scholarly journals Satellite altimetry reveals spatial patterns of variations in the Baltic Sea wave climate

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Kudryavtseva ◽  
Tarmo Soomere

Abstract. The main properties of the climate of waves in the seasonally ice-covered Baltic Sea and its decadal changes since 1990 are estimated from satellite altimetry data. The data set of significant wave heights (SWHs) from all existing nine satellites, cleaned and cross-validated against in situ measurements, shows overall a very consistent picture. A comparison with visual observations shows a good correspondence with correlation coefficients of 0.6–0.8. The annual mean SWH reveals a tentative increase of 0.005 m yr−1, but higher quantiles behave in a cyclic manner with a timescale of 10–15 years. Changes in the basin-wide average SWH have a strong meridional pattern: an increase in the central and western parts of the sea and a decrease in the east. This pattern is likely caused by a rotation of wind directions rather than by an increase in the wind speed.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Kudryavtseva ◽  
Tarmo Soomere

Abstract. The main properties of the climate of waves in the seasonally ice-covered Baltic Sea and its decadal changes since 1990 are estimated from satellite altimetry data. The data set of significant wave heights (SWH) from all existing ten satellites is cleaned and cross-validated against in situ buoy and echosounder measurements. Even though several satellite pairs (ENVISAT/JASON-1, SARAL/JASON-2, ERS-1/TOPEX) exhibit substantial mutual temporal drift, and calm situations are ignored, the overall picture is consistent. The annual mean SWH shows tentative increase 0.005 m/yr but higher quantiles behave in a cyclic manner with a timescale of 10–15 yr. Changes in the basin-wide average SWH have a strong meridional pattern: an increase in the central and western parts of the sea and decrease in the eastern part. This pattern is likely caused by a rotation of wind directions rather than by an increase in the wind speed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Kudryavtseva

<p>Climate warming is expected to change the functioning of regional seas substantially. However, it is still an open question how the global climate processes will affect in the future the regional seas, their wave climate, changes in the storm surges and, consequently, the coastal erosion, flooding risks, and coastal communities. In this study, we perform a detailed analysis of the wave climate of the Baltic Sea and the Caspian Sea based on the multi-mission satellite altimetry data in 1990 – 2017. The dataset of significant wave heights (SWH) from ten satellites was cross-validated against regional in situ buoy and echosounder measurements. In the Caspian Sea, due to the limited availability of the in-situ measurements, the satellite data were validated with visual wave measurements. After correction for systematic differences, the visual observations showed excellent correspondence with monthly averaged satellite data with a typical root mean square difference of 0.06 m. Even though several satellite pairs (ENVISAT/JASON-1, SARAL/JASON-2, ERS-1/TOPEX) exhibit substantial mutual temporal drift, and calm wave conditions are ignored, the overall picture is very consistent. The averaged over the whole basin annual mean SWH in the Baltic Sea shows an increase of 0.005 m/yr but no significant trend is detected in the Caspian Sea.</p><p>Interestingly, in both Baltic and Caspian seas, changes in the average SWH exhibit a strong spatial pattern. In the Baltic Sea, a meridional pattern is detected: an increase in the central and western parts of the sea and a decrease in the eastern part. This pattern has a timescale of ~13 yr. We also found a faster-varying region in the Baltic Proper where trends in the wave heights experience abrupt changes with a timescale of 3 years and show a strong relation to changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation. In the Caspian Sea, the wave height decreased by 0.019 ± 0.007 m/yr in the eastern segment of the central basin and by 0.04 ± 0.04 m/yr in the western segment of the southern basin when the other parts showed an increase of wave heights. These changes can be explained by an increase in the frequency of westerly winds at the expense of southerly winds. Analysing the changes in the atmospheric forcing we found that there is a cyclic behaviour with a timescale of ~12 years which result in abrupt changes in the wave climate every 12 years, causing the trends in different regions to reverse its sign.</p><p>We demonstrate that the impact on the coast and coastal community is caused by a complex chain of events, starting from changes in the wind direction due to large-scale atmospheric variability and atmospheric teleconnections, which create abrupt shifts in the wave climate of regional seas. We discuss that regional seas have a different response to the changing climate compared to the open ocean condition, which can lead to accelerated coastal erosion and a higher risk of flooding.</p>


