Echoes from the Past: A Healthy Baltic Sea Requires More Effort

• DOI: 10.1007/s13280-013-0477-4
• Publication Date: 2014-01-11T15:26:15Z
• Authors: Aarno T. Kotilainen; Laura Arppe; Slawomir Dobosz; Eystein Jansen; Karoline Kabel; Juha Karhu; Mia M. Kotilainen; Antoon Kuijpers; Bryan C. Lougheed; H. E. Markus Meier; Matthias Moros; Thomas Neumann; Christian Porsche; Niels Poulsen; Peter Rasmussen; Sofia Ribeiro; Bjørg Risebrobakken; Daria Ryabchuk; Semjon Schimanke; Ian Snowball; Mikhail Spiridonov; Joonas J. Virtasalo; Kaarina Weckström; Andrzej Witkowski; Vladimir Zhamoida
• Keywords: Baltic States; Geologic Sediments; Ecology; Climate Change; Oceans and Seas; Geography, Planning and Development; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Article; 6. Clean water; 13. Climate action; Environmental Chemistry; 14. Life underwater; Ecosystem; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Integrated sediment multiproxy studies and modeling were used to reconstruct past changes in the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Results of natural changes over the past 6000 years in the Baltic Sea ecosystem suggest that forecasted climate warming might enhance environmental problems of the Baltic Sea. Integrated modeling and sediment proxy studies reveal increased sea surface temperatures and expanded seafloor anoxia (in deep basins) during earlier natural warm climate phases, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Under future IPCC scenarios of global warming, there is likely no improvement of bottom water conditions in the Baltic Sea. Thus, the measures already designed to produce a healthier Baltic Sea are insufficient in the long term. The interactions between climate change and anthropogenic impacts on the Baltic Sea should be considered in management, implementation of policy strategies in the Baltic Sea environmental issues, and adaptation to future climate change.