoting the operations cost-effectiveness. In addition, a specific effort will be done so that the less common data features of the system (ocean in

Sewage derive [sup 15]N in the Baltic traced in fucus

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hobbie, J.E.; Fry, B.; Larsson, U.

Himmerfjarden, a fjord-like bay on the eastern shore of the Baltic, receives treated sewage from 250,000 inhabitants. Because the inorganic N in the effluent is enriched in [sup 15]N through denitrification, nitrification, and ammonia volatilization, an analysis of the distribution of [sup 15]N in the Bay tells how far from the source the sewage nitrogen moves. The attached macroalga Fucus vesiculosus was collected in early May from rocky shore at 0-0.5 m depth and the [sup 15]N content of the tips of the fronds analyzed. This N represents uptake and storage during the previous six months and growth during Marchmore » and April. The [delta][sup 15]N was uniformly high (11-13[per thousand]) in the main body of the Bay within 15 km from the sewage source. Beyond 15 km values decreased with distance to a low of 4.6[per thousand] at 35 km, where the Bay ends and the coastal waters begin. Using the 11-13 and 4.6[per thousand] as endmembers, the percentage of sewage N making up the Fucus at any point may be calculated. The [delta][sub 15]N of particulate organic matter in the offshore Baltic waters was around 0[per thousand] and Fucus had an [delta][sup 15]N about 1.5[per thousand] higher than the POM. From this and other evidence we conclude that there is a belt of coastal water with an elevated [delta][sup 15]N lying along the east coast of the Baltic. This presumably derives from sewage and perhaps from agriculture and is potentially of use as a tracer of coastal zone/pelagic zone interactions.« less

Evaluation of the operational SAR based Baltic sea ice concentration products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karvonen, Juha

Sea ice concentration is an important ice parameter both for weather and climate modeling and sea ice navigation. We have developed an fully automated algorithm for sea ice concentration retrieval using dual-polarized ScanSAR wide mode RADARSAT-2 data. RADARSAT-2 is a C-band SAR instrument enabling dual-polarized acquisition in ScanSAR mode. The swath width for the RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR mode is about 500 km, making it very suitable for operational sea ice monitoring. The polarization combination used in our concentration estimation is HH/HV. The SAR data is first preprocessed, the preprocessing consists of geo-rectification to Mercator projection, incidence angle correction fro both the polarization channels. and SAR mosaicking. After preprocessing a segmentation is performed for the SAR mosaics, and some single-channel and dual-channel features are computed for each SAR segment. Finally the SAR concentration is estimated based on these segment-wise features. The algorithm is similar as introduced in Karvonen 2014. The ice concentration is computed daily using a daily RADARSAT-2 SAR mosaic as its input, and it thus gives the concentration estimated at each Baltic Sea location based on the most recent SAR data at the location. The algorithm has been run in an operational test mode since January 2014. We present evaluation of the SAR-based concentration estimates for the Baltic ice season 2014 by comparing the SAR results with gridded the Finnish Ice Service ice charts and ice concentration estimates from a radiometer algorithm (AMSR-2 Bootstrap algorithm results). References: J. Karvonen, Baltic Sea Ice Concentration Estimation Based on C-Band Dual-Polarized SAR Data, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, in press, DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2290331, 2014.

Significance of archaeal nitrification in hypoxic waters of the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Berg, Carlo; Vandieken, Verona; Thamdrup, Bo; Jürgens, Klaus

2015-01-01

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) of the phylum Thaumarchaeota are widespread, and their abundance in many terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems suggests a prominent role in nitrification. AOA also occur in high numbers in oxygen-deficient marine environments, such as the pelagic redox gradients of the central Baltic Sea; however, data on archaeal nitrification rates are scarce and little is known about the factors, for example sulfide, that regulate nitrification in this system. In the present work, we assessed the contribution of AOA to ammonia oxidation rates in Baltic deep basins and elucidated the impact of sulfide on this process. Rate measurements with 15N-labeled ammonium, CO2 dark fixation measurements and quantification of AOA by catalyzed reporter deposition–fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that among the three investigated sites the highest potential nitrification rates (122–884 nmol l−1per day) were measured within gradients of decreasing oxygen, where thaumarchaeotal abundance was maximal (2.5–6.9 × 105 cells per ml) and CO2 fixation elevated. In the presence of the archaeal-specific inhibitor GC7, nitrification was reduced by 86–100%, confirming the assumed dominance of AOA in this process. In samples spiked with sulfide at concentrations similar to those of in situ conditions, nitrification activity was inhibited but persisted at reduced rates. This result together with the substantial nitrification potential detected in sulfidic waters suggests the tolerance of AOA to periodic mixing of anoxic and sulfidic waters. It begs the question of whether the globally distributed Thaumarchaeota respond similarly in other stratified water columns or whether the observed robustness against sulfide is a specific feature of the thaumarchaeotal subcluster present in the Baltic Deeps. PMID:25423026

Ontogenetic loops in habitat use highlight the importance of littoral habitats for early life-stages of oceanic fishes in temperate waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polte, Patrick; Kotterba, Paul; Moll, Dorothee; von Nordheim, Lena

2017-02-01

General concepts of larval fish ecology in temperate oceans predominantly associate dispersal and survival to exogenous mechanisms such as passive drift along ocean currents. However, for tropical reef fish larvae and species in inland freshwater systems behavioural aspects of habitat selection are evidently important components of dispersal. This study is focused on larval Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) distribution in a Baltic Sea retention area, free of lunar tides and directed current regimes, considered as a natural mesocosm. A Lorenz curve originally applied in socio-economics to describe demographic income distribution was adapted to a 20 year time-series of weekly larval herring distribution, revealing size-dependent spatial homogeneity. Additional quantitative sampling of distinct larval development stages across pelagic and littoral areas uncovered a loop in habitat use during larval ontogeny, revealing a key role of shallow littoral waters. With increasing rates of coastal change, our findings emphasize the importance of the littoral zone when considering reproduction of pelagic, ocean-going fish species; highlighting a need for more sensitive management of regional coastal zones.

Ontogenetic loops in habitat use highlight the importance of littoral habitats for early life-stages of oceanic fishes in temperate waters

PubMed Central

Polte, Patrick; Kotterba, Paul; Moll, Dorothee; von Nordheim, Lena

2017-01-01

General concepts of larval fish ecology in temperate oceans predominantly associate dispersal and survival to exogenous mechanisms such as passive drift along ocean currents. However, for tropical reef fish larvae and species in inland freshwater systems behavioural aspects of habitat selection are evidently important components of dispersal. This study is focused on larval Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) distribution in a Baltic Sea retention area, free of lunar tides and directed current regimes, considered as a natural mesocosm. A Lorenz curve originally applied in socio-economics to describe demographic income distribution was adapted to a 20 year time-series of weekly larval herring distribution, revealing size-dependent spatial homogeneity. Additional quantitative sampling of distinct larval development stages across pelagic and littoral areas uncovered a loop in habitat use during larval ontogeny, revealing a key role of shallow littoral waters. With increasing rates of coastal change, our findings emphasize the importance of the littoral zone when considering reproduction of pelagic, ocean-going fish species; highlighting a need for more sensitive management of regional coastal zones. PMID:28205543

Arsenic concentrations in Baltic Sea sediments close to chemical munitions dumpsites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bełdowski, Jacek; Szubska, Marta; Emelyanov, Emelyan; Garnaga, Galina; Drzewińska, Anna; Bełdowska, Magdalena; Vanninen, Paula; Östin, Anders; Fabisiak, Jacek

2016-06-01

In addition to natural sources and land-originated pollution, the Baltic Sea has another anthropogenic source of arsenic in bottom sediments-arsenic-based Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA). To examine the potential usage of arsenic contents results for monitoring the leakage from chemical weapons, sediment samples were collected from officially reported and potential chemical weapon dumpsites located in the Baltic Sea, and total and inorganic arsenic concentrations were analyzed. Results showed an elevated arsenic content in dumpsite areas compared to reference areas. Correlations of arsenic with other metals and organic matter were studied to elucidate any unusual behavior of arsenic in the dumpsites. In the area of the Bornholm Deep, such behavior was observed for inorganic arsenic. It appears that in close vicinity of dumped munitions, the inorganic arsenic concentration of sediments is not correlated with either organic matter content or authigenic minerals formation, as is commonly observed elsewhere. Investigations on CWA concentrations, performed within the CHEMSEA (Chemical Munition Search and Assesment) project, allowed us to compare the results of arsenic concentrations with the occurrence of arsenic-containing CWA.

Monitoring benthic foraminiferal dynamics at Bottsand coastal lagoon (western Baltic Sea)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schönfeld, Joachim

2018-04-01

Benthic foraminifera from Bottsand coastal lagoon, western Baltic Sea, have been studied since the mid-1960s. They were monitored annually in late autumn since 2003 at the terminal ditch of the lagoon. There were 12 different species recognised, of which three have not been recorded during earlier investigations. Dominant species showed strong interannual fluctuations and a steady increase in population densities over the last decade. Elphidium incertum, a stenohaline species of the Baltic deep water fauna, colonised the Bottsand lagoon in 2016, most likely during a period of salinities >19 units and water temperatures of 18 °C on average in early autumn. The high salinities probably triggered their germination from a propagule bank in the ditch bottom sediment. The new E. incertum population showed densities higher by an order of magnitude than those of the indigenous species. The latter did not decline, revealing that E. incertum used another food source or occupied a different microhabitat. Elphidium incertum survived transient periods of lower salinities in late autumn 2017, though with reduced abundances, and became a regular faunal constituent at the Bottsand lagoon.

Remote sensing of chlorophyll in the Baltic Sea at basin scale from 1997 to 2012 using merged multisensor data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitarch, J.; Volpe, G.; Colella, S.; Krasemann, H.; Santoleri, R.

2015-09-01

Fifteen-year (1997-2012) time series of chlorophyll a (CHL) in the Baltic Sea, based on merged multisensor satellite data provided by the European projects Globcolour and ESA-OC-CCI were analysed. Several available CHL algorithms were sea-truthed against a large in situ CHL dataset consisting of data by Seadatanet, HELCOM and NOAA. Matchups were calculated for three separate areas (1) Skagerrak and Kattegat, (2) Baltic Proper plus gulfs of Riga and Finland, called here "Central Baltic", (3) Gulf of Bothnia, and for the three areas as a whole. Statistics showed low linearity. The OC4v6 algorithm (R2 = 0.46, BIAS = +60 %, RMS = 79 % for the whole dataset) was linearly transformed by using the best linear fit (OC4corr). By construction, the bias was corrected, but RMS was increased instead. Despite this shortcoming, we demonstrated that errors between OC4corr and in situ data were log-normally distributed and centred at zero. Consequently, unbiased estimators of the horizontally-averaged CHL could be obtained, the error of which tends to zero when a large amount of pixels is averaged. From the basin-wide time series, the climatology and the annual anomalies were separated. The climatologies revealed completely different CHL dynamics among regions: in Skagerrak and Kattegat, CHL strongly peaks in late winter, with a minimum in summer and a secondary peak in spring. In the Central Baltic, CHL follows a dynamics of a spring CHL peak, followed by a much stronger summer bloom, with decreasing CHL towards winter. The Gulf of Bothnia shows a similar CHL dynamics as the central Baltic, although the summer bloom is absent. Across years, CHL showed great variability. Supported by auxiliary satellite sea-surface temperature (SST) data, we found that phytoplankton growth was inhibited in the central Baltic Sea in the years of colder summers or when the SST happened to increase later in the season. Extremely high CHL in spring 2008 was detected and linked to an exceptionally warm

Global Carbon Project: the 2013 global carbon budget (includes V.1.1, Nov2013, V.1.3, Dec2013, V.2.3, June2014, and V.2.4, July2014)

DOE Data Explorer

Le Quere, C. [University of East Anglia, Norwich UK; Peters, G. P. [Univ. of Oslo (Norway); Andres, R. J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Andrew, R. M. [Univ. of Oslo (Norway); Boden, T. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); al., et

2013-01-01

Global emissions of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels will reach 36 billion tonnes for the year 2013. "This is a level unprecedented in human history," says CSIRO's Dr Pep Canadell, Executive-Director of the Global Carbon Project (GCP) and co-author of a new report. The GCP provides an annual report of carbon dioxide emissions, land and ocean sinks and accumulation in the atmosphere, incorporating data from multiple research institutes from around the world. The 2013 figures coincide with the global launch of the Global Carbon Atlas, an online platform to explore, visualise and interpret the emissions data at the global, regional and national scales (www.globalcarbonatlas.org). The full data and methods are published today in the journal Earth System Science Data Discussions, and data and other graphic materials can be found at: www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget. The Global Carbon Budget 2013 is a collaborative effort of the global carbon cycle science community coordinated by the Global Carbon Project.

