Baltic Atlas of Long-Term Inventory and Climatology

In the frame of the IOW project BALTIC („Baltic Atlas of Long-Term Inventory and Climatology”), originally planned to run from 2000 to 2005, hydrophysical and marine chemical observational data of the Baltic Sea are compacted to monthly mean values on a 1° x 1° x 10m grid, in order to provide a comprehensive climatological background for present and future observations as well as the verification of models. For this purpose, all data from the IOW archive as well as those from partner institutions (DMI, IMGW, FIMR, SMHI, BSH) were addionally quality-controlled and integrated into the BALTIC atlas, see http://www.io-warnemuende.de/baltic-home.html/.

The ranges of confidence for the particular measuring parameters in certain regions and seasons developed along with the BALTIC project are now regularly used for the quality control of archived data, especially those from our monitoring cruises. The results of the atlas serve as valuable tools for the interpretation and analysis of ongoing measurements. BALTIC is considered as a research activity accompanying the monitoring.

The first version of the BALTIC atlas covering the years 1900-2005 was finished in 2007 and is freely available for non-commercial applications from the monograph

BALTIC partners can receive these data upon request.

The continuation of the BALTIC project is in progress. During this period, further available measurement data will be checked and integrated into the project, further data from partners will be included, historical data from before 1900 will be digitized from the literature, recently acquired measurements will be added and gaps in the past may be filled by realistic model simulations.