scholarly journals Emission, Transport, and Deposition of visible Plastics in an Estuary and the Baltic Sea—a Monitoring and Modeling Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Schernewski ◽  
Hagen Radtke ◽  
Esther Robbe ◽  
Mirco Haseler ◽  
Rahel Hauk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
River Mouth ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Aim was to assess whether a comprehensive approach linking existing knowledge with monitoring and modeling can provide an improved insight into coastal and marine plastics pollution. We focused on large micro- and mesoplastic (1–25 mm) and selected macroplastic items. Emission calculations, samplings in the Warnow river and estuary (water body and bottom sediments) and a flood accumulation zone monitoring served as basis for model simulations on transport and behavior in the entire Baltic Sea. Considered were the most important pathways, sewage overflow and stormwater. The coastline monitoring together with calculations allowed estimating plastics emissions for Rostock city and the Warnow catchment. Average concentrations at the Warnow river mouth were 0.016 particles/m³ and in the estuary 0.14 particles/m³ (300 µm net). The estuary and nearby Baltic Sea beaches were hot-spots for plastic accumulation with 6–31 particles/m². With increasing distance from the estuary, the concentrations dropped to 0.3 particles/m². This spatial pattern, the plastic pollution gradients and the observed annual accumulation values were consistent with the model results. Indicator items for sewer overflow and stormwater emissions exist, but were only found at low numbers in the environment. The considered visible plastics alone can hardly serve as indicator for microplastic pollution (<1 mm). The use of up-scaled emission data as input for Baltic Sea model simulations provided information on large scale emission, transport and deposition patterns of visible plastics. The results underline the importance of plastic retention in rivers and estuaries.

scholarly journals Deficiency syndromes in top predators associated with large-scale changes in the Baltic Sea ecosystem

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. e0227714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Majaneva ◽  
Emil Fridolfsson ◽  
Michele Casini ◽  
Catherine Legrand ◽  
Elin Lindehoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
The Baltic

scholarly journals Effect of ocean acidification and elevated <i>f</i>CO<sub>2</sub> on trace gas production by a Baltic Sea summer phytoplankton community

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 4595-4613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison L. Webb ◽  
Emma Leedham-Elvidge ◽  
Claire Hughes ◽  
Frances E. Hopkins ◽  
Gill Malin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Trace Gas ◽  
Research Station ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Chl A ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Upwelling Event ◽  
Ambient Co2

Abstract. 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 this upwelling, DMS concentrations declined, but halocarbon concentrations remained similar or increased compared to measurements prior to the change in conditions. Based on our findings, with future acidification of Baltic Sea waters, biogenic halocarbon emissions are likely to remain at similar values to today; however, emissions of biogenic sulfur could significantly decrease in this region.

scholarly journals A century of genetic homogenization in Baltic salmon—evidence from archival DNA

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1949) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Östergren ◽  
Stefan Palm ◽  
John Gilbey ◽  
Göran Spong ◽  
Johan Dannewitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Isolation By Distance ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Genetic Change ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Archival Dna

Intra-species genetic homogenization arising from anthropogenic impacts is a major threat to biodiversity. However, few taxa have sufficient historical material to systematically quantify long-term genetic changes. Using archival DNA collected over approximately 100 years, we assessed spatio-temporal genetic change in Atlantic salmon populations across the Baltic Sea, an area heavily impacted by hydropower exploitation and associated with large-scale mitigation stocking. Analysis was carried out by screening 82 SNPs in 1680 individuals from 13 Swedish rivers. We found an overall decrease in genetic divergence and diminished isolation by distance among populations, strongly indicating genetic homogenization over the past century. We further observed an increase in genetic diversity within populations consistent with increased gene flow. The temporal genetic change was lower in larger wild populations than in smaller wild and hatchery-reared ones, indicating that larger populations have been able to support a high number of native spawners in relation to immigrants. Our results demonstrate that stocking practices of salmon in the Baltic Sea have led to the homogenization of populations over the last century, potentially compromising their ability to adapt to environmental change. Stocking of reared fish is common worldwide, and our study is a cautionary example of the potentially long-term negative effects of such activities.

The Baltic Sea a century ago — a reconstruction from model simulations, verified by observations

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 485-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg P. Savchuk ◽  
Fredrik Wulff ◽  
Sven Hille ◽  
Christoph Humborg ◽  
Falk Pollehne
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
The Baltic

Statistical Downscaling of daily extreme Sea Level with Random Forest: Examples from South-East Asia and the Baltic Sea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svenja Bierstedt ◽  
Eduardo Zorita ◽  
Birgit Hünicke
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Extreme Sea Levels ◽  
The Baltic

&lt;p&gt;The coastlines of the Baltic Sea and Indonesia are both relatively complex, so that the estimation of extreme sea levels caused by the atmospheric forcing becomes complex with conventional methods. Here, we explore whether Machine Learning methods can provide a model surrogate to compute more rapidly daily extremes in sea level from large-scale atmosphere-ocean fields. We investigate the connections between the atmospheric and ocean drivers of local extreme sea level in South East Asia and along the Baltic Sea based on statistical analysis by Random Forest Models, driven by large-scale meteorological predictors and daily extreme sea level measured by tide-gauge records over the last few decades.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First results show that in some Indonesian areas extremes are driven by large-scale climate fields; in other areas they are incoherently driven by local processes. An area where random forest predicted extremes show good correspondence to observed extremes is found to be the Malaysian coastline. For the Indonesian coasts, the Random Forest Algorithm was unable to predict extreme sea levels in line with observations. Along the Baltic Sea, in contrast, the Random Forest model is able to produce reasonable estimations of extreme sea levels based on the large-scale atmospheric fields. An analysis of the interrelations of extreme sea levels in the South Asia regions suggests that either the data quality may be compromised in some regions or that other forcing factors, distinct from the large-scale atmospheric fields, may also be involved.&lt;/p&gt;

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