Molecular identification key based on PCR/RFLP for three polychaete sibling species of the genus Marenzelleria, and the species' current distribution in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blank, M.; Laine, A. O.; Jürss, K.; Bastrop, R.

2008-06-01

Studies of Marenzelleria species were often hampered by identification uncertainties when using morphological characters only. A newly developed PCR/RFLP protocol allows a more efficient discrimination of the three species Marenzelleria viridis, Marenzelleria neglecta and Marenzelleria arctia currently known for the Baltic Sea. The protocol is based on PCR amplification of two mitochondrial DNA gene segments (16S, COI) followed by digestion with restriction enzymes. As it is faster and cheaper than PCR/sequencing protocols used so far, the protocol is recommended for large-scale analyses. The markers allow an undoubted determination of species irrespective of life stage or condition of the worms in the samples. The protocol was validated on about 950 specimens sampled at more than 30 sites of the Baltic and the North Sea, and on specimens from populations of the North American east coast. Besides this test we used mitochondrial DNA sequences (16S, COI, Cytb) and starch gel electrophoresis to further investigate the distribution of the three Marenzelleria species in the Baltic Sea. The results show that M. viridis (formerly genetic type I or M. cf. wireni) occurred in the Öresund area, in the south western as well as in the eastern Baltic Sea, where it is found sympatric with M. neglecta. Allozyme electrophoresis indicated an introduction by range expansion from the North Sea. The second species, M. arctia, was only found in the northern Baltic Sea, where it sometimes occurred sympatric with M. neglecta or M. viridis. For Baltic M. arctia, the most probable way of introduction is by ship ballast water from the European Arctic. There is an urgent need for a new genetic analysis of all Marenzelleria populations of the Baltic Sea to unravel the current distribution of the three species.

Lead mobilization during tectonic reactivation of the western Baltic Shield

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Romer, R.L.; Wright, J.E.

Lead isotope data from sulfide deposits of the western part of the Baltic Shield define mixing lines in the [sup 206]Pb/[sup 204]Pb-[sup 207]Pb/[sup 204]Pb diagram. Lead from two types of sulfide deposits have been investigated: (1) Exhalative and volcanogenic deposits that are syngenetic with their host rocks; and (2) vein deposits. The syngenetic deposits locally show a very wide range of lead isotopic compositions that reflect a variable addition of highly radiogenic lead, while the vein deposits, although they have radiogenic lead isotopic compositions, exhibit only limited isotopic variations. In different provinces of the shield, both types of deposits fallmore » on the same lead mixing array. The slope of the lead mixing lines varies as a function of the age of basement rocks and the age of the tectonic event which produced the lead mobilization and therefore relates the source rock age with the age of lead mobilization. Calculated mixing ages fall into several short time periods that correspond either to orogenic events or to major phases of continental rifting. The orogenic events are the ca 360--430 Ma Caledonian, ca 900--1100 Ma Sveconorwegian, and the ca 1800--1900 Ma Svecofennian orogenic cycles. The rifting events correspond to the formation of the ca 280 Ma Oslo rift and the Ordovician (ca 450 Ma) graben system in the area of the present Gulf of Bothnia. Each mixing age indicates that lead was mobilized, probably as a consequence of mild thermal disturbances, and that the crust was permeable to lead migration. The data show that the geographic distribution of sulfide deposits with highly radiogenic lead isotopic compositions coincides with old graben systems, orogenic belts, and orogenic forelands on the Baltic Shield. The ages of vein deposits and their geographic distribution demonstrate multiple tectonic reactivation of the interior of the Baltic Shield in response to orogenic events at its margin. 68 refs., 6 refs., 4 tabs.« less

Contracaecum osculatum and other anisakid nematodes in grey seals and cod in the Baltic Sea: molecular and ecological links.

PubMed

Zuo, S; Kania, P W; Mehrdana, F; Marana, M H; Buchmann, K

2018-01-01

Populations of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), sprats (Sprattus sprattus) and cod (Gadus morhua) in the Baltic Sea are relatively stationary. The present work, applying classical and molecular helminthological techniques, documents that seals and cod also share a common parasite, the anisakid nematode Contracaecum osculatum, which uses seals as the final host and fish as transport hosts. Sequencing mitochondrial genes (COX1 and COX2) in adult worms from seals and third-stage larvae from livers of Baltic fish (sprats and cod), showed that all gene variants occur in both seals and fish. Other anisakid nematodes Pseudoterranova decipiens and Anisakis simplex are also found in both seals and cod in the Baltic Sea, but at much lower rates. The Baltic grey seal population was left at a critically low level (comprising a few hundred individuals) during the latter part of the 20th century, but since the year 2000 a marked increase in the population has been observed, reaching more than 40,000 individuals at present. Ecological consequences of the increased seal abundance may result from increased predation on fish stocks, but recent evidence also points to the influence of elevated parasitism on fish performance. Contracaecum osculatum larvae preferentially infect the liver of Baltic cod, considered a vital organ of the host. Whereas low prevalences and intensities in cod were reported during the 1980s and 1990s, the present study documents 100% prevalence and a mean intensity of above 80 worms per fish. Recent studies have also indicated the zoonotic potential of C. osculatum larvae in fish, following the consumption of raw or under-cooked fish. Therefore the present work discusses the impact of parasitism on the cod stock and the increasing risk for consumer health, and lists possible solutions for control.

bold: The Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org)

PubMed Central

RATNASINGHAM, SUJEEVAN; HEBERT, PAUL D N

2007-01-01

The Barcode of Life Data System (bold) is an informatics workbench aiding the acquisition, storage, analysis and publication of DNA barcode records. By assembling molecular, morphological and distributional data, it bridges a traditional bioinformatics chasm. bold is freely available to any researcher with interests in DNA barcoding. By providing specialized services, it aids the assembly of records that meet the standards needed to gain BARCODE designation in the global sequence databases. Because of its web-based delivery and flexible data security model, it is also well positioned to support projects that involve broad research alliances. This paper provides a brief introduction to the key elements of bold, discusses their functional capabilities, and concludes by examining computational resources and future prospects. PMID:18784790

Isotopic evidence for the formation of unusually humus-rich soils in the Baltic region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leinweber, Peter; Acksel, Andre; Kühn, Peter

2017-04-01

Arable mineral soils in the Pleistocene landscape of Northern Germany usually contain about 4 to 8 kg of organic C (Corg) per m2, most of which is visually recognizable concentrated in the tilled topsoil horizon. Some unusually humus-rich (10 to 20 kg Corg m-2), and deeply (> 70 cm) dark-colored soils in coastal regions with mollic properties have been classified as Chernozems. Their location far away from the middle German and Central European Chernozem regions, absence of steppe vegetation and semi-arid climate conditions make classical pedogenetic theories doubtful. However, non-targeted mass spectrometric analyses of soil organic matter (SOM) composition revealed great similarities with typical Chernozems worldwide (Thiele-Bruhn et al., 2014) and made alternative (e.g. waterlogged) pathways of SOM accumulation unlikely. Subsequent detailed multi-method SOM analyses down the soil profiles revealed relative enrichments in cyclic ("black carbon") and heterocyclic organic compounds in the deeper, bioturbated horizons. These were plausibly explained by the input of combustion residues, likely originating from anthropogenic activities because spots of these soils coincided with archeological artifacts of early settlements (Acksel et al., 2016). However, these finding could not completely explain the genesis of Chernozems in the Baltic region. Therefore, we actually explored isotope analyses (12/13C, 13/14C, 14/15N, 32/34S) to find out the origin of these unusual SOM enrichments and the time period in which it occurred. The results will be compiled to a consistent hypothesis on the formation of these soils in the Baltic and other Northern European regions. References Acksel, A., W. Amelung, P. Kühn, E. Gehrt, T. Regier, P. Leinweber. 2016. Soil organic matter characteristics as indicator of Chernozem genesis in the Baltic Sea region. Geoderma Regional 7, 187-200. Thiele-Bruhn, S., Leinweber P., Eckhardt K.-U., Siem H.K., Blume H.-P. 2014. Identifying Chernozem

Callisto Cutaway with Ocean

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This artist's concept, a cutaway view of Jupiter's moon Callisto, is based on recent data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft which indicates a salty ocean may lie beneath Callisto's icy crust.

These findings come as a surprise, since scientists previously believed that Callisto was relatively inactive. If Callisto has an ocean, that would make it more like another Jovian moon, Europa, which has yielded numerous hints of a subsurface ocean. Despite the tantalizing suggestion that there is an ocean layer on Callisto, the possibility that there is life in the ocean remains remote.

Callisto's cratered surface lies at the top of an ice layer, (depicted here as a whitish band), which is estimated to be about 200 kilometers (124 miles) thick. Immediately beneath the ice, the thinner blue band represents the possible ocean, whose depth must exceed 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to scientists studying data from Galileo's magnetometer. The mottled interior is composed of rock and ice.

Galileo's magnetometer, which studies magnetic fields around Jupiter and its moons, revealed that Callisto's magnetic field is variable. This may be caused by varying electrical currents flowing near Callisto's surface, in response to changes in the background magnetic field as Jupiter rotates. By studying the data, scientists have determined that the most likely place for the currents to flow would be a layer of melted ice with a high salt content.