Ocean Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Soomere ◽  
R. Weisse ◽  
A. Behrens

Abstract. The basic features of the wave climate in the Southwestern Baltic Sea (such as the average and typical wave conditions, frequency of occurrence of different wave parameters, variations in wave heights from weekly to decadal scales) are established based on waverider measurements at the Darss Sill in 1991–2010. The measured climate is compared with two numerical simulations with the WAM wave model driven by downscaled reanalysis of wind fields for 1958–2002 and by adjusted geostrophic winds for 1970–2007. The wave climate in this region is typical for semi-enclosed basins of the Baltic Sea. The maximum wave heights are about half of those in the Baltic Proper. The maximum recorded significant wave height HS =4.46 m occurred on 3 November 1995. The wave height exhibits no long-term trend but reveals modest interannual (about 12 % of the long-term mean of 0.76 m) and substantial seasonal variation. The wave periods are mostly concentrated in a narrow range of 2.6–4 s. Their distribution is almost constant over decades. The role of remote swell is very small.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Najafzadeh ◽  
Nadezhda Kudryavtseva ◽  
Tarmo Soomere

Abstract Wave heights in the Baltic Sea in 1992–2015 have predominantly increased in the sea's western parts. The linear trends in the winter wave heights exhibit a prominent meridional pattern. Using the technique of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) applied to the multi-mission satellite altimetry data, we link a large part of this increase in the wave heights with the climatic indices of the Scandinavian mode, North Atlantic Oscillation, and Arctic Oscillation. The winter trends show a statistically significant negative correlation (correlation coefficient –0.47±0.19) with the Scandinavian pattern and a positive correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (0.31±0.22) and Arctic Oscillation (0.42±0.20). The meridional pattern is associated with more predominant north-westerly and westerly winds driven by the Scandinavian and North Atlantic Oscillation, respectively. All three climatic indices show a statistically significant time-variable correlation with Baltic Sea wave climate during the winter season. When the Scandinavian pattern's influence is strong, North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations' effect is low and vice versa. The results are backed up by simulations using synthetic data that demonstrate that the percentage of variance retrieved using EOF analysis from the satellite-derived wave measurements is directly related to the percentage of noise in the data and the retrieved spatial patterns are insensitive to the level of noise.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3049
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Stramska ◽  
Marta Konik ◽  
Paulina Aniskiewicz ◽  
Jaromir Jakacki ◽  
Miroslaw Darecki

Among the most frequently used satellite data are surface chlorophyll concentration (Chl) and temperature (SST). These data can be degraded in some coastal areas, for example, in the Baltic Sea. Other popular sources of data are reanalysis models. Before satellite or model data can be used effectively, they should be extensively compared with in situ measurements. Herein, we present results of such comparisons. We used SST and Chl from model reanalysis and satellites, and in situ data measured at eight open Baltic Sea stations. The data cover time interval from 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2019, but some satellite data were not always available. Both the model and the satellite SST data had good agreement with in situ measurements. In contrast, satellite and model estimates of Chl concentrations presented large errors. Modeled Chl presented the lowest bias and the best correlation with in situ data from all Chl data sets evaluated. Chl estimates from a regionally tuned algorithm (SatBaltic) had smaller errors in comparison with other satellite data sets and good agreement with in situ data in summer. Statistics were not as good for the full data set. High uncertainties found in chlorophyll satellite algorithms for the Baltic Sea highlight the importance of continuous regional validation of such algorithms with in situ data.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 2237-2270 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Soomere ◽  
R. Weisse ◽  
A. Behrens

