The year 2005 : An environmental status report of the Skagerrak, Kattegat and the North Sea

This is the second year joint status report for the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat area (Fig.1) carried out by SMHI, IMR and DHI as a part of the project BANSAI, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Sea and Air Group. The aim of the project is to integrate marine observations and ecological model simulations in an annual assessment of the Baltic and the North seas. The present report is mainly based on model estimates of some of the indicators suggested by the OSPAR Common Procedure (c.f. Appendix) for the identification of the eutrophication status of the maritime area (OSPAR, 2002 and 2003). This first joint report serve as a basis for the on-going discussions about the ecological quality indicators included in the assessment, and the way to merge results from different models and observations for the assessment.Estimations of river discharges and model results are used to describe the degree of nutrient enrichment (Category I) defined by the riverine loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus, and winter surface concentrations and ratios of DIN and DIP. The direct effects of nutrient enrichment during the growing season (Category II) are described in terms of the mean and maximum chlorophyll concentrations and model estimations of primary production. The ratio between diatoms and flagellates is used as an indicator of region specific phytoplankton indicator species (Category II). The indirect effects of nutrient enrichment (Category III) are discussed in terms of oxygen depletion in bottom waters. Estimations of region specific background concentrations and threshold values are gathered from the literature and used for the model assessment.The three model systems used for the joint assessment (Fig. 2) cover different parts of the North Sea, Skagerrak and the Kattegat area. Detailed descriptions of the models may be found on the websites presented below the figure.In section 2 the key messages from this assessment will be presented. In section 3, each country gives a brief observations overview for 2005 and some references to other sources and reports that might be useful for the readers. The methods of the assessment are described in section 4. Statistical characteristics of model results and in-situ data are presented in section 5 and the model assessment of eutrophication status is done in section 6. Conclusions and comments to the assessment are presented in section 7