These findings were based on information gathered during Galileo's flybys of Callisto in November 1996, and June and September of 1997. JPL manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This artist's concept and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web on the Galileo mission home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov . Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo

Development of interdisciplinary model of microplastics transport and transformation in the Baltic sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagaev, Andrei; Chubarenko, Irina; Mizyuk, Artem; Zobkov, Mikhail; Esiukova, Elena; Isachenko, Igor; Stepanova, Natalya

2016-04-01

Nowadays, anthropogenic pressure from the coastal areas comes up in many aspects of marine environment changes, decreasing the aesthetics of the underwater world, threatening the sustainability of marine ecosystems and influencing the quality of human life. Microplastics are pervasive throughout the marine environment, are ingested by many marine organisms, and enter a food chain that includes humans. A certain fraction of microplastics in marine environment results from breakdown of larger items in numerous tiny fragments due to mechanical forces and photochemical processes, as well as from other degradation sources. Microplastics can absorb high levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and other toxins. Deep-sea sediments are a likely, but yet unquantified, sink for microplastics (Cole et al., 2011). Since the MARBLE ('MicroplAstics Research in the BaLtic Environment') project started, three expeditions and multiple on-shore field experiments have been conducted in the South-Eastern Baltic. The samples were collected from the surface, deep water layers and bottom sediments. The samples were processed and physical parameters of the microparticles were established. In parallel, laboratory experiments under controllable conditions over the particles of regular shapes were conducted in order to test the empirical formulas for the sinking velocity. PLEX ('PLastics EXplorer') -- a device for efficiently collecting microparticles in marine environment -- was developed, built and tested. An attempt was made to quantify some geometrical properties of particles, to compare their surface areas, fouling rates, sinking velocities, and finally provide some estimates for the main spatial and temporal scales, describing the behaviour of the particles of different densities and shapes in the Baltic Sea (Chubarenko et al., 2016). An original 3D model of Microplastics dynamics is under development now. Its aim is to provide a robust numerical predictive tool to study pathways

minepath.org: a free interactive pathway analysis web server.

PubMed

Koumakis, Lefteris; Roussos, Panos; Potamias, George

2017-07-03

( www.minepath.org ) is a web-based platform that elaborates on, and radically extends the identification of differentially expressed sub-paths in molecular pathways. Besides the network topology, the underlying MinePath algorithmic processes exploit exact gene-gene molecular relationships (e.g. activation, inhibition) and are able to identify differentially expressed pathway parts. Each pathway is decomposed into all its constituent sub-paths, which in turn are matched with corresponding gene expression profiles. The highly ranked, and phenotype inclined sub-paths are kept. Apart from the pathway analysis algorithm, the fundamental innovation of the MinePath web-server concerns its advanced visualization and interactive capabilities. To our knowledge, this is the first pathway analysis server that introduces and offers visualization of the underlying and active pathway regulatory mechanisms instead of genes. Other features include live interaction, immediate visualization of functional sub-paths per phenotype and dynamic linked annotations for the engaged genes and molecular relations. The user can download not only the results but also the corresponding web viewer framework of the performed analysis. This feature provides the flexibility to immediately publish results without publishing source/expression data, and get all the functionality of a web based pathway analysis viewer. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Terrestrial organic matter in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea, Northwest Europe, as determined by CuO oxidation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miltner, Anja; Emeis, Kay-Christian

2001-04-01

We studied the distribution and composition of terrestrial organic matter in sediments of the Baltic Sea (Northwest Europe). To this end, surface sediments from all basins of the Baltic Sea were analyzed for their lignin oxidation product yields and compositions after CuO oxidation. Lignin oxidation product yields depend on the concentration of organic carbon and range from 0.4 to 10.2 mg g -1 total organic carbon (TOC). On the basis of an average of 13 mg g -1 TOC in two river sediments, we estimate that the upper limit of terrestrial organic matter in Baltic Sea sediments is 30% of TOC. The contribution of terrestrial organic matter differed between the individual basins, depending on the distance from runoff discharge areas and on the area occupied by each submarine catchment. Lignin composition showed a relative decrease of angiosperm tissue from the Southwest to the Northeast, reflecting the shift from temperate to boreal vegetation type. The Gotland and the Bornholm Seas, which have no significant river input, were characterized by high relative contributions of nonwoody, strongly altered material. The source may either be a mixture of pollen and peat being eroded from geologically older strata at the seafloor or laterally advected material from the other basins. However, the pronounced compositional differences between the basins indicated that interbasin transport of terrestrial organic matter is less important than direct river input, although river signals can only be traced at a few places in the Baltic Sea.

77 FR 61818 - WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding Regarding United States-Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-11

... certain automobiles from the United States. That request may be found at www.wto.org in a document... China. That request may be found at www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS440/1. The... Organization, www.wto.org . Comments open to public inspection may be viewed on the www.regulations.gov Web...

Organohalogen concentrations and feeding status in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) of the Baltic Sea during the spawning run.

PubMed

Vuorinen, Pekka J; Kiviranta, Hannu; Koistinen, Jaana; Pöyhönen, Outi; Ikonen, Erkki; Keinänen, Marja

2014-01-15

Changes in the concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in Baltic salmon muscle were studied during the spawning migration from the southern Baltic Sea to rivers flowing into the northern Gulf of Bothnia and during the spawning period. The aim was to obtain information to facilitate the arrangement of salmon fisheries such that the human dioxin intake is taken into account. The EC maximum allowable total toxic equivalent concentration (WHO-TEQPCDD/F+PCB) was exceeded in the muscle of the majority of the migrating salmon, except in the Baltic Proper. The fresh-weight-based concentrations of all toxicant groups in salmon tended to be the lowest in the Baltic Proper and the Northern Quark, and all toxicant concentrations, except PCDDs and PCDFs, were significantly higher in the spawning salmon than in the salmon caught during the spawning run. The fat content of the salmon muscle decreased by 60% during the spawning run, and the lipid-based total toxicant concentrations were consequently 4.2-6.2 times higher during the spawning period than during the spawning migration. However, the toxicants were concentrated just before spawning, and thus there is no essential difference related to whether the salmon are caught in the sea or the recreational river fishery. © 2013.

Celiac disease - resources

MedlinePlus

... Association -- www.csaceliacs.org Gluten Intolerance Group -- www.gluten.org National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease -- www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/celiac-disease Beyond Celiac -- www. ...

Ice, Ocean and Atmosphere Interactions in the Arctic Marginal Ice Zone

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

the northward retreat of the ice edge. Through the long-term measurement of the key oceanic, atmospheric, and sea ice processes that...began to move southward towards the Alaskan coast. In 2104 the anomalous areas of ice retreat were the region north of Alaska...and Siberia. (see figures below). This is not uncommon as these regions have seen the greatest retreat in sea ice. See http://nsidc.org

The 360 Degree Fulldome Production "Clockwork Ocean"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baschek, B.; Heinsohn, R.; Opitz, D.; Fischer, T.; Baschek, T.

2016-02-01

The investigation of submesoscale eddies and fronts is one of the leading oceanographic topics at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2016. In order to observe these small and short-lived phenomena, planes equipped with high-resolution cameras and fast vessels were deployed during the Submesoscale Experiments (SubEx) leading to some of the first high-resolution observations of these eddies. In a future experiment, a zeppelin will be used the first time in marine sciences. The relevance of submesoscale processes for the oceans and the work of the eddy hunters is described in the fascinating 9-minute long 360 degree fulldome production Clockwork Ocean. The fully animated movie is introduced in this presentation taking the observer from the bioluminescence in the deep ocean to a view of our blue planet from space. The immersive media is used to combine fascination for a yet unknown environment with scientific education of a broad audience. Detailed background information is available at the parallax website www.clockwork-ocean.com. The Film is also available for Virtual Reality glasses and smartphones to reach a broader distribution. A unique Mobile Dome with an area of 70 m² and seats for 40 people is used for science education at events, festivals, for politicians and school classes. The spectators are also invited to participate in the experiments by presenting 360 degree footage of the measurements. The premiere of Clockwork Ocean was in July 2015 in Hamburg, Germany and will be worldwide available in English and German as of fall 2015. Clockwork Ocean is a film of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht produced by Daniel Opitz and Ralph Heinsohn.

Image Reference Database in Teleradiology: Migrating to WWW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasqui, Valdo

The paper presents a multimedia Image Reference Data Base (IRDB) used in Teleradiology. The application was developed at the University of Florence in the framework of the European Community TELEMED Project. TELEMED overall goals and IRDB requirements are outlined and the resulting architecture is described. IRDB is a multisite database containing radiological images, selected because their scientific interest, and their related information. The architecture consists of a set of IRDB Installations which are accessed from Viewing Stations (VS) located at different medical sites. The interaction between VS and IRDB Installations follows the client-server paradigm and uses an OSI level-7 protocol, named Telemed Communication Language. After reviewing Florence prototype implementation and experimentation, IRDB migration to World Wide Web (WWW) is discussed. A possible scenery to implement IRDB on the basis of WWW model is depicted in order to exploit WWW servers and browsers capabilities. Finally, the advantages of this conversion are outlined.

Detection of Shallow Slow Slip events on the Northern Hikurangi Margin using Ocean Bottom Pressure Recorders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muramoto, T.; Ito, Y.; Inazu, D.; Henrys, S. A.; Wallace, L.; Bannister, S. C.; Mochizuki, K.; Hino, R.; Suzuki, S.

2016-12-01

The Pacific Plate subducts westward beneath the eastern North Island of New Zealand along the Hikurangi Trough at 3 to 6 cm per year. Slow slip events (SSE) occur at the northern Hikurangi margin, offshore Gisborne, New Zealand, every 18 to 24 months (Wallace et al., 2010). Recently, the SSEs have been observed by offshore ocean bottom pressure recorders (OBPR) as well as on the onshore c-GPS network (www.geonet.org.nz). OBPR data spanning from May 2014 to June 2015 show that a SSE which occurred in September-October 2014 possibly extended updip to the trench. The best-fitting slip model for that SSE reveals the major slip (10 to 20 cm slip) was focused between 7 and 4 km depth (Wallace et al., 2016). Here we report on the OBPR data from June 2015 to June 2016, covering a time period where onshore-c-GPS stations observed at least one SSE in early June 2016, just before the offshore OBPR instruments were recovered. In addition, a small SSE may also have been observed in August and October 2015. In order to precisely evaluate the crustal deformation using OBPR, we need to correct other components in the OBPR. Ocean tides were primarily estimated using BAYTAP-G (Tamura et al. 1991). Non-tial components were calculated and removed using a numerical ocean model forced by air pressure and wind on the sea surface (Inazu et al. 2012). Finally, we take the difference between the corrected OBPR at two observation points. Comparing the OBPR data to onshore c-GPS data, we detect the vertical deformation due to the SSE. We also identify whether other possible SSEs occur near the trench, which were not observed by onshore c-GPS sites. Our rolling network of OBPR provides a feasible method of detecting shallow SSE events and recovery of the frictional conditions on the plate interface near the trench.

Language Policy and the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Baltic Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaša, Rita; Mhamed, Ali Ait Si

2013-01-01

In the framework of the internationalization and globalization of higher education and competition for international students, the paper examines how language policy in higher education shapes the provision of study programs in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It concludes that study programs in the Baltic states mostly follow the convention of a…

Protect Yourself against Hepatitis A and B: A Guide for Gay and Bisexual Men

MedlinePlus

... vaccineinformation.org www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4115.pdf • Item #P4115 (5/18) Protect Yourself Against Hepatitis ... vaccineinformation. org www. immunize. org/ catg. d/ p4115. pdf • Item #P4115 (5/18)

On-line Geoscience Data Resources for Today's Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodwillie, A. M.; Ryan, W.; Carbotte, S.; Melkonian, A.; Coplan, J.; Arko, R.; O'Hara, S.; Ferrini, V.; Leung, A.; Bonckzowski, J.

