scholarly journals Inter-annual, seasonal and diurnal features of the cloud liquid water path over the land surface and various water bodies in Northern Europe as obtained from the satellite observations by the SEVIRI instrument in 2011–2017

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir S. Kostsov ◽  
Anke Kniffka ◽  
Dmitry V. Ionov

Abstract. Liquid water path (LWP) is one of the most important cloud parameters. The knowledge on LWP is critical for many studies including global and regional climate modelling, weather forecasting, modelling of hydrological cycle and interactions between different components of the climate system: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the land surface. Satellite observations by the SEVIRI and AVHRR instruments have already provided the evidences of the systematic difference between the LWP values derived over the land surface and over the Baltic Sea and major lakes in Northern Europe during both cold and warm seasons. The goal of the present study is to analyse the phenomenon of the LWP horizontal inhomogeneities in the vicinity of various water bodies in Northern Europe making focus on the temporal and spatial variation of LWP. The objects of investigation are water bodies and water areas located in Northern Europe which are different in size and other characteristics: Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Riga, the Neva River bay, lakes Ladoga, Onega, Peipus, Pihkva, Ilmen, and Saimaa. The input data are the LWP values of pure liquid-phase clouds derived from the space-borne observations by the SEVIRI instrument in 2011–2017 during daytime. The study revealed that in general the mean values of the land-sea LWP gradient are positive during all seasons (larger values over land, smaller values over water surface). However, the negative gradients were also detected over several relatively small water bodies during cold (winter) season. The important finding is the positive trend of the land-sea LWP gradient detected within the time period 2011–2017. The analysis of intra-seasonal features revealed special conditions on the territory of the Gulf of Finland where in June and July large and moderate positive LWP gradients prevail over negative ones while in August positive and negative gradients are much smaller (in terms of absolute values) and occur with equal frequency. This result can lead to the conclusion about possible common physical mechanisms that drive the land-sea LWP difference in the Baltic Sea region at small distances from the coastline. The diurnal cycle of the LWP land-sea gradient has been detected in June and July while there was no evidence for it in August. For several specific cases, atmospheric parameters over the mesoscale domain comprising Gulf of Finland and several lakes have been simulated with the numerical model ICON in limited area and weather prediction mode. These simulations have clearly demonstrated the LWP land-sea gradient and have pointed out less stability of the atmosphere over land surfaces.

Author(s):  
Anneli Adler ◽  
Almir Karacic ◽  
Ann-Christin Rönnberg Wästljung ◽  
Ulf Johansson ◽  
Kaspars Liepins ◽  
...  

AbstractThe increased demand for wood to replace oil-based products with renewable products has lifted focus to the Baltic Sea region where the environment is favorable for woody biomass growth. The aim of this study was to estimate broad-sense heritabilities and genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions in growth and phenology traits in six climatically different regions in Sweden and the Baltics. We tested the hypothesis that both bud burst and bud set have a significant effect on the early growth of selected poplar clones in Northern Europe. Provenance hybrids of Populus trichocarpa adapted to the Northern European climate were compared to reference clones with adaptation to the Central European climate. The volume index of stemwood was under low to medium genetic control with heritabilities from 0.22 to 0.75. Heritabilities for phenology traits varied between 0.31 and 0.91. Locally chosen elite clones were identified. G×E interactions were analyzed using pairwise comparisons of the trials. Three different breeding zones for poplars between the latitudes of 55° N and 60° N in the Baltic Sea Region were outlined. The studied provenance hybrids with origin from North America offer a great possibility to broaden the area with commercial poplar plantations in Northern Europe and further improve the collection of commercial clones to match local climates. We conclude that phenology is an important selection criterion after growth.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 440-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. HYYTIÄINEN ◽  
H. AHTIAINEN ◽  
J. HEIKKILÄ

This study introduces a prototype model for evaluating measures to abate agricultural nutrients in the Baltic Sea from a Finnish national perspective. The stochastic simulation model integrates nutrient dynamics of nitrogen and phosphorus in the sea basins adjoining the Finnish coast, nutrient loads from land and other sources, benefits from nutrient abatement (in the form of recreation and other ecosystem services) and the costs of agricultural abatement activities. The aim of the study is to present the overall structure of the model and to demonstrate its potential using preliminary parameters. The model is made flexible for further improvements in all of its ecological and economic components. The results of a sensitivity analysis suggest that investments in reducing the nutrient load from arable land in Finland would become profitable only if the neighboring countries in the northern Baltic committed themselves to similar reductions. Environmental investments for improving water quality yield the highest returns for the Bothnian Bay and the Gulf of Finland, with smaller returns for the Bothnian Sea. Somewhat surprisingly, in the Bothnian Bay the abatement activities become profitable from the national viewpoint, because the riverine loads from Finland represent a high proportion of the total nutrient loads. In the Gulf of Finland, this proportion is low, but the size of the coastal population benefiting from improved water quality is high.;


2020 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 03006
Author(s):  
Stepan Klubov ◽  
Victor Tretyakov

