INTRODUCTION
The First US-Baltic International Symposium was successfully conducted in Klaipeda, Lithuania, June14-17, 2004 with participation of all nine Baltic Nations, the U.S. and seven other nations. Sponsors included Lithuania’s Ministry of Environment and Center of Marine Research; The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service; The U.S.Office of Naval Research Global; and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer’s (IEEE) Oceanic Engineering Society and IEEE Region 8. The Opening Address was presented by Mr. Vaclov Stancovic, Member of Lithuania’s Parliament, who recognized the importance of the Baltic Sea environment, its resources and the coastal zone. In that regard, he proposed having a moratorium on offshore oil drilling and production in the Baltic Sea. The subject of marine pollution, especially oil pollution, was covered by many papers. There were papers on potential oil spills, tracking of spills and clean up, and discussions of the controversial offshore drilling platform that just began oil production about 20 km from Kaliningrad and Lithuania’s southern tip of the Curonian Spit, World Heritage Site. Neighboring countries, Latvia and Estonia are also concerned about possible spills from this site.
To provide background information prior to presentation of papers, an overview of the Baltic Sea characteristics and environmental concerns was presented by Dr. Hans Dahlin, Director of Euro GOOS. Eleven papers were presented in two plenary sessions, mainly by Marine Research Directors of the 9 Baltic Nations and the U.S., plus 95 papers addressing the theme, “Advances in Marine Environmental Research, Monitoring and Technologies”. A field trip was made to the Curonian Spit, a 97 km sliver of land separated from the Lithuania’s coast by the Curonian Lagoon.
The writer summarizes below, the highlights of the symposium, and edits, paraphrases and abbreviates information provided by and credited to the authors. The writer encourages readers to refer to the proceedings for the full text of the papers.
MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND OBSERVATIONS
U.S. international and domestic ocean policies are undergoing intensive review. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released its draft report, which recommends a doubling of U.S.-sponsored marine research, new investments in marine technology, and an integrated ocean and coastal observing system. In July, 2003, the U.S. sponsored an Earth Observing Summit in Washington, DC. An organization of more than 30 nations and 20 international organizations—the Group on Earth Observations or GEO—has been created. An intergovernmental office called Ocean.US was created to coordinate development and implementation of an Integrated Ocean Observing System. Some of the pressing needs for advancing marine research, include mitigating natural hazards, improving marine transportation and operations, reducing public health risks, and more effectively protecting, restoring and sustaining living marine resource and ecosystems. (R.W.Spinrad, USA)
The Office of Naval Research Global is interested in the regional activities of the Baltic Nations and establishing closer interaction and potential for collaboration with Baltic institutes. There are plans for a U.S. sponsored Science and Technology Review Trip of the Baltic Region in the Fall 2004.( C.L.Butler,USA)
Countries and institutes around the Baltic Sea have long experience of joint monitoring and assessment activities.This cooperation is coordinated by Helsinki Commission (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission) but the actual monitoring work is done on national levels. The HELCOM monitoring data supplemented with additional data from different research programs are the basis for environmental assessments of the pollution load to the Baltic Sea. This information is needed to: evaluate threats to the environment; analyze the impacts of discharges and emissions from different point and non-point sources of pollution on the marine environment and its biodiversity; and to follow up abatement measures taken as a result of regulatory actions. (E.L.Poutanen, Finland).
Since 1992, the Center of Marine Research in Klaipeda focussed on the Lithuanian economic zone, known for: its fishery regions; spawning grounds of Baltic herring and other fish; wintering areas of birds; wide sandy beaches; developing economic and recreational infrastructure, and partly on the influence of neighbouring regions.(A.Kubiliute, A. Stankevicius, Lithuania)
Baltic Ocean Observation System (BOOS) is a formal association of institutes from the nine Baltic Nations taking national responsibility for operational oceanographic services, which support the protection of lives and properties and the promotion of development. This includes: routine collection, interpretation and presentation of data from the ocean and atmosphere; and establishment of a marine database from which time series and statistical analysis can be obtained. BOOS focuses primarily on observations, analysis and model predictions for water level, waves, currents, temperature, salinity, sea ice, oxygen, nutrients, algae, and chlorophyll; and contributes to improved efficiency of marine operations, and reducing the risk of accidents. At present, the BOOS members are cooperating in the EU financed project PAPA, which will integrate and further develop the present operational ocean monitoring, data management and modelling activities within the Baltic Sea with the purpose of producing data products and ocean forecasts of a higher quality. (E. Buch et al, Denmark).