2008-12-01

Broadening the experience of undergraduates can be achieved by enabling free, unrestricted and convenient access to real scientific data. With funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) (http://www.marine-geo.org/) serves as the integrated data portal for various NSF-funded projects and provides free public access and preservation to a wide variety of marine and terrestrial data including rock, fluid, biology and sediment samples information, underway geophysical data and multibeam bathymetry, water column and multi-channel seismics data. Users can easily view the locations of cruise tracks, sample and station locations against a backdrop of a multi-resolution global digital elevation model. A Search For Data web page rapidly extracts data holdings from the database and can be filtered on data and device type, field program ID, investigator name, geographical and date bounds. The data access experience is boosted by the MGDS use of standardised OGC-compliant Web Services to support uniform programmatic interfaces. GeoMapApp (http://www.geomapapp.org/), a free MGDS data visualization tool, supports map-based dynamic exploration of a broad suite of geosciences data. Built-in land and marine data sets include tectonic plate boundary compilations, DSDP/ODP core logs, earthquake events, seafloor photos, and submersible dive tracks. Seamless links take users to data held by external partner repositories including PetDB, UNAVCO, IRIS and NGDC. Users can generate custom maps and grids and import their own data sets and grids. A set of short, video-style on-line tutorials familiarises users step- by-step with GeoMapApp functionality (http://www.geomapapp.org/tutorials/). Virtual Ocean (http://www.virtualocean.org/) combines the functionality of GeoMapApp with a 3-D earth browser built using the NASA WorldWind API for a powerful new data resource. MGDS education involvement (http://www.marine-geo.org/, go to Education tab

12 CFR 7.1016 - Independent undertakings to pay against documents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Publishing, Inc., 212/206-1150; http://www.iccwbo.org); the Supplements to UCP 500 & 600 for Electronic... Electronic Presentation) (available from ICC Publishing, Inc., 212/206-1150; http://www.iccwbo.org... Banking Law & Practice, 301/869-9840; http://www.iiblp.org); the United Nations Convention on Independent...

The 7th Transgenic Technology meeting: debut for "down under" (http://www.tasq.uq.edu.au/TT2007).

PubMed

Gertsenstein, Marina; Vintersten, Kristina

2007-10-01

The 7th Transgenic Technology meeting was held in Brisbane, Australia on February 12-14, 2007. Not only did this gathering mark a milestone as it was hosted outside the European continent for the first time, but also because it was the initial meeting to be held on behalf of the new International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT, http://www.transtechsociety.org/ ). As in previous years, the topics were aimed towards both a scientific as well as a technical audience. The subjects covered a wide range of cutting edge applications in the field of genetic modifications in animal models, with the focus on (but by no means limited to) mice. True to the meetings tradition, a large emphasis was also laid on discussions about the management of transgenic production units. With the beautiful Australian sun shining over the venue, and a large number of exceptional speakers, this was a most pleasant and informative conference.

Evaluation of VIIRS ocean color products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Menghua; Liu, Xiaoming; Jiang, Lide; Son, SeungHyun; Sun, Junqiang; Shi, Wei; Tan, Liqin; Naik, Puneeta; Mikelsons, Karlis; Wang, Xiaolong; Lance, Veronica

2014-11-01

ocean color products in support of science research and operational applications. The VIIRS evaluation and monitoring results can be found at the website: http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/sod/mecb/color/index.html.

Dissolved organic phosphorus and its bioavailable fraction in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nausch, M.; Nausch, G.; Setzkorn, D.; Welz, Ä.

2009-04-01

In general, it is accepted that dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) is besides dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) a source for phosphorus nutrition of phyto- and bacterioplankton. If available, DIP is usually preferred to DOP. DOP becomes the most important source under DIP depleted conditions occurring in the Baltic Sea in summer. However, its contribution to nutrition and consequently its significance is very difficult to appraise because only the bioavailable fraction (BAP = bioavailable phosphorus) can be used by organisms. DOP comprises also inert compounds which persist over longer periods. Therefore, there is an urgent need to quantify the bioavailable DOP. In 2004 and 2005, DOP and BAP concentrations were detected in surface water at three stations in the central Baltic Sea from May until July. In June/July 2008 an intensive measuring campaign was performed throughout the whole Baltic Sea. DOP measurements were done from the entrance to the North Sea in the West until the innermost parts of the Gulf of Bothnia in the North and the Gulf of Finland in the East. BAP was determined at 14 stations in the central and northern parts. DOP was determined using the alkaline potassium peroxidisulphate oxidation method followed by the manual DIP determination. BAP has been detected in time course experiments using 0.8 µm filtered sea water containing free-living heterotrophic bacteria and amended with 7 µM ammonium chloride and 1mg l-1 D-(+) glucosemonohydrate to prevent nitrogen and carbon limitation and increase the phosphorus demand in bacteria. BAP is defined as that proportion of DOP which is used by bacteria and calculated as the difference of DOP concentrations at the beginning and the lowest concentrations during an incubation for 4-6 days. In 2004 and 2005, most DOP concentrations ranged between 0.18 and 0.32 µM, with a declining tendency from spring to summer probably due to elevated uptake compared to its release caused by higher temperatures and DIP

Advantages of long-term multidisciplinary ocean observations for gas hydrate systems - Examples from Ocean Networks Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scherwath, Martin; Riedel, Michael; Roemer, Miriam; Thomsen, Laurenz; Chatzievangelou, Damianos; Juniper, Kim; Heesemann, Martin; Mihaly, Steven

2017-04-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) operates permanent ocean observatories around Canada, with two science nodes on gas hydrate sites on its NEPTUNE observatory off Vancouver Island. We present examples of gas hydrates related scientific discoveries that require high power and high data capacity provided by the underwater cabled network. The first example utilizes the seafloor crawler Wally that is operated by Jacobs University in Bremen. Regular live crawler missions allowed a thorough analysis of the benthic activity around the hydrate mounds, where the cabled access makes it possible to drive at a speed dependent on the seafloor turbidity to obtain clear images. Combining these visual data with a variety of co-located environmental monitoring data showed which species reacted to which parameters, for instance that sablefish appear to follow low currents, Juvenile crabs react to oxygen levels or hagfish to chlorophyll. The second example is from gas vent monitoring using a 270 kHz sonar. At least one year of constant monitoring was necessary not only to prove that seafloor gas venting is primarily controlled by the tidal pressure but also to establish months-long phases of different venting intensity. This highlights that ship-based monitoring is less adequate for quantitative analyses of methane release into the ocean, though crucial for extrapolating the observatory results. Note that all these data are freely and openly accessible to the research community through Oceans 2.0, ONC's data portal; see http://www.oceannetworks.ca/DATA-TOOLS.

Benthic communities in chemical munitions dumping site areas within the Baltic deeps with special focus on nematodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotwicki, Lech; Grzelak, Katarzyna; Bełdowski, Jacek

2016-06-01

Assessment of biological effects of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) dumped in the Baltic Sea has been one of the tasks of the Chemical Munitions Search & Assessment (CHEMSEA) project. Three sites have been selected for investigation: Bornholm Deep, Gotland Deep and Gdansk Deep. Fauna collected from these locations were compared with the reference area located between the studied regions at similar depths below 70 m. In total, four scientific cruises occurred in different seasons between 2011 and 2013. The total lack of any representatives of macrozoobenthos in all of the investigated dumping sites was noted. As a practical matter, the Baltic deeps were inhabited by nematodes as the only meiofauna representatives. Therefore, nematodes were used as a key group to explore the faunal communities inhabiting chemical dumping sites in the Baltic deeps. In total, 42 nematode genera belonging to 18 families were identified, and the dominant genus was Sabatieria (Comesomatidae), which constituted 37.6% of the overall nematode community. There were significant differences in nematode community structure (abundance and taxa composition) between the dumping areas and the reference site (Kruskal-Wallis H=30.96, p<0.0001). Such clear differences suggest that nematode assemblages could mirror the environmental conditions.

Reconstructing ecosystem functions of the active microbial community of the Baltic Sea oxygen depleted sediments.

PubMed

Thureborn, Petter; Franzetti, Andrea; Lundin, Daniel; Sjöling, Sara

2016-01-01

Baltic Sea deep water and sediments hold one of the largest anthropogenically induced hypoxic areas in the world. High nutrient input and low water exchange result in eutrophication and oxygen depletion below the halocline. As a consequence at Landsort Deep, the deepest point of the Baltic Sea, anoxia in the sediments has been a persistent condition over the past decades. Given that microbial communities are drivers of essential ecosystem functions we investigated the microbial community metabolisms and functions of oxygen depleted Landsort Deep sediments by metatranscriptomics. Results show substantial expression of genes involved in protein metabolism demonstrating that the Landsort Deep sediment microbial community is active. Identified expressed gene suites of metabolic pathways with importance for carbon transformation including fermentation, dissimilatory sulphate reduction and methanogenesis were identified. The presence of transcripts for these metabolic processes suggests a potential for heterotrophic-autotrophic community synergism and indicates active mineralisation of the organic matter deposited at the sediment as a consequence of the eutrophication process. Furthermore, cyanobacteria, probably deposited from the water column, are transcriptionally active in the anoxic sediment at this depth. Results also reveal high abundance of transcripts encoding integron integrases. These results provide insight into the activity of the microbial community of the anoxic sediment at the deepest point of the Baltic Sea and its possible role in ecosystem functioning.

Reconstructing ecosystem functions of the active microbial community of the Baltic Sea oxygen depleted sediments

PubMed Central

Franzetti, Andrea; Lundin, Daniel; Sjöling, Sara

2016-01-01

Baltic Sea deep water and sediments hold one of the largest anthropogenically induced hypoxic areas in the world. High nutrient input and low water exchange result in eutrophication and oxygen depletion below the halocline. As a consequence at Landsort Deep, the deepest point of the Baltic Sea, anoxia in the sediments has been a persistent condition over the past decades. Given that microbial communities are drivers of essential ecosystem functions we investigated the microbial community metabolisms and functions of oxygen depleted Landsort Deep sediments by metatranscriptomics. Results show substantial expression of genes involved in protein metabolism demonstrating that the Landsort Deep sediment microbial community is active. Identified expressed gene suites of metabolic pathways with importance for carbon transformation including fermentation, dissimilatory sulphate reduction and methanogenesis were identified. The presence of transcripts for these metabolic processes suggests a potential for heterotrophic-autotrophic community synergism and indicates active mineralisation of the organic matter deposited at the sediment as a consequence of the eutrophication process. Furthermore, cyanobacteria, probably deposited from the water column, are transcriptionally active in the anoxic sediment at this depth. Results also reveal high abundance of transcripts encoding integron integrases. These results provide insight into the activity of the microbial community of the anoxic sediment at the deepest point of the Baltic Sea and its possible role in ecosystem functioning. PMID:26823996

Helioviewer.org: Enhanced Solar & Heliospheric Data Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stys, J. E.; Ireland, J.; Hughitt, V. K.; Mueller, D.

2013-12-01

Helioviewer.org enables the simultaneous exploration of multiple heterogeneous solar data sets. In the latest iteration of this open-source web application, Hinode XRT and Yohkoh SXT join SDO, SOHO, STEREO, and PROBA2 as supported data sources. A newly enhanced user-interface expands the utility of Helioviewer.org by adding annotations backed by data from the Heliospheric Events Knowledgebase (HEK). Helioviewer.org can now overlay solar feature and event data via interactive marker pins, extended regions, data labels, and information panels. An interactive time-line provides enhanced browsing and visualization to image data set coverage and solar events. The addition of a size-of-the-Earth indicator provides a sense of the scale to solar and heliospheric features for education and public outreach purposes. Tight integration with the Virtual Solar Observatory and SDO AIA cutout service enable solar physicists to seamlessly import science data into their SSW/IDL or SunPy/Python data analysis environments.

