WP1 - Management

Objectives of WP1 are the internal communication and management of the project, providing a platform for decision-making, organizing the annual meetings and assuring the complete reporting towards BONUS. Main decision-making body is the Steering Committee, comprising all Project PIs and WP leaders. The project is supported and gets council by the Advisory Board, composed of experts in the relevant fields of the science and technology, but also with strong experience in communication with stakeholders and decision-making entities. WP1 is maintaining the project’s web page, while all other dissemination activities are embedded in WP7.

WP2 - Data mining, assimilation, integration

The overall objective of WP2, led by Karol Kuliński (IO PAN), is to identify and evaluate the quality of existing data on greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) as well as on carbonate system (AT, CT, pH) in the Baltic Sea. The data will be mined within the ICOS and ICOS-related activities running around the Baltic Sea. Additionally, the mining will be performed among the partners of the former BONUS and before-BONUS projects such as Baltic-C or Baltic Gas, and within the MEMENTO data base. The identified data sets will be assessed for quality. The data will be checked for consistency and completeness. Where possible, the cross-check between the carbon system data will be made to identify errors. The data on GHG and on carbon system identified in WP2 will be published in form of meta-data on the BOOS web page.

WP3 - Infrastructure and observation amendments

In order to get vital additional information on surface greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes as well as carbon system data to support WPs 4-6, INTEGRAL will provide several amendments to existing infrastructure, will use its close relation/involvement in the HELCOM monitoring to effectively gain carbon system and trace gas data from selected monitoring stations, execute two field campaigns on research vessels, and install a basic underway pCO2 system on a coastal-near ferry line traversing the plume of the river Vistula.

The network of instrumentation “carriers” include voluntary observation ships (COS) as well as fixed stations (Fig 1 The Grid). The VOS Finnmaid (GER, FIN), the island stations Ostergarnsholm (SWE) and Utö (FIN) are part of the ICOS RI. Other VOS lines are or will be equipped/amended with similar instrumentation (Fig 2 The Fleet). Amendments include prototypes of a spectrophotometric pH system developed within the project BONUS PINBAL, as well as sensors owned by members of the consortium, which will be temporarily installed on platforms in areas with less data coverage.

The quasi permanent data streams from these platforms will be supplemented by additional greenhouse gas and carbon data collection linked to the HELCOM monitoring program, which will be facilitated by the longtime active involvement of several of the partners of BONUS INTEGRAL in this effort. In addition, the project will apply for shiptime for two expeditions, aiming at closing knowledge gaps connected to e.g. the role of ice for air-sea exchange and spatial in homogeneities influencing productivity and greenhouse gas distribution patterns.

WP4 - Basin-wide greenhouse gas maps

The overall objective of BONUS INTEGRAL WP4 is to compute trace gas (CO2, N2O and CH4) concentration fields for the Baltic Sea. WP4 is led by Hermann Bange (GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany) and includes contributions from all BONUS INTEGRAL partners.

In WP4 we will merge existing trace gas measurements with the measurements from the various platforms of the BONUS INTEGRAL monitoring network. These data will be extrapolated to basin-wide concentration fields by applying state-of-the-art statistical methods. We will ensure long-term availability of the trace gas concentration fields by archiving the data together with a detailed description of the computation schemes and other relevant metadata in databases such as the ICOS Carbon Portal and MEMENTO (the MarinE MethanE and NiTrous Oxide database). The trace gas concentration fields will be used by BONUS INTEGRAL WP5 to compute trace gas emission estimates for the Baltic Sea.

WP5 - Air-sea flux parameterization

In this work package we will create new parameterizations for sea-atmosphere gas exchange. The work will be based on an existing dataset of simultaneous wave and gas flux observations collected on board the research vessel R/V Aranda. The aim is to improve existing wind-based parameterizations by including the effects of wave breaking and ocean surface turbulence. This parameterization is implemented into the wave model WAM and used, together with GHG-fields obtained from WP2 and WP4, to estimate the sea surface-atmosphere gas fluxes for the Baltic Sea. Finally, after careful evaluation, it will be coded in the FLUXENGINE modeling tool. The results from FLUXENGINE will be compared with the estimates obtained using the WAM-model.

WP6 - Biogeochemical modeling and validation

The overall objective of WP6 is to improve carbon cycle models by using the improved process understanding from measurements compiled in WP 2 and 3, and implement carbon as central variable for the assessment of the Baltic Sea eutrophication. We will calculate the carbon budget and its changes in time for the entire Baltic Sea and for the coastal zone and the Baltic Sea sub-basins separately, using a high-resolution carbon system model and INTEGRAL observations. The model will also be used to develop strategies for optimized carbon monitoring taking temporal and spatial variability of the system with as little as possible data into account.

Starting point is an existing ecosystem model for the Baltic Sea including the carbon cycle. In a first step, the performance of the ecosystem model will be assessed with respect to the carbon cycle. Based on this assessment, critical processes will be identified and their model description improved in collaboration with field experiments and observations. Improved model simulations, then will be used for optimizing monitoring strategies.

WP7 - Dissemination and outreach

Dissemination of knowledge from INTEGRAL at various levels is an essential part of the project. This includes knowledge transfer within the group and between countries, training of modern carbon and greenhouse gas analytics, flux assessment and modelling of the next generation of enthusiastic scientists by a summer school and training workshops, the promotion of the use of VOS lines and carbon data for an effective monitoring of the Baltic Sea via workshops and a stakeholder conference. In addition is planned a Report/Brochure demonstrating and roadmapping the better integration of VOS-based sampling strategies and ICOS-related infrastructure for Baltic Sea monitoring. Dissemination will be supported by the expertise of the Baltic Earth Consortium (http://www.baltic-earth.eu/).

Main activities include:

  • Technology and knowledge transfer and promoting ICOS infrastructure with added value for the Baltic Sea monitoring (during installations of new infrastructures and in relation to relevant national key persons in relation to ICOS
  • Summer school on GHG measurement technologies, flux estimation, and biogeochemical applications (summer 2019)
  • Stakeholder dialogue and information
  • Synoptic Report