Abstract. The basic features of the wave climate in the South-Eastern Baltic Sea are studied based on available long-term measurements and simulations. The analysis of average, typical and extreme wave conditions, frequency of occurrence of different wave parameters, variations in wave heights from weekly to decadal scales, etc., is performed based on waverider measurements at the Darss Sill since 1991. The measured climatology is compared against numerical simulations with the WAM wave model driven by downscaled reanalysis of wind fields for 1958–2002 and by adjusted geostrophic winds for 1970–2007. The wave climate in this region is typical for semi-enclosed basins of the Baltic Sea. The maximum wave heights are about half of those in the Baltic Proper. The overall reliably recorded maximum significant wave height HS =4.46 m occurred during a severe S-SW storm in 1993 when the 10-min average wind speed reached 28 m s−1. The long-term average significant wave height (0.75 m) shows modest interannual (about 12 % of the long-term mean) and substantial seasonal variation. The wave periods are mostly concentrated in a narrow range of 2.5–4 s and their distribution is almost constant over decades. The role of remote swell is very small. The annual wave properties show large interannual variability but no long-term trends in average and extreme wave heights can be observed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 12255-12294 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Parard ◽  
A. A. Charantonis ◽  
A. Rutgerson

Abstract. 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.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 15459-15500
Author(s):  
L. Viktorsson ◽  
N. Ekeroth ◽  
M. Nilsson ◽  
M. Kononets ◽  
P. O. J. Hall

Abstract. Benthic fluxes of dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) were measured in situ in the Eastern Gotland Basin (EGB), Central Baltic Sea, using benthic landers. A total of 40 flux measurements on 13 stations at water depths ranging from 30–210 m and under different oxygen regimes were carried out on three cruises during three consecutive years (2008–2010) in August–September. Our study is the first to report in situ DIP fluxes in the Baltic Proper, and it provides the most comprehensive data set of benthic DIP fluxes in the Baltic Proper existing to date. DIP fluxes increased with increasing water depth and with decreasing bottom water oxygen concentration. Average fluxes were calculated for oxic bottom water conditions (−0.003 ± 0.040 mmol m−2 d−1), hypoxic conditions (0.027 ± 0.067 mmol m−2 d−1) and anoxic conditions (0.376 ± 0.214 mmol m−2 d−1). The mean flux on anoxic bottoms was ca. 5–10 times higher than previous estimates based on ex situ measurements, but agreed well with previous flux estimations from changes in the basin water DIP pool. The DIP flux was positively correlated with the organic carbon inventory of sediment and the benthic flux of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) on anoxic stations, but these variables were uncorrelated on oxic stations. The positive correlation between DIP and DIC fluxes suggests that the benthic DIP flux on anoxic bottoms in the Baltic Proper is mainly controlled by rates of deposition and degradation of organic matter. The flux from anoxic sediment was very P rich in relation to both C and N, and the average C:P ratio in fluxes on anoxic accumulation bottoms was 69 ± 15, which is well below the Redfield C:P ratio of 106:1. On oxic stations, however, the C:P flux ratio was much higher than the Redfield ratio, consistent with well-known P retention mechanisms associated with iron and bacteria in oxidized sediment. Using a benthic mass balance approach, a burial efficiency of 4% was calculated for the anoxic part of the EGB, which suggests that anoxic Baltic sediments are very efficient in recycling deposited P. Based on the measured fluxes and recent estimates of the areal extent of anoxic and hypoxic bottoms, an internal load of 146 kton yr−1 was calculated. This is 7–12 times higher than recent estimates of the external load and clearly highlights the dominance of anoxic sediments as a P source in the Baltic Sea.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-132
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Mills ◽  
Katarzyna Schaefer ◽  
Tomasz Wityk

Electrochemical Noise Measurement (ENM) and DC electrolytic resistance measurement (ERM) can be used to assess the level of protectiveness provided by an organic coating (paint or varnish) to the underlying metal. These techniques also have applicability to the thinner, transparent type of coatings used to protect archaeological artefacts. Two studies are presented here demonstrating how ERM and ENM techniques can be applied in artefact preservation. The similarity of the techniques, both of which are a measure of resistance, means results can be considered to be analogous. The first study investigated the use of ERM to determine the protection levels provided by typical coatings in order to develop a database of coating type and application for objects, for specific environments. The second study used ENM to evaluate coatings which had been applied to historic artefacts recovered from shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea and displayed inside the museum or kept in the museum store area. The studies showed the usefulness of both techniques for determining the level of protection of a coating and how a better performing coating can be specified if a pre-existing coating on an artefact has been found to be unsuitable.


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