Two new fossil species of Cryptocephalus Geoffroy (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from Baltic and Dominican Amber

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Two new species of Cryptocephalus Geoffroy (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are described and illustrated from fossil resin: Cryptocephalus groehni sp. nov (Baltic amber) and Cryptocephalus kheelorum sp. nov. (Dominican amber). These are the first described species of Cryptocephalinae from fossil resin. ...

Jupiter's and Saturn's ice moons: geophysical aspects and opportunities of geophysical survey of the planetary geoelectrical markers and oreols of the subsurface liquid ocean on the surface ice moons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozorovich, Yuri; Linkin, Vacheslav; Kosov, Alexandr; Fournier-Sicre, Alain; Klimov, Stanislav; Novikov, Denis; Ivanov, Anton; Skulachev, Dmitriy; Menshenin, Yaroslav

2016-04-01

]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282151921_JUPITER%27S_MOON_EUROPA_PLANETARY_GEOELECTRICAL_MARKER_AND_OREOLS_UNDER_ICE_SUBSUEFACE_OCEAN_ON_THE_SURFACE_OF_THE_JUPITER%27S_MOON_EUROPA?ev=prf_pub [2]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281270655_YUPITERS_MOON_EUROPA_PLANETARY_GEOELECTRICAL_MARKERS_AND_OREOPLS_OF_THE_LIQUID_OCEAN_UNDER_THE_ICE_ON_THE_SURFACE_OF_THE_YUPITERS_MOON_EUROPE [3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276005128_Science-technology_aspects_and_opportunities_of_em_sounding_frozen_%28_permafrost%29_soil [4]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275638508_Cryolitozone_of_Mars_-_as_the_climatic_indicator_of_the_Martian_relict_ocean [5]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275266762_Microwave_remote_sensing_of_Martian_cryolitozone

76 FR 45577 - Clinical Investigator Training Course

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-29

... course at the registration/ information Web site at https://www.trialstransformation.org/fda-clinical... be made at https://www.supportnlc.org/Room_Reservations.html or by calling 301-431-6400. FDA has... information, and a detailed description of the course can be found at https://www.trialstransformation.org/fda...

Distribution and sources of (129)I in rivers of the Baltic region.

PubMed

Aldahan, A; Kekli, A; Possnert, G

2006-01-01

The concentration of (129)I was measured in 54 river waters discharging into the Baltic Sea from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. Sample collection was performed during a well-bracketed time interval (June-July 1999), thus allowing comparison of the rivers over a wide latitude range without the effect of long temporal spread. Although there is no direct input of anthropogenic (129)I in the watersheds, the concentration of the isotope is about two to three orders of magnitude higher than the expected pre-nuclear era natural values in the rivers of Finland and northern Sweden, and in the rivers of southern Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Germany; the (129)I concentration may reach five orders of magnitude higher. Furthermore, there are significant correlations between the (129)I concentration and latitude and/or distance from the North Sea and between (129)I and Cl. These findings suggest seawater as a main source of (129)I to the rivers through atmospheric transport. Of the many chemical parameters investigated, the pH may account for some of the variability in (129)I concentrations of the rivers. The contribution from nuclear weapon tests and the Chernobyl accident to the riverine (129)I is insignificant compared to the releases from the nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities. The total flux of (129)I by rivers to the Baltic Sea and related basins represents minor amounts of the isotope pool in these marine waters. External radioactivity hazards from (129)I are considered to be negligible in the Baltic region. However, as the main (129)I intake to the human body is likely through water, due to the large amount of daily water consumption, more concern should be given to internal radioactivity hazard that may be associated with the isotope's localized elevated concentration in the human organs.

Microplastics in sea coastal zone: Lessons learned from the Baltic amber.

PubMed

Chubarenko, Irina; Stepanova, Natalia

2017-05-01

Baltic amber, adored for its beauty already in Homer's Odyssey (ca. 800 B.C.E), has its material density close to that of wide-spread plastics like polyamide, polystyrene, or acrylic. Migrations of amber stones in the sea and their massive washing ashore have been monitored by Baltic citizens for ages. Based on the collected information, we present the hypothesis on the behaviour of microplastic particles in sea coastal zone. Fresh-to-strong winds generate surface waves, currents and roll-structures, whose joint effect washes ashore from the underwater slope both amber stones and plastics - and carries them back to the sea in a few days. Analysis of underlying hydrophysical processes suggests that sea coastal zone under stormy winds plays a role of a mill for plastics, and negatively buoyant pieces seem to repeatedly migrate between beaches and underwater slopes until they are broken into small enough fragments that can be transported by currents to deeper areas and deposited out of reach of stormy waves. Direct observations on microplastics migrations are urged to prove the hypothesis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity of the Baltic States in a New Europe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savickien, Ineta; Kaledaite, Violeta

2005-01-01

Language questions are increasingly on the agenda in Europe. This paper addresses some problematic aspects of language teaching and learning that have come to the fore in the Baltic states after the European Union enlargement of 2004. First, the paper aims at providing relevant information about language policies in the former USSR and the…

Negligible effects of ocean acidification on Eurytemora affinis (Copepoda) offspring production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almén, Anna-Karin; Vehmaa, Anu; Brutemark, Andreas; Bach, Lennart; Lischka, Silke; Stuhr, Annegret; Furuhagen, Sara; Paul, Allanah; Bermúdez, J. Rafael; Riebesell, Ulf; Engström-Öst, Jonna

2016-02-01

Ocean acidification is caused by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide dissolving in the oceans leading to lower seawater pH. We studied the effects of lowered pH on the calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis during a mesocosm experiment conducted in a coastal area of the Baltic Sea. We measured copepod reproductive success as a function of pH, chlorophyll a concentration, diatom and dinoflagellate biomass, carbon to nitrogen (C : N) ratio of suspended particulate organic matter, as well as copepod fatty acid composition. The laboratory-based experiment was repeated four times during 4 consecutive weeks, with water and copepods sampled from pelagic mesocosms enriched with different CO2 concentrations. In addition, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of animals from the mesocosms was measured weekly to test whether the copepod's defence against oxidative stress was affected by pH. We found no effect of pH on offspring production. Phytoplankton biomass, as indicated by chlorophyll a concentration and dinoflagellate biomass, had a positive effect. The concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the females was reflected in the eggs and had a positive effect on offspring production, whereas monounsaturated fatty acids of the females were reflected in their eggs but had no significant effect. ORAC was not affected by pH. From these experiments we conclude that E. affinis seems robust against direct exposure to ocean acidification on a physiological level, for the variables covered in the study. E. affinis may not have faced acute pH stress in the treatments as the species naturally face large pH fluctuations.

Negligible effects of ocean acidification on Eurytemora affinis (Copepoda) offspring production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Almén, A.-K.; Vehmaa, A.; Brutemark, A.; Bach, L.; Lischka, S.; Stuhr, A.; Furuhagen, S.; Paul, A.; Bermúdez, R.; Riebesell, U.; Engström-Öst, J.

2015-10-01

Ocean acidification is caused by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide dissolving in the oceans leading to lower seawater pH. We studied the effects of lowered pH on the calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis during a mesocosm experiment conducted in a coastal area of the Baltic Sea. We measured copepod reproductive success as a function of pH, chlorophyll a concentration, diatom and dinoflagellate biomass, carbon to nitrogen (C : N) ratio of suspended particulate organic matter, as well as copepod fatty acid composition. The laboratory-based experiment was repeated four times during four consecutive weeks, with water and copepods sampled from pelagic mesocosms enriched with different CO2 concentrations. In addition, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of animals from the mesocosms was measured weekly to test whether the copepod's defence against oxidative stress was affected by pH. We found no effect of pH on offspring production. Phytoplankton biomass, as indicated by chlorophyll a concentration, had a strong positive effect. The concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the females were reflected in the eggs and had a positive effect on offspring production, whereas monounsaturated fatty acids of the females were reflected in their eggs but had no significant effect. ORAC was not affected by pH. From these experiments we conclude that E. affinis seems robust against direct exposure to ocean acidification on a physiological level, for the variables covered in the study. E. affinis may not have faced acute pH stress in the treatments as the species naturally face large pH fluctuations.

Harmonising and semantically linking key variables from in-situ observing networks of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System, AtlantOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darroch, Louise; Buck, Justin

2017-04-01

Atlantic Ocean observation is currently undertaken through loosely-coordinated, in-situ observing networks, satellite observations and data management arrangements at regional, national and international scales. The EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project aims to deliver an advanced framework for the development of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System that strengthens the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and contributes to the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. One goal is to ensure that data from different and diverse in-situ observing networks are readily accessible and useable to a wider community, including the international ocean science community and other stakeholders in this field. To help achieve this goal, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) produced a parameter matrix to harmonise data exchange, data flow and data integration for the key variables acquired by multiple in-situ AtlantOS observing networks such as ARGO, Seafloor Mapping and OceanSITES. Our solution used semantic linking of controlled vocabularies and metadata for parameters that were "mappable" to existing EU and international standard vocabularies. An AtlantOS Essential Variables list of terms (aggregated level) based on Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Essential Climate Variables (ECV), GOOS Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) and other key network variables was defined and published on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Vocabulary Server (version 2.0) as collection A05 (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/A05/current/). This new vocabulary was semantically linked to standardised metadata for observed properties and units that had been validated by the AtlantOS community: SeaDataNet parameters (P01), Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names (P07) and SeaDataNet units (P06). Observed properties were mapped to biological entities from the internationally assured AphiaID from the WOrld Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), http://www.marinespecies.org

75 FR 58465 - U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on Private International Law: Notice of Annual Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-24

... Choice of Court Agreements, the UNCITRAL E-Commerce and Letter of Credit Conventions, and others... Friday. Time permitting, the discussion is expected to focus on developments in a number of areas, e.g...://www.unidroit.org ; http://www.oas.org , and http://www.nccusl.org . We may, by e-mail, supplement...

75 FR 6688 - Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program-Renewal Funding Annual Adjustment Factors, Fiscal...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-10

... were published in a separate notice which can be viewed at: http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/aaf... be available electronically from the HUD data information page at http://www.huduser.org/portal... overview and in the FMR documentation at http://www.HUDUSER.org . In this publication, the rent and utility...