The results of the calculation of the inflow of pollutants into the Gulf of Finland with the outflow from Saint Petersburg watercourses are considered. Data of regular hydrochemical observations by State Unitary Enterprise “Vodokanal of Saint Petersburg” for 2018 were used for the calculation. The contribution of the megalopolis of Saint Petersburg to change of the pollutants inflow is estimated.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-379
Author(s):  
Justiina Halonen ◽  
Melinda Pascale

ABSTRACT Shipping on the Baltic Sea, especially the transportation of oil, has grown significantly over the past few years. One of the most accident risky areas for Finland is situated in the Eastern Gulf of Finland (lat. 60° 11’ long. 027° 45’ E). The Baltic Sea has officially been classified by the International Maritime Organization as Particularly Sensitive Sea Area in 2005. In Finland the Regional Rescue Services (RRS) are responsible for organising on-shore clean-up with the assistance of the Regional Environmental Centres (REC). These oil combating authorities of Kymenlaakso region in south-eastern Finland have developed a thorough preparedness for oil incidents with the help of SOKO – Management of on-shore oil combating - project (SOKO). SOKO, innovated and administrated by the Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences (KyAMK), produced a detailed guidebook for oil combating authorities and the response commander (RC). The scope of the guidebook was achieved as an interdisciplinary effort between educational institutes, rescue services, environmental centres, authorities, civic organisations and businesses. The guidebook provides detailed information on how to conduct oil combating in the case of a major oil incident where the oil reaches the shores. The guidebook is used as an action plan, as a manual for the response commander (RC) as well as for training both authorities and volunteers. It is an extensive collection of studies undertaken by further education students and specialists under the supervision of the project steering committee, formed by local oil combating authorities and KyAMK SOKO project personnel. The guidebook discusses the oil combating organisation and the management, the human resources, the communication and the financing issues. The guidebook also covers the arranging cleaning operations, the oil combating equipment and the temporary storage sites in the mainland and the archipelago and the construction specifications for the temporary storages. Transportation of oily wastes was also examined including the methods for loading and discharging oily wastes, as well as the sea, road and railway transportation methods using a database for estimating the best and most economic routes from the archipelago to the mainland. In addition, detailed operative charts were produced, with indications of the cleaning sectors and the oil waste transportation spots. The SOKO contingency plan differs from the governmental plans by focusing only on the on-shore response excluding the at-sea response. The role of the oil combating authorities in the project was to identify unresolved issues in preparedness, provide practical information, supervise and accept the outcome. The main financier of SOKO in 2003–2007 was the Finnish Ministry of Education. The SOKO concept is currently expanding to cover more coastal area in the Gulf of Finland (SOKO II -project 2007–2011).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hedi Kanarik ◽  
Laura Tuomi ◽  
Jan-Victor Björkqvist ◽  
Tuomas Kärnä ◽  
Antti Westerlund

<p>Currents in the Baltic Sea are relatively weak and are thus often expected to have a negligible effect on sea surface waves. To evaluate the magnitude of wave–current interactions in the Baltic Sea, we ran the third generation wave model WAM with and without surface currents from the 3D hydrodynamical model Nemo4. The results showed that the currents have a notable effect on wave field only on rare occasions and that the effects are largest in coastal areas of the Baltic Proper, most notably in the western Gotland Basin, and the Gulf of Finland. The simulations showed that the currents in the Baltic Sea can cause differences of significant wave height up to tens of centimeters. More notable effect was the change in the peak of the wave spectrum from swell to wind driven waves and vice versa in some occasions. In our study w<span>e mostly focus on the events of strong wave–current interactions in the northern Baltic Proper and Gulf of Finland as we have measured wave spectra available from these locations. From the comparison with wave buoy measurements we see that implementing surface currents</span> <span>slightly improves the </span><span>m</span><span>odelled peak period in the Gulf of Finland.</span> <span>The Gulf of Finland is of special interest also because a group of ADCP’s were installed close to the wave buoy. The current measurements from these devices can therefore be used to evaluate the accuracy of the currents in the hydrodynamical model. </span></p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Voronov ◽  
Nataly Victorova ◽  
Dmitry Shilov

<p>The purpose of the essay was analysis and evaluation of the load generated by pollutants in the Russian part of the catchment area directly entering the Baltic Sea, as well as consideration of pro-rata contribution of all sources in the formation of factual biogenous load at the catchment areas of rivers flowing into the Gulf of Finland.</p><p>The assessment of biogenous load was made on the basis of observation data, statistical reporting data, mathematical modelling data and additional monitoring data for bodies of water in previously uncontrolled areas. To assess the amount of biogenous input from uncontrolled tributaries of the Gulf of Finland, field observations of the discharge and concentration of pollutants over a number of past years were analyzed and generalized.</p><p>It is noted that there has been a tendency towards reduction of pollutants for a number of substances in the last decade, as shown by the analysis. It is demonstrated that a significant decrease is due to reduced load from point sources that discharge pollutants directly to the Baltic Sea and its bays. Some proposals are presented for improving the Russian system of monitoring the load exerted on water bodies.</p>


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