There is a continuing need to monitor the environment to understand processes, discover changes, and be able to forecast in different time scales and warn of pending events. Monitoring and research has a long tradition in the Baltic Sea and there are some time series going back hundreds of years, some a hundred years, and several younger mainly starting in the sixties and seventies due to increased environmental concerns. (H.Dahlin, Sweden)
Poland, has a national project for creating mathematical models and an algorithm for the remote sensing of the Baltic ecosystem and its primary production. Involved in this project are: the Polish Academy of Sciences, Gdansk University, the Marine Fisheries Institute, and the Pomeranian Pedagogical Academy. The principal components of the project include: remote sensing of solar energy inflow into the Baltic and its utilization: remote sensing of sea surface color and temperature, and the models and algorithms applicable in the remote sensing of pigment distribution and primary production in the water. (B. Wozniak; J. Dera, Poland)
The Gulf of Finland is the most eutrophicated (over-fertilized) sub-basin of the Baltic Sea. Although the biogeochemical processes involved has improved, a large uncertainty still remains concerning the role of the sediments and the sediment-held pool of nutrients. Resuspension (stirred up particles from the bottom) of sediments, natural or man-induced, can play a major role in supplying nutrients or other solutes to the water. By combining state of the art in-situ technology with advanced shipboard experiments, sediment investigations, and computer modelling these issues are being addressed by investigators from four countries and seven different research institutes. (T. Anders, Finland)
Water level in the Klaipeda Strait (1898-2001), during a century rose near the Lithuanian coast by 13.5 cm. Since 1960, the mean water level has been rising by 3.0 mm per year. The rise of the long-term water level is associated with advection of warm and wet air masses during the cold period, stronger air flow from the west, and rising air temperature, which causes the rise of water temperature. A more rapid rise of the water level is attributed to the destruction of coasts, flooding of the land, and upsetting ecological balance. Forecasts state that by 2030 water level may rise by 9 cm, and, if the trend continues, 15 cm by 2050. ( I.Dailidiene, B. Tilickis, A. Stankevicius, Lithuania)
Some researchers are of the opinion that yearly 200-1000 m3 of near coast sand are carried to the North and part is pushed into the Strait of Klaipeda. To keep the necessary depth, Klaipeda Port periodically deepens the navigable canal, since the 19th century. Most of dredging spoils were transported to four sea dump sites. (J.Dubra, Lithuania)
The Baltic Sea at the Port of Klaipeda is in the zone of direct impact of continental runoff, where dissolved and particulate matter from the Curonian lagoon disperses. This water area is distinguished for active mixing of different chemical types of water, high input of organic matter, nutrients, oil products, heavy metals and active biogeochemical processes. Another very important impact factor on marine environment is soil dumping in the Baltic Sea. Investigations revealed increasing deformations of the sea bottom in the dump sites. The concentrations of total organic carbon and total hydrocarbons are 1.2 and 2.2 times and heavy metals of nickel 2.3 times as high in the dump site as in the surrounding areas. (J. Kestutis et al, Lithuania)
A database of the Baltic Sea bottom was created in the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (Atlantic Branch) and contains 60 thousand depth points suitable for digital maps of the Baltic Sea bottom relief. It includes data received in numerous expeditions of research vessels and also from Soviet navigation maps. These digital bathymetric and slope angle maps can be useful in marine environmental investigations. (D.V. Dorokhov et al, Kaliningrad).
OIL POLLUTION
The intense shipping in the Baltic sea accounts for approximately 15% of all maritime traffic around the world. In 2000, 80 milion tons of oil were transported in the Baltic. Forecasts indicate that by 2015, the total amount of oil transported will amount to more than 130 milion tons a year.The issues of oil recovery and shoreline cleanup must be addressed. Oil is a serious threat to the Baltic ecosystems and wildlife, destroying habitats for many plants and marine life, including the spawing areas of fish. Oil decomposes slowly in the cold waters of the Baltic sea , where the average water temperature is only about 10 degrees celsius. Clean-up operations may unavoidably harm marine life and coastal habitats. Spills can have serious repercussions for tourism and commercial fisheries (Helcom proceedings, 2003).