Norwegian Ocean Observatory Network (NOON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferré, Bénédicte; Mienert, Jürgen; Winther, Svein; Hageberg, Anne; Rune Godoe, Olav; Partners, Noon

2010-05-01

The Norwegian Ocean Observatory Network (NOON) is led by the University of Tromsø and collaborates with the Universities of Oslo and Bergen, UniResearch, Institute of Marine Research, Christian Michelsen Research and SINTEF. It is supported by the Research Council of Norway and oil and gas (O&G) industries like Statoil to develop science, technology and new educational programs. Main topics relate to ocean climate and environment as well as marine resources offshore Norway from the northern North Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean. NOON's vision is to bring Norway to the international forefront in using cable based ocean observatory technology for marine science and management, by establishing an infrastructure that enables real-time and long term monitoring of processes and interactions between hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere. This activity is in concert with the EU funded European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap and European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observation (EMSO) project to attract international leading research developments. NOON envisions developing towards a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). Beside, the research community in Norway already possesses a considerable marine infrastructure that can expand towards an international focus for real-time multidisciplinary observations in times of rapid climate change. PIC The presently established cable-based fjord observatory, followed by the establishment of a cable-based ocean observatory network towards the Arctic from an O&G installation, will provide invaluable knowledge and experience necessary to make a successful larger cable-based observatory network at the Norwegian and Arctic margin (figure 1). Access to large quantities of real-time observation from the deep sea, including high definition video, could be used to provide the public and future recruits to science a fascinating insight into an almost unexplored part of the Earth beyond the Arctic Circle

Improved Climate Simulations through a Stochastic Parameterization of Ocean Eddies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Paul; Howe, Nicola; Gregory, Jonathan; Smith, Robin; Joshi, Manoj

2017-04-01

In climate simulations, the impacts of the subgrid scales on the resolved scales are conventionally represented using deterministic closure schemes, which assume that the impacts are uniquely determined by the resolved scales. Stochastic parameterization relaxes this assumption, by sampling the subgrid variability in a computationally inexpensive manner. This study shows that the simulated climatological state of the ocean is improved in many respects by implementing a simple stochastic parameterization of ocean eddies into a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model. Simulations from a high-resolution, eddy-permitting ocean model are used to calculate the eddy statistics needed to inject realistic stochastic noise into a low-resolution, non-eddy-permitting version of the same model. A suite of four stochastic experiments is then run to test the sensitivity of the simulated climate to the noise definition by varying the noise amplitude and decorrelation time within reasonable limits. The addition of zero-mean noise to the ocean temperature tendency is found to have a nonzero effect on the mean climate. Specifically, in terms of the ocean temperature and salinity fields both at the surface and at depth, the noise reduces many of the biases in the low-resolution model and causes it to more closely resemble the high-resolution model. The variability of the strength of the global ocean thermohaline circulation is also improved. It is concluded that stochastic ocean perturbations can yield reductions in climate model error that are comparable to those obtained by refining the resolution, but without the increased computational cost. Therefore, stochastic parameterizations of ocean eddies have the potential to significantly improve climate simulations. Reference Williams PD, Howe NJ, Gregory JM, Smith RS, and Joshi MM (2016) Improved Climate Simulations through a Stochastic Parameterization of Ocean Eddies. Journal of Climate, 29, 8763-8781. http://dx.doi.org/10

Model simulations of dense bottom currents in the Western Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burchard, Hans; Janssen, Frank; Bolding, Karsten; Umlauf, Lars; Rennau, Hannes

2009-01-01

Only recently, medium intensity inflow events into the Baltic Sea have gained more awareness because of their potential to ventilate intermediate layers in the Southern Baltic Sea basins. With the present high-resolution model study of the Western Baltic Sea a first attempt is made to obtain model based realistic estimates of turbulent mixing in this area where dense bottom currents resulting from medium intensity inflow events are weakened by turbulent entrainment. The numerical model simulation which is carried out using the General Estuarine Transport Model (GETM) during nine months in 2003 and 2004 is first validated by means of three automatic stations at the Drogden and Darss Sills and in the Arkona Sea. In order to obtain good agreement between observations and model results, the 0.5×0.5 nautical mile bathymetry had to be adjusted in order to account for the fact that even at that scale many relevant topographic features are not resolved. Current velocity, salinity and turbulence observations during a medium intensity inflow event through the Øresund are then compared to the model results. Given the general problems of point to point comparisons between observations and model simulations, the agreement is fairly good with the characteristic features of the inflow event well represented by the model simulations. Two different bulk measures for mixing activity are then introduced, the vertically integrated decay of salinity variance, which is equal to the production of micro-scale salinity variance, and the vertically integrated turbulent salt flux, which is related to an increase of potential energy due to vertical mixing of stably stratified flow. Both measures give qualitatively similar results and identify the Drogden and Darss Sills as well as the Bornholm Channel as mixing hot spots. Further regions of strong mixing are the dense bottom current pathways from these sills into the Arkona Sea, areas around Kriegers Flak (a shoal in the western Arkona Sea

Cancer - resources

MedlinePlus

Resources - cancer ... The following organizations are good resources for information on cancer : American Cancer Society -- www.cancer.org Cancer Care -- www.cancercare.org Cancer.Net -- www.cancer.net/coping- ...

Fukushima- Ocean Impacts and Public Concerns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buesseler, K.

2015-12-01

The triple disaster of the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent radiation releases at Fukushima Dai-ichi were unprecedented events for the ocean and society. This presentation will provide an overview of studies of Fukushima radionuclides in the ocean. The radioactive releases from Fukushima will be compared to natural and prior human sources. The fate of cesium is largely determined by its soluble nature in seawater, though uptake in sediments does occur via cesium's association with both detrital particles and biological uptake and sedimentation. Cesium's continued supply from the rivers and ongoing leakages at the nuclear power plants suggests that coastal sediments may remain contaminated for decades to come. Although levels of cesium in the ocean and being released from Fukushima more than four years later are orders of magnitude lower than in 2011, other isotopes such as strontium-90 remain of interest as they are elevated relative to cesium in the groundwater and storage tanks at the reactor site. Across the Pacific, Fukushima cesium is starting to be detectable along the west coast of North America. Although models suggest cesium will be at levels well below those considered of human health concern, the public is worried about the lack of ocean monitoring of Fukushima radionuclides. We addressed these public concerns by creating "Our Radioactive Ocean" a citizen-scientist crowd-funded campaign that provides a sampling kit that can use to sample their favorite beach. Once collected, samples are returned to WHOI for analyses of the isotopes of cesium that allow us to distinguish Fukushima cesium from other sources (http://OurRadioactiveOcean.org ). However to measure the low levels of cesium already in the ocean 20 liter samples are needed. To increase public participation, we will also present results from a new wearable sample collector, the "RadBand" which contains a small amount of cesium selective resin that surfers and swimmers can wear on

Hepatitis B Shots Are Recommended for All New Babies

MedlinePlus

... Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Saint Paul, Minnesota • 651-647-9009 • www. immunize. org • www. vaccineinformation. ... Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Saint Paul, Minnesota • 651-647-9009 • www.immunize.org • www.vaccineinformation. ...

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Decision to Find Iran in Non-Compliance, 2002-2006

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

Programme,” Mehr News Agency, November 14, 2004, avail- able at <www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/eu_iran14112004.shtml>. 59 Shannon N. Kile , ed...www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/eu_ iran14112004.shtml>. 61 Kile , 67. 62 IAEA Board Resolution, November 29, 2004, available at <www.iaea.org

Could Seals Prevent Cod Recovery in the Baltic Sea?

PubMed Central

MacKenzie, Brian R.; Eero, Margit; Ojaveer, Henn

2011-01-01

Fish populations are increasingly affected by multiple human and natural impacts including exploitation, eutrophication, habitat alteration and climate change. As a result many collapsed populations may have to recover in ecosystems whose structure and functioning differ from those in which they were formerly productive and supported sustainable fisheries. Here we investigate how a cod (Gadus morhua) population in the Baltic Sea whose biomass was reduced due to a combination of high exploitation and deteriorating environmental conditions might recover and develop in the 21st century in an ecosystem that likely will change due to both the already started recovery of a cod predator, the grey seal Halichoerus grypus, and projected climate impacts. Simulation modelling, assuming increased seal predation, fishing levels consistent with management plan targets and stable salinity, shows that the cod population could reach high levels well above the long-term average. Scenarios with similar seal and fishing levels but with 15% lower salinity suggest that the Baltic will still be able to support a cod population which can sustain a fishery, but biomass and yields will be lower. At present knowledge of cod and seal interactions, seal predation was found to have much lower impact on cod recovery, compared to the effects of exploitation and salinity. These results suggest that dual management objectives (recovery of both seal and cod populations) are realistic but success in achieving these goals will also depend on how climate change affects cod recruitment. PMID:21573062

Broad-scale climate influences on spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus, L.) recruitment in the Western Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Gröger, Joachim P; Hinrichsen, Hans-Harald; Polte, Patrick

2014-01-01

Climate forcing in complex ecosystems can have profound implications for ecosystem sustainability and may thus challenge a precautionary ecosystem management. Climatic influences documented to affect various ecological functions on a global scale, may themselves be observed on quantitative or qualitative scales including regime shifts in complex marine ecosystems. This study investigates the potential climatic impact on the reproduction success of spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) in the Western Baltic Sea (WBSS herring). To test for climate effects on reproduction success, the regionally determined and scientifically well-documented spawning grounds of WBSS herring represent an ideal model system. Climate effects on herring reproduction were investigated using two global indices of atmospheric variability and sea surface temperature, represented by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), respectively, and the Baltic Sea Index (BSI) which is a regional-scale atmospheric index for the Baltic Sea. Moreover, we combined a traditional approach with modern time series analysis based on a recruitment model connecting parental population components with reproduction success. Generalized transfer functions (ARIMAX models) allowed evaluating the dynamic nature of exogenous climate processes interacting with the endogenous recruitment process. Using different model selection criteria our results reveal that in contrast to NAO and AMO, the BSI shows a significant positive but delayed signal on the annual dynamics of herring recruitment. The westward influence of the Siberian high is considered strongly suppressing the influence of the NAO in this area leading to a higher explanatory power of the BSI reflecting the atmospheric pressure regime on a North-South transect between Oslo, Norway and Szczecin, Poland. We suggest incorporating climate-induced effects into stock and risk assessments and management strategies as part

Broad-Scale Climate Influences on Spring-Spawning Herring (Clupea harengus, L.) Recruitment in the Western Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Gröger, Joachim P.; Hinrichsen, Hans-Harald; Polte, Patrick

2014-01-01

Climate forcing in complex ecosystems can have profound implications for ecosystem sustainability and may thus challenge a precautionary ecosystem management. Climatic influences documented to affect various ecological functions on a global scale, may themselves be observed on quantitative or qualitative scales including regime shifts in complex marine ecosystems. This study investigates the potential climatic impact on the reproduction success of spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) in the Western Baltic Sea (WBSS herring). To test for climate effects on reproduction success, the regionally determined and scientifically well-documented spawning grounds of WBSS herring represent an ideal model system. Climate effects on herring reproduction were investigated using two global indices of atmospheric variability and sea surface temperature, represented by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), respectively, and the Baltic Sea Index (BSI) which is a regional-scale atmospheric index for the Baltic Sea. Moreover, we combined a traditional approach with modern time series analysis based on a recruitment model connecting parental population components with reproduction success. Generalized transfer functions (ARIMAX models) allowed evaluating the dynamic nature of exogenous climate processes interacting with the endogenous recruitment process. Using different model selection criteria our results reveal that in contrast to NAO and AMO, the BSI shows a significant positive but delayed signal on the annual dynamics of herring recruitment. The westward influence of the Siberian high is considered strongly suppressing the influence of the NAO in this area leading to a higher explanatory power of the BSI reflecting the atmospheric pressure regime on a North-South transect between Oslo, Norway and Szczecin, Poland. We suggest incorporating climate-induced effects into stock and risk assessments and management strategies as part

Distribution and relationships of trace metals in the isopod Saduria entomon and adjacent bottom sediments in the southern Baltic.

