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"Baltic Sea"
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Contacts and networks in the Baltic Sea region : Austmarr as a northern mare nostrum, ca. 500-1500 AD
Since prehistoric times, the Baltic Sea has acted as a crucial nexus that has shaped the languages, folklore, religions, literature, technology, and identities of the Germanic, Finnic, Sámi, Baltic, and Slavic peoples. This anthology first provides an in-depth introduction to the networks among those peoples. The contributors analyse conceptions of geography, followed by explorations of intercultural transfers, such as the slave trade and rune carving techniques. Finally, they turn their attention to mythology and ceremonialism.
Book
Security Strategies, Power Disparity and Identity
What is power and how is it effective? This volume responds to these questions in terms of regional international relations with a particular focus on the Baltic Sea region, an area still charged with a residue of Cold War conflict and power disparity, in a setting of new cooperative ventures. Each contributor examines the region from a different angle and discusses how its actors coped with the new situation facing them after 1991. The volume looks at how governments have defined their new circumstances, how they have dealt with the opportunity to shift to a new mode of coexistence and collaboration, and how they have tackled the challenge of peacefully converting their region to a security community. The book breaks with tradition by adopting a new, thematic approach based on regional issues and functions rather than a country-by-country discourse. It will be of critical value to readers interested in security studies and European politics.
eBook
Future socioeconomic conditions may have a larger impact than climate change on nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is suffering from eutrophication caused by nutrient discharges from land to sea, and these loads might change in a changing climate. We show that the impact from climate change by mid-century is probably less than the direct impact of changing socioeconomic factors such as land use, agricultural practices, atmospheric deposition, and wastewater emissions. We compare results from dynamic modelling of nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea under projections of climate change and scenarios for shared socioeconomic pathways. Average nutrient loads are projected to increase by 8% and 14% for nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively, in response to climate change scenarios. In contrast, changes in the socioeconomic drivers can lead to a decrease of 13% and 6% or an increase of 11% and 9% in nitrogen and phosphorus loads, respectively, depending on the pathway. This indicates that policy decisions still play a major role in climate adaptation and in managing eutrophication in the Baltic Sea region.
Journal Article
The Viking Eastern Baltic
Most overviews dealing with eastern Vikings have cast the Eastern Baltic peoples in a predominantly passive role during the large-scale Viking movement into the region. This book demonstrates how communication networks over the Baltic Sea and further east were established and how they took different forms in the northern and the southern halves of the Eastern Baltic. Archaeological as well as written sources indicate the impact these networks had on the development of local societies. In particular, areas along the northern Baltic Sea, both on the eastern and the western coasts, were characterized by a shared cultural sphere for warriors. Changes in archaeological evidence along relevant trade routes through these areas suggest that the inhabitants of present-day Finland and the Baltic States were more engaged in Viking eastern movement than is generally believed.
Book
Identity of the Baltic Sea Region countries
The paper aims to illuminate the crucial features of the Identity of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and scrutinize the effectiveness of achieving common goals. This comprehensive analysis will help answer the pivotal question: to what extent does the Identity of the BSR exist, and do the states that identify as “the Baltic Sea Region” share similar characteristics, arising from similar priorities and goals they set for themselves and pursue in practice? Content analysis and multivariate analysis will be employed to identify a homogeneous group of countries identifying themselves as having similar labels, which are characteristics of the Identity of the BSR, distinguishing them from the perspective of other European countries. Through the application of quantitative tools, narrow down the set of factors to those that most significantly contribute to shaping the BSR’s regional identity. This allowed for a clear identification of the primary drivers behind identity formation, such as economic cooperation and security issues.
Journal Article
Microplastic abundance in beach sediments of the Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea
We assessed the abundance of microplastics (0.2–5 mm) in drift line sediments from three sites in Kiel Fjord, Western Baltic Sea. The first site is intensively used by beach visitors, the second is in close proximity to a sewage plant and the third is polluted with large-sized plastic litter. Samples were split into three grain size classes (0.2–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–5 mm), washed with calcium chloride solution, and filtered at 0.2 mm. Filters were then visually inspected, and a total of 180 fragments was classified as microplastics, of which 39% were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. At the site that is close to a sewage plant as well as at the site with intense beach use, 1.8 and 4.5 particles (fibers plus fragments) per kg of dry sediment were found, respectively, while particle abundances reached 30.2 per kg of dry sediment at the site with high litter loads. Our data suggest that the fragmentation of large plastic debris at site seems to be a relevant source for microplastics in Western Baltic Sea beach sediments.
Journal Article
Spatially differentiated regulation
The Baltic Sea Action Plan and the EU Water Framework Directive both require substantial additional reductions of nutrient loads (N and P) to the marine environment. Focusing on nitrogen, we present a widely applicable concept for spatially differentiated regulation, exploiting the large spatial variations in the natural removal of nitrate in groundwater and surface water. By targeting mitigation measures towards areas where nature’s own capacity for removal is low, spatially differentiated regulation can be more cost-effective than the traditional uniform regulation. We present a methodology for upscaling local modelling results on targeted measures at field scale to Baltic Sea drainage basin scale. The paper assesses the potential gain and discusses key challenges related to implementation of spatially differentiated regulation, including the need for more scientific knowledge, handling of uncertainties, practical constraints related to agricultural practice and introduction of cogovernance regimes.
Journal Article
Future projections of record-breaking sea surface temperature and cyanobacteria bloom events in the Baltic Sea
Aiming to inform both marine management and the public, coupled environmental-climate scenario simulations for the future Baltic Sea are analyzed. The projections are performed under two greenhouse gas concentration scenarios (medium and high-end) and three nutrient load scenarios spanning the range of plausible socio-economic pathways. Assuming an optimistic scenario with perfect implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), the projections suggest that the achievement of Good Environmental Status will take at least a few more decades. However, for the perception of the attractiveness of beach recreational sites, extreme events such as tropical nights, record-breaking sea surface temperature (SST), and cyanobacteria blooms may be more important than mean ecosystem indicators. Our projections suggest that the incidence of record-breaking summer SSTs will increase significantly. Under the BSAP, record-breaking cyanobacteria blooms will no longer occur in the future, but may reappear at the end of the century in a business-as-usual nutrient load scenario.
Journal Article
Cultural ecosystem services provided by the Baltic Sea marine environment
This paper applies the concept of cultural ecosystem services (CES) to reveal the diverse benefits the Baltic Sea provides to human well-being. The study identifies and defines relevant CES for marine and coastal environments and applies them in a survey with 4800 respondents from Germany, Finland and Latvia. The relative importance of various CES was determined by asking respondents to allocate 100 points between CES related to recreation, landscape, inspiration, learning and education, spiritual experiences and belonging, historically and culturally important places and the existence of habitats. The results reveal significant differences in the importance of various CES across countries, users and nonusers of the Baltic Sea, as well as respondents with different human–nature relationships. The results emphasize the importance of considering recreation, landscapes and habitats in conservation policies, while acknowledging that all CES are perceived as important by some population groups.
Journal Article