Oil dispersants containing surfactants facilitates the degradation and dilution, preventing the oil coming ashore, but introduces a new pollutant.( J. Michel, 2001). Bioremedation agents are used in the biodegradation process in which oil molecules are broken down by bacteria). (M. Riepsaite, A.Stankevicius, Lithuania).
The Baltic Sea presents many difficulties for navigation. Winter storms, poor visibility, narrow channels, ice cover, winding passages with limited depth on one hand, and high-density traffic areas with crossing vessels on the other, can combine to cause problems and result in high incidence of accidents. According to statistics annually in the Baltic Sea there are approximately three major accidents with oil spills. During the process of transformation of oil hydrocarbons more toxic compound can be produced that have carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Besides acute effects of oil spills, such as polluted beaches or mass-stranding of oiled sea birds, long-term effects of spills from these incidents include, e.g. locally increased levels of PAHs contamination in sediments. (Frumin, Germany).
State Oceanographic Institute, Moscow has modeled the following oil spill processes: transport and deformation of an oil slick due to time and spatially varying winds and currents; oil spreading diffusion and dispersion of oil; evaporation; sinking of oil in water, and consequent sedimentation; formation of oil-in-water emulsion; and weathering of oil, resulting in changes in density, viscosity, and water content, due to evaporation and emulsification. (S. Ovsienko, Russia)
In recent years a number of new oil terminals have been built in the Baltic Sea area, resulting in increased risk of transport of oil by ships and, consequently, an increased risk of accidents. In the Baltic Sea, about 2,000 large ships and tankers are at sea every day. Oil transport and oily residue discharges from ships represent a significant threat to marine ecosystems. One of the main tasks in the ecological monitoring of the Baltic Sea is an operational satellite and aerial detection of oil spillages, determination of their characteristics, establishment of the pollution sources and forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spill transport. ( A.G. Kostianov et al, Russia)
The large oilfield “Kravcovskoe” (D-6), discovered in 1983 in the S.E. Baltic Sea near the Kaliningrad region of the Russia, is under development by “LUK Oil-Kaliningradmorneft” Ltd. In early 2003, environmental monitoring of oil-field “Kravcovskoe” was carried out by LUK oil. The monitoring includes 22 regional and 12 local stations situated at distances of 100, 500 and 1000 m from the drill site, per HELCOM recommendations, and satellite monitoring was begun. Three ship surveys by R/V “Professor Shtokman” were made during 2003. Measurements were used for estimating hydrological, hydrochemical and biological parameters of sea water from bottom to surface. The data base and special Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are developed for hydrodynamic and biogeochemical modeling. The monitoring data, received before the exploitation of the oilfield, provides initial background conditions of the marine environment. (Pichuzhkina O.E. & Alexeeva V.V., LUK Oil Ltd, Kaliningrad; Sivkov V.V., Shchuka S.A., Russian Academy of Sciences)
Since 1993, there is no more regular aerial surveillance of the oil spills in the Russian sector of the southeastern Baltic Sea. Today, the monitoring of the southeastern Baltic sea surface temperature, sea level, chlorophyll concentration, mesoscale dynamics, wind and waves, oil spills and some of the meteorological parameters is organized based on the satellite IR and VIS data (AVHRR NOAA, SeaWiFS, MODIS), altimetry data (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1), and SAR imagery (ERS-2, ENVISAT). As the Baltic Sea Ecosystem undergoes growing human-induced impacts, especially associated with increasing oil transport and production, further research of the links between physical, chemical and biological parameters of the ecosystem, a complex monitoring of the Baltic Sea state, and especially, the oil spills monitoring are of a great importance.