PubMed

Góral, Marta; Szefer, Piotr; Ciesielski, Tomasz; Warzocha, Jan

2009-10-01

The concentrations of Ag, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Mn and Zn in Saduria entomon and adjacent bottom sediments from the southern Baltic were determined by FAAS. In order to estimate the strength of correlations between accumulated elements in these crustaceans and surficial sediment, bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) were calculated. The results of factor analysis (FA) and the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (ANOVA) clearly indicate geographical differences between the concentrations of these elements. Cd, Co, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn levels were higher in S. entomon from the Gulf of Gdańsk, whereas Cr and Mn levels were higher in the crustaceans inhabiting open Baltic waters. The concentrations of Ag and Cu were comparable in both regions. There was a tendency for metal concentrations to distinguish organisms inhabiting the muddy bottom from those living in sandy sediments. The granulometric composition of the sediment appears to influence trace metal bioavailability. The results show that S. entomon could be a valuable sentinel organism for biomonitoring heavy metal contamination in the southern Baltic.

People, lakes and seashores: Studies from the Baltic Sea basin and adjacent areas in the early and Mid-Holocene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groß, Daniel; Zander, Annabell; Boethius, Adam; Dreibrodt, Stefan; Grøn, Ole; Hansson, Anton; Jessen, Catherine; Koivisto, Satu; Larsson, Lars; Lübke, Harald; Nilsson, Björn

2018-04-01

During the Early and Mid-Holocene significant changes in the ecology and socio-cultural spheres occurred around the Baltic Sea. Because of the underlying climatic changes and thus environmental alterations, the area was the scene for various cultural developments during the period under investigation. In the course of the melting of the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, isostatic and eustatic movements caused continual changes to the Baltic Sea basin. Changes in water level, however, affected not only the Early and Mid-Holocene coastlines, but also the whole Baltic Sea drainage system, including large lakes, rivers and watersheds in the hinterland were also dramatically impacted by these ecological changes. Prehistoric people were thus affected by changes in resource availability and reduction or enlargement of their territories, respectively. In order to evaluate the impact of changes in the water and land networks on the environment, resource availability, and human behaviour, and to reconstruct human responses to these changes, we pursue an interdisciplinary approach connecting environmental and archaeological research highlighted through different case studies.

The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

March, Tom

2006-01-01

We are entering an age of instant media gratification, in which a "multimedia aura" will "accompany us wherever we go," writes Tom March. The New WWW, says March, offers us whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want it. The effect on our children may be unrealistic expectations, premature disillusionment, and unhappiness. To counterbalance…

Born semantic: linking data from sensors to users and balancing hardware limitations with data standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buck, Justin; Leadbetter, Adam

2015-04-01

New users for the growing volume of ocean data for purposes such as 'big data' data products and operational data assimilation/ingestion require data to be readily ingestible. This can be achieved via the application of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Linked Data and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards to data management. As part of several Horizons 2020 European projects (SenseOCEAN, ODIP, AtlantOS) the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) are working on combining existing data centre architecture and SWE software such as Sensor Observation Services with a Linked Data front end. The standards to enable data delivery are proven and well documented1,2 There are practical difficulties when SWE standards are applied to real time data because of internal hardware bandwidth restrictions and a requirement to constrain data transmission costs. A pragmatic approach is proposed where sensor metadata and data output in OGC standards are implemented "shore-side" with sensors and instruments transmitting unique resolvable web linkages to persistent OGC SensorML records published at the BODC. References: 1. World Wide Web Consortium. (2013). Linked Data. Available: http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data. Last accessed 8th October 2014. 2. Open Geospatial Consortium. (2014). Sensor Web Enablement (SWE). Available: http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/markets-technologies/swe. Last accessed 8th October 2014.

45 CFR 170.299 - Incorporation by reference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., MI 48104; Telephone (734) 677-7777 or http://www.hl7.org/. (1) Health Level Seven Standard Version 2..., PA, 19428-2959 USA; Telephone (610) 832-9585 or http://www.astm.org/. (1) ASTM E2369-05: Standard...) 477-1000; and Facsimile (480) 767-1042 or http://www.ncpdp.org. (1) National Council for Prescription...

24 CFR 100.201a - Incorporation by reference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., DC 20001-2070, telephone number 1-888-422-7233, http://www.iccsafe.org/e/category.html. (2) American..., DC 20001-2070, telephone number 1-888-422-7233, http://www.iccsafe.org/e/category.html. (3) American..., DC 20001-2070, telephone number 1-888-422-7233, http://www.iccsafe.org/e/category.html. (4) American...

77 FR 2119 - WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding Regarding China-Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty Measures...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-13

... from the United States. That request may be found at www.wto.org contained in a document designated as... requested consultations with China. That request may be found at www.wto.org contained in a document... of the Appellate Body, will be available on the Web site of the World Trade Organization, www.wto.org...

Spatiotemporal variations of the ⁹⁰Sr in the southern part of the Baltic Sea over the period of 2005-2010.

PubMed

Saniewski, Michał

2013-01-01

The Baltic Sea is one of the most contaminated seas by the radioactive isotope of strontium in the world; therefore the activity of ⁹⁰Sr is regularly controlled. Due to that fact, seawater samples for ⁹⁰Sr determination were collected at 16 stations located in the southern Baltic Sea between 2005 and 2010. In this period average activity of ⁹⁰Sr was 7.8 Bq m⁻³ and varied within the range from 3.0 Bq m⁻³ to 11.9 Bq m⁻³. Because the higher activity of ⁹⁰Sr was measured in the Baltic Sea than in the North Sea and rivers, inflows from the North Sea and the riverine runoff decreased ⁹⁰Sr activity in the Baltic Sea. The average ⁹⁰Sr activity in the bottom water along the offshore profile was 18% lower than that in the surface water and it was caused by an inflow of salt water from the North Sea. In the Vistula River mouth the average activity of ⁹⁰Sr in the surface water was about 15% lower than the average activity in the bottom waters. Coastal areas, relatively shallow with good mixing condition in the water column, were characterized by low variability in ⁹⁰Sr activity.

Infant mortality gap in the Baltic region - Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania - in relation to macroeconomic factors in 1996-2010.

PubMed

Ebela, Inguna; Zile, Irisa; Ebela, Danute Razuka; Rozenfelde, Ingrida Rumba

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE. A constant gap has appeared in infant mortality among the 3 Baltic States - Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania - since the restoration of independence in 1991. The aim of the study was to compare infant mortality rates in all the 3 Baltic countries and examine some of the macro- and socioeconomic factors associated with infant mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS. The data were obtained from international databases, such as World Health Organization and EUROSTAT, and the national statistical databases of the Baltic States. The time series data sets (1996-2010) were used in the regression and correlation analysis. RESULTS. In all the 3 Baltic States, a strong and significant correlation was found: Latvia (r=-0.81, P<0.01), Lithuania (r=-0.93, P<0.01), and Estonia (r=-0.91, P<0.01). There was also a correlation between infant mortality and healthcare expenditure in local currency per capita: Latvia (r=-0.81, P<0.01); Lithuania (r=-0.90, P<0.01) and Estonia (r=-0.88, P<0.01). In Latvia (r=0.87, P<0.01) and Estonia (r=0.70; P<0.01), a significant correlation between infant mortality and unemployment levels was observed from 1996 to 2008, whereas the statistical significance disappeared in the period from 1996 to 2010. In Lithuania, the relationship was not significant. CONCLUSIONS. Higher infant mortality rates and a less stable decreasing tendency in Latvia are apparently explained by less successful adaptation to a new political and economic situation and limited skills in adjusting the healthcare system to the reality of life.

Reconstructing Holocene temperature and salinity variations in the western Baltic Sea region: a multi-proxy comparison from the Little Belt (IODP Expedition 347, Site M0059)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotthoff, Ulrich; Groeneveld, Jeroen; Ash, Jeanine L.; Fanget, Anne-Sophie; Quintana Krupinski, Nadine; Peyron, Odile; Stepanova, Anna; Warnock, Jonathan; Van Helmond, Niels A. G. M.; Passey, Benjamin H.; Rønø Clausen, Ole; Bennike, Ole; Andrén, Elinor; Granoszewski, Wojciech; Andrén, Thomas; Filipsson, Helena L.; Seidenkrantz, Marit-Solveig; Slomp, Caroline P.; Bauersachs, Thorsten

2017-12-01

Sediment records recovered from the Baltic Sea during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 347 provide a unique opportunity to study paleoenvironmental and climate change in central and northern Europe. Such studies contribute to a better understanding of how environmental parameters change in continental shelf seas and enclosed basins. Here we present a multi-proxy-based reconstruction of paleotemperature (both marine and terrestrial), paleosalinity, and paleoecosystem changes from the Little Belt (Site M0059) over the past ˜ 8000 years and evaluate the applicability of inorganic- and organic-based proxies in this particular setting. All salinity proxies (diatoms, aquatic palynomorphs, ostracods, diol index) show that lacustrine conditions occurred in the Little Belt until ˜ 7400 cal yr BP. A connection to the Kattegat at this time can thus be excluded, but a direct connection to the Baltic Proper may have existed. The transition to the brackish-marine conditions of the Littorina Sea stage (more saline and warmer) occurred within ˜ 200 years when the connection to the Kattegat became established after ˜ 7400 cal yr BP. The different salinity proxies used here generally show similar trends in relative changes in salinity, but often do not allow quantitative estimates of salinity. The reconstruction of water temperatures is associated with particularly large uncertainties and variations in absolute values by up to 8 °C for bottom waters and up to 16 °C for surface waters. Concerning the reconstruction of temperature using foraminiferal Mg  /  Ca ratios, contamination by authigenic coatings in the deeper intervals may have led to an overestimation of temperatures. Differences in results based on the lipid paleothermometers (long chain diol index and TEXL86) can partly be explained by the application of modern-day proxy calibrations to intervals that experienced significant changes in depositional settings: in the case of our study, the

Blind life in the Baltic amber forests: description of an eyeless species of the ground beetle genus Trechus Clairville, 1806 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechini).

PubMed

Schmidt, Joachim; Hoffmann, Hannes; Michalik, Peter

2016-02-22

The first eyeless beetle known from Baltic amber, Trechus eoanophthalmus sp. n., is described and imaged using light microscopy and X-ray micro-computed tomography. Based on external characters, the new species is most similar to species of the Palaearctic Trechus sensu stricto clade and seems to be closely related to the Baltic amber fossil T. balticus Schmidt & Faille, 2015. Due to the poor conservation of the internal parts of the body, no information on the genital characters can be provided. Therefore, the systematic position of this fossil within the megadiverse genus Trechus remains dubious. The occurrence of the blind and flightless T. eoanophthalmus sp. n. in the Baltic amber forests supports a previous hypothesis that these forests were located in an area partly characterised by mountainous habitats with temperate climatic conditions.

Nutritional situation of the elderly in Eastern/Baltic and Central/Western Europe - the AgeingNutrition project.

