Baltic Monitoring Programme

HELCOM, 1984. Guidelines for the Baltic monitoring programme for the second stage. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings, 12, 251 pp. 

HELCOM, 1994. ICES/HELCOM workshop on quality assurance of chemical analytical procedures for the Baltic Monitoring Programme, Hamburg, 5-8 October 1993. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings, 58, 147 pp. 

Since 1996, HELCOM has integrated the monitoring of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Hg) in seawater as one of the core parameters for the Baltic Monitoring Programme (BMP) in recognizing their potential risk to the Baltic Sea ecosystem. As seen in Table 13.2, heavy metal loads entering the Baltic Sea have been estimated within the scope of five pollution load compilation reports (HELCOM, 1987,) as well as during the exceptional Oder River flood in summer of 1997 (Pohl et al., 2002). 

Due to the great success of the IBY, the Baltic oceanographers recommended at the conference in Helsinki in 1970 the voluntary continuation of the IBY programme for the subsequent years. The GDR followed this recommendation. In combination with the national monitoring programme covering the Baltic Sea between Fehmarnbelt and Bornholm Basin, the IfM Warnemunde expanded its seasonal cruises to the Gotland Deep... 

To respond to the ever increasing problems of the Baltic and governmental and scientists demand/need for more data, SEPA, SMHI, and the Marine Research Centers launched, in 1993, a greatly expanded marine monitoring programme with monthly cruises in the seas surrounding Sweden. 

Regular (e.g., annual) sampling and analysis of surface sediments taken at selected sites. This has been, for instance, the approach used by the running national German sediment monitoring programme in the Baltic Sea since 1999 (BSH, 1999 BSH, 2005 ). 

From the beginning of its monitoring programme, HELCOM took measures to evaluate and improve the recommended methods by intercalibrations between the different partners (HELCOM, 1983 Niemi et al., 1985 HELCOM, 1991). The HELCOM Phytoplankton Expert Group (PEG) takes care of quality assurance in phytoplankton methodology. It published a manual on biovolumes and size-classes of phytoplankton species in the Baltic Sea (Olenina et al., 2006), which is based on the species checklist of Hallfors (2004). We strictly use the species names given by Hallfors (2004). The autotrophic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum Myrionecta rubra) is counted to the phytoplankton. 

Another trend analysis of the homogeneous data sets of the HELCOM monitoring programme was performed by Suikkanen et al. (2007). They concentrated on the northern Baltic Proper and the Gulf ofFinland and, unfortunately, only on the late summer. 

HELCOM, 2006. Manual for Marine Monitoring in the COMBINE Programme of HELCOM, Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helsinki Commission), http //sea.helcom.fi/Monas/ CombineManual2/CombineHome.htm... 

---