(A.G.Kostianoy et al, Russia)
Oil Spill Identification Sensor (OSIS) project was established to pursue implementation of the MARPOL 73/78 annex 1 protocol on offshore installations in line with what is already implemented on vessels. The high number of offshore installations within the “Special Areas” have so far been exempt from the directive, because of lack of surveillance methods capable of monitoring oil spills from offshore installations effectively. The objective for the OSIS project is to develop and demonstrate a sensor system mounted directly on offshore installations performing 24 hours a-day surveillance, providing a means to remove the legislative exemption. The input to the OSIS system is collected by a sensor pack based on advanced microwave sensors placed on the offshore installation. The sensor pack is continuously monitoring the surrounding waters measuring both area and volume of oil spills. Based on data from the sensor pack a rule based pattern recognition system identifies the oil spill. When an oil spill is detected, pictures are transmitted by satellite link to an onshore based central server with access by governmental and non-governmental groups. (J. Holst, Denmark).
DANGEROUS MATERIALS
Every year, there are increase in crude oil and oil production transportation. New oil terminals were constructed in the Baltic Sea: Butinge, Primorsk, Vysock, extend oil terminals in the main East Baltic ports. Navigational risk assesmentis are very important, to find legal and organizational solutions to decrease navigational and environmental risk (V. Paulauskas et al, Lithuania
The ecological threat posed more than 300,000 tons of chemical weapon dumped in the shallow depth of the Northern European seas after the Second World War demands the urgent attention of the international community. The amount dumped represents more than three times as much as the total reported chemical arsenals of United States and Russia. The munitions were disposed of where fishing is actively pursued in close proximity to densely populated coastlines, with long-term consequences. Also, the corrosion of the shells and rounds which were dumped five decades ago is progressing fast now. (Frumin, Germany)
Baltic Sea priorities are: environmental problems, environmental forecasting, ecological risks assessment from various pollutants, including those from dump sites of chemical weapons. This involves the study of processes of intra-basin mixing, and basin/basin exchange with dissolved and suspended matter. Care must be taken with dangerous situations. Such measurements were taken in the Bhornholm dump site of chemical weapons (2000), in Arkona/Bornholm (2001) and Bornholm/Slupsk Furrow (2003) water exchange areas, and in the vicinity of a marine petroleum production platform built on the Sambian-Curonian Plateau not far from Klaipeda. (V.Paka, Russia)
There are 132 Hot Spots around the Baltic Sea. Many chemicals get into the sea during their manufacturing, processing, transportation and application in remediation as a consequence of emergency spills. The main ecological problems of the Baltic Sea are eutrophication, pollution with harmful and toxic substances, oil-spills accidents and sea-dumped chemical weapons. The greatest quantity of total phosphorus and total nitrogen causing eutrophication goes into the sea from the territory of Poland, and then follow Russia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia and Germany. There are a lot of chemical pollutants in the water and sediments of the sea (heavy metals, organo-chloro compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, petroleum products). According to the literature data the residence time of metals in an ecosystem of the Baltic Sea is rather insignificant for lead (7 years), cadmium (6 years) and mercury (6 years), it is a little bit more for zinc (10 years) and maximum for benzo(a)pyrene (20 years), copper (27 years) and PCPs (35 years). The entry of copper, lead and PCBs exceeds the marine assimilation capacity. (Frumin, Germany).
MARINE LIFE
Coastal fish monitoring has been carried out in the Baltic Sea coastal zone at the area north of Palanga and in two different areas of the Curonian Lagoon since 1992. Fish monitoring was performed annually using multimesh gill nets standardised and adopted by HELCOM to be used along the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea (Neuman et al., 1997). The main reasons of freshwater and migratory fish abundance increasing could be attributed to more intensive freshening and as the result warming of water in the coastal zone in process of Klaipeda Strait deepening. Migratory fish species were improved by decreasing pollution in the Nemunas River Basin (Stankevicius; Dubra, Lithuania).