PubMed

Lesser, Stephanie; Pauly, Lioba; Volkert, Dorothee; Stehle, Peter

2008-01-01

In the AgeingNutrition project, funded by the European Commission, partners from 10 'Eastern/Baltic' (new) European (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey) and 5 'Central/Western' (old) European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, and Spain) performed a comparative analysis of existing data on nutritional status, food intake, nutrient intake, dietary habits and lifestyle of the aging population in Europe. Using predefined inclusion criteria, 36 studies (22 from Eastern/Baltic, 14 from Central/Western countries) were chosen for evaluation. The studies varied in general design, data assessment and parameters and methods applied (especially regarding assessment of nutritional situation, comprising anthropometry, blood lipid profile, dietary nutrient and food intake). Thus, data evaluation by recalculation of raw data had to be restricted to a few distinct, common parameters. Energy intake is too high in both regions, especially in some of the 'younger old' and seems not to be adjusted to energy expenditure. Simultaneously, energy intake was considerably lower than recommended in some very old seniors in Eastern/Baltic countries. Interestingly, quantity and quality of available information is similar in 'new' and 'old' member states. Immense variations in methodology hampered performing reliable comparative evaluation. It is, thus, mandatory to standardize methods for assessment of nutrition and health status for future international multicenter studies. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

77 FR 19745 - WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding Regarding United States; Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain...

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75 FR 23318 - WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding Regarding Philippines-Taxes on Distilled Spirits

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Future export of particulate and dissolved organic carbon from land to coastal zones of the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strååt, Kim Dahlgren; Mörth, Carl-Magnus; Undeman, Emma

2018-01-01

The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed brackish sea in Northern Europe with a drainage basin four times larger than the sea itself. Riverine organic carbon (Particulate Organic Carbon, POC and Dissolved Organic Carbon, DOC) dominates carbon input to the Baltic Sea and influences both land-to-sea transport of nutrients and contaminants, and hence the functioning of the coastal ecosystem. The potential impact of future climate change on loads of POC and DOC in the Baltic Sea drainage basin (BSDB) was assessed using a hydrological-biogeochemical model (CSIM). The changes in annual and seasonal concentrations and loads of both POC and DOC by the end of this century were predicted using three climate change scenarios and compared to the current state. In all scenarios, overall increasing DOC loads, but unchanged POC loads, were projected in the north. In the southern part of the BSDB, predicted DOC loads were not significantly changing over time, although POC loads decreased in all scenarios. The magnitude and significance of the trends varied with scenario but the sign (+ or -) of the projected trends for the entire simulation period never conflicted. Results were discussed in detail for the "middle" CO2 emission scenario (business as usual, a1b). On an annual and entire drainage basin scale, the total POC load was projected to decrease by ca 7% under this scenario, mainly due to reduced riverine primary production in the southern parts of the BSDB. The average total DOC load was not predicted to change significantly between years 2010 and 2100 due to counteracting decreasing and increasing trends of DOC loads to the six major sub-basins in the Baltic Sea. However, predicted seasonal total loads of POC and DOC increased significantly by ca 46% and 30% in winter and decreased by 8% and 21% in summer over time, respectively. For POC the change in winter loads was a consequence of increasing soil erosion and a shift in duration of snowfall and onset of the spring flood

Leukemia - resources

MedlinePlus

The following organizations provide information on the different types of leukemia : Cancer Care -- www.cancercare.org/diagnosis/leukemia National Cancer Institute -- www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society -- www.lls.org

Concentrations of organotin compounds in various fish species in the Finnish lake waters and Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Rantakokko, Panu; Hallikainen, Anja; Airaksinen, Riikka; Vuorinen, Pekka J; Lappalainen, Antti; Mannio, Jaakko; Vartiainen, Terttu

2010-05-15

Organotin compounds (OTCs) leaching from the antifouling paints used in boats and ships have contaminated many water areas worldwide. The purpose of this study was to obtain a general view of the organotin contamination in fish in Finnish lake areas and Finnish coast of the Baltic Sea using perch as the main indicator species. Perch sampling covered areas presumed as less contaminated and areas suspected as more contaminated. Besides perch, 12 other species were sampled from sites presumed as less contaminated. OTCs measured were mono-, di- and tributyltin, mono-, di-, and triphenyltin and dioctyltin. The sum concentration of OTCs (SigmaOTCs) in perch in the least contaminated areas of the Baltic Sea were around 20 ng/g fresh weight (fw) and less than 10 ng/g fw in lake areas. In heavily contaminated areas of the Baltic Sea 150-500 ng/g fw in perch were detected. In lake areas the maximum SigmaOTCs in perch was only 30 ng/g fw. With regard to the other species in the Baltic Sea, salmon, sprat, flounder, whitefish, vendace and lamprey contained low concentrations (SigmaOTCs mainly less than 20 ng/g fw), whereas in pike, pike-perch, burbot and bream concentrations were higher. SigmaOTCs in lake fish were generally lower than in the Baltic Sea. In a distance gradient study, SigmaOTCs in perch decreased quickly from nearly 200 ng/g fw at a contaminated harbor area to 35 ng/g fw during a distance of 5 km. Further decrease was slower and reached 15 ng/g fw at 100 km. In a size dependence study triphenyltin showed better correlation with the fish length than tributyltin for all species studied, i.e. for perch (0.16 vs 0.26), pike-perch (0.13 vs 0.24) and roach (0.46 vs 0.80). High correlation for roach may be partly explained by smaller number of samples collected and small length range. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CHOgenome.org 2.0: Genome resources and website updates.

PubMed

Kremkow, Benjamin G; Baik, Jong Youn; MacDonald, Madolyn L; Lee, Kelvin H

2015-07-01

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are a major host cell line for the production of therapeutic proteins, and CHO cell and Chinese hamster (CH) genomes have recently been sequenced using next-generation sequencing methods. CHOgenome.org was launched in 2011 (version 1.0) to serve as a database repository and to provide bioinformatics tools for the CHO community. CHOgenome.org (version 1.0) maintained GenBank CHO-K1 genome data, identified CHO-omics literature, and provided a CHO-specific BLAST service. Recent major updates to CHOgenome.org (version 2.0) include new sequence and annotation databases for both CHO and CH genomes, a more user-friendly website, and new research tools, including a proteome browser and a genome viewer. CHO cell-line specific sequences and annotations facilitate cell line development opportunities, several of which are discussed. Moving forward, CHOgenome.org will host the increasing amount of CHO-omics data and continue to make useful bioinformatics tools available to the CHO community. Copyright © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Nitrogen and the Baltic Sea: managing nitrogen in relation to phosphorus.

PubMed

Elmgren, R; Larsson, U

2001-10-26

The Baltic is a large, brackish sea (4 x 10(5) km2) extending from 54N to approximately 66N, with a fourfold larger drainage area (population 8 x 10(7). Surface salinity (2 to 8 PSU) and hence biodiversity is low. In the last century, annual nutrient loads increased to 10(6) metric tons N and 5 x 10(4) ton P. Eutrophication is evident in the N-limited south, where cyanobacteria fix 2 to 4 x 10(5) ton N each summer, Secchi depths have been halved, and O2-deficient bottom areas have spread. Production remains low in the P-limited north. In nutrient-enriched coastal areas, phytoplankton blooms, toxic at times, and filamentous macroalgae reduce amenity values. Loads need to be reduced of both N, to reduce production, and P, to limit N-fixing cyanobacterial blooms. When large N-load reductions have been achieved locally, algal biomass has declined. So far, P loads have been reduced more than N loads. If this continues, a P-limited Baltic proper may result, very different from previous N-limited conditions. Reaching the management goal of halved anthropogenic N and P loads at minimum cost will require better understanding of biogeochemical nutrient cycles, economic evaluation of proposed measures, and improved stakeholder participation.

Alkylphenols in Surface Sediments of the Gulf of Gdansk (Baltic Sea).

PubMed

Koniecko, Iga; Staniszewska, Marta; Falkowska, Lucyna; Burska, Dorota; Kielczewska, Joanna; Jasinska, Anita

2014-01-01

The widespread use of alkylphenols in European industry has led to their presence in the environment and the living organisms of the Baltic Sea. The present study (2011-2012) was designed to determine the concentrations of alkylphenols, 4-nonylphenol (NP) and 4- tert -octylphenol (OP), in surface sediments of the Gulf of Gdansk, a section of the Baltic that lies in close proximity to industrial and agricultural areas and borders with an agglomeration of nearly one million inhabitants. It is also where the Vistula, the largest Polish river, ends its course. In spring, large concentrations of 4-nonylphenol and 4- tert -octylphenol were washed off into the coastal zone with meltwater. In summertime, sediments near the beach had the highest alkylphenol concentrations (NP-2.31 ng g -1 dw, OP-13.09 ng g -1 dw), which was related to tourism and recreational activity. In silt sediments located off the coast, the highest NP (1.46 ng g -1 dw) and OP (6.56 ng g -1 dw) amounts were observed in autumn. The origin of OP and NP at those test stations was linked to atmospheric transport of black carbon along with adsorbed alkylphenols.

Eutrophication assessment of the Baltic Sea Protected Areas by available data and GIS technologies.

PubMed

Ranft, Susanne; Pesch, Roland; Schröder, Winfried; Boedeker, Dieter; Paulomäki, Hanna; Fagerli, Hilde

2011-01-01

Concerning increased degradation of marine ecosystems, there is a great political and institutional demand for an array of different tools to restore a good environmental status. Thereby, eutrophication is acknowledged as one of the major human induced stressors which has to be monitored and reduced. The present study concentrates on an assessment of the eutrophication status of the Baltic Sea Protected Areas by use of available data and GIS technologies. Two geodata layers were used for analysis: (1) a map on the eutrophication status of the Baltic Sea generated by the Helsinki Commission applying the HELCOM Eutrophication Assessment Tool (HEAT), and (2) modelled data on atmospheric nitrogen deposition made available by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP). The results yielded comprehensive and conclusive data indicating that most of the BSPAs may be classified as being 'affected by eutrophication' and underlining the need to decrease the overall emissions of nutrients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical processes in the transition zone between North Sea and Baltic Sea. Numerical simulations and observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanev, Emil V.; Lu, Xi; Grashorn, Sebastian

2015-09-01

The dynamics in the transition zone between the North Sea and Baltic Sea are analyzed here using data from a 22-year-long climatic simulation with a focus on the periods 1992-1994 and 2001-2003 when two recent major inflow events occurred. Observations from gauges and in situ measurements are used to validate the model. Parameters, which cannot be easily measured, such as water and salt transports through straits, have been compared against similar previous estimates. The good performance of simulations is attributed to the finer resolution of the model compared to earlier set ups. The outflow in the Kattegat, which is an analogue of the tidal outflows, tends to propagate to the North over the shallows without showing a substantial deflection to the right due to the Earth's rotation. The inflow follows the topography. The different inflow and outflow pathways are explained as a consequence of the specific combination of bathymetry, axial and lateral processes. The circulation in Kattegat is persistently clockwise with an eastern intensification during inflow and a western one during outflow regimes. The tidal wave there propagates as Kelvin wave, keeping the coast on its right. The flows in the two main straits reveal very different responses to tides, which are also highly asymmetric during inflow and outflow conditions. The circulation has a typical two-layer structure, the correlation between salinity and velocity tends to increase the salt transport in the salinity conveyor belt. The transversal circulation in the entrance of the Sound enhances the vertical mixing of the saltier North Sea water. The long-term averaged ratio of the water transports through the Great Belt and the Sound is ∼2.6-2.7 but this number changes reaching lower values during the major inflow in 1993. The transports in the straits are asymmetric. During inflow events the repartition of water penetrating the Baltic Sea is strongly in favor of the pathway through the Sound, which provides

Nitrification and the ammonia-oxidizing communities in the central Baltic Sea water column

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)