Predominance of cyprinids indicated a high level of eutrophication, especially in the central part of the lagoon close to Nemunas river delta. Water pollution in Nemunas river basin and Curonian Lagoon has decreased during recent years and probably caused the changes in fish species composition. Significant decrease in roach and silver bream catches and increase in perch, pike-perch, and vimba and twaite shad abundance were noted during recent years. (R. Repeeka, L. Lozys, Lithuania)
TECHNOLOGY
Naval oceanography utilizes ships, undersea vehicles and the application of oceanographic models and data bases. The latest instrumentation includes multi beam systems for hydrographic measurement and backscatter measurements. Environmental acoustic measurements are taken to determine ambient noise and transmission losses. Operations include application of laser hydrography and multi spectral scanner for coastal survey. Unmanned untethered vehicles offer great potential for future applications in oceanographic measurements.(E.Gough, J.Carroll, USA)
A cost–effective strategy for monitoring wetland change uses Landsat TM to detect biomass change over large regions and High-resolution IKONOS satellite imagery to study detail sites. These new techniques improve monitoring wetland losses, fragmentation, invasive species, riparian buffers and Chlorophyll concentration. (V. Klemas, USA)
A new effect of changing of radar Doppler shifts in slicks has been revealed in experiments, showing that the difference between radar Doppler shifts in slicks and nonslicks depend strongly on the film elasticity. The effect of changing of Doppler shifts in slicks can be used to develop new algorithms of radar remote sensing of marine slicks. (S.A. Ermakov et al, Russia)
To improve the monitoring with high frequency sampling at some geographical spots, SMHI, Sweden has evaluated an advanced oceanor buoy system for the open sea. The platforms are located in central Kattegatt and the western northern Baltic Proper. It measures 60 parameters and transmits the data, using the Orbcomm communication two-way system, every hour to land. (Bertil Håkansson, SMHI, Sweden)
The Articulated Stable Ocean Platform (ASOP) is a new multi function, drilling, production and storage system. Upright floats which are free to move in six degrees of freedom provide buoyancy and stability. Model basin test results showed superior motion characteristics compared to semi submersibles and spars. (V. Grinius, H. Elgamiel, B.Mooney, USA)
Unattended moored profilers or platforms have been identified and recognized as important and economical tools for collecting water column data. Two profiling concepts:the buoyancy engine profiling system SeaTramp from Ocean Origo AB, Sweden and a prototype underwater winch system of the University of Bremen.Sea Tramp is an autonomous, multicycling, data collecting titanium platform designed for long term unattended marine monitoring SeaTramp is equipped with a NAS-2E nitrate analyser, SeaBird CTD, oxygen, chlorophyll, tilt, transmittance and PAR (light) sensors to achieve high resolution depth profiles with only one single set of user selectable sensors. Underwater winch systems may under certain conditions be advantageous to use. The prototype system, Octopus of the University of Bremen is especially designed for small payloads and allows for real-time accessibility of moored sensors. (S. Skoglund, Sweden: C. Waldmann, Germany).
Contaminated sediments settle out of the water column into the surficial marine sediment layer in the estuaries and coastal areas, that most affects the benthic organisms. The Gamma Isotope Mapping System (GIMS) and the Continuous Sediment Sampling System (CS3),developed at the Center for Applied Isotope Studies, The University of Georgia responds to the growing need for a cost-effective tool that can rapidly assess the environmental impact. Capable of mapping radionuclides, metals, and organic compounds, the combined GIMS/CS3 has been widely utilized in tracking both point and non-point source marine sediment contaminants in estuarine and offshore environments. The system consists of a towed seafloor sled, which allows insitu radionuclide measurement, and fine-grained sediment sample collection while the survey vessel is underway. Detailed two- and three-dimensional maps are compiled from the data collected by the GIMS/CS3. The individual and combined seafloor mapping systems have been widely applied by the U.S. EPA, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and many other state and federal agencies. (S Noakes, J.Noakes, USA).
In-situ bioremediation of contaminated soils and groundwater can be treated using surface application and mobilization of nutrient amendments (SAMNA) and nutrient injection. SAMNA is a demonstrated low-cost in-situ bioremediation approach that can be applied to the marine environments and should be less expensive than existing conventional methods. (W. O’Niell, USA)
NOAA’s Undersea Research Program places scientists underwater using remotely operated vehicles, autonomous undersea vehicles, and ocean observatories with specialized sampling gear and instrumentation has provided investigators with the capabilities to sample, sense, and image the coastal ocean environment not possible using conventional surface-based technologies and techniques. (A. Kalvaitis, USA)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writer, Co-Chairman Dr.Algirdas Stankevicius and the Symposium Committee recognize the valuable contributions of the authors and the active participation of all attendees. We would like to welcome you to The Second US-Baltic International Symposium in the Spring of 2006.