BALTEX Phase II 2003 – 2012. Science Framework and ...

BALTEX Phase II Science Framework and Implementation Strategy 77
has therefore covered regional aspects of the coast of the Baltic Sea, and BALTEX Phase II will
enlarge these research aspects. LOICZ integrates and has stimulated several projects with a regional
focus on the Baltic Sea or parts of it. Cooperation between BALTEX and LOICZ is envisaged
especially within the following two main research areas of BALTEX Phase II:
1. Research addressing the 2 nd science objective of BALTEX Phase II on “Climate variability and
change” (Chapter 2) supports in particular the aim of LOICZ II dealing with “Climate change and
impacts on the coast“. It is envisaged that regional climate change scenarios, including those of sea
level rise to be developed in BALTEX Phase II, are used by LOICZ groups as boundary conditions in
order to investigate the impact on coastal ecosystem and human society.
2. Within its research contributing to a “Gradual extension to water and quality studies” (Chapter 4),
BALTEX will connect to the experience established by LOICZ studies that have dealt with rivers, the
coast and the sea in the Baltic Sea basin. One example is the national Swedish multidisciplinary
MARE (Marine Research on Eutrophication) project, coordinated by Stockholm University, which
established catchment-coast-sea models concerning nutrient input into the Baltic Sea. MARE has
established - and is further developing - an internet-based decision-support system (NEST) integrating
data and model results (http://www.mare.su.se/nest/). Another example, where BALTEX Phase II will
benefit from LOICZ achievements is the LOICZ Biogeochemical Budget Site
(http://data.ecology.su.se/MNODE/), where regional carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus data and budget
models for numerous coastal areas of the world, including the Baltic Sea basin, have been compiled
that can be used to produce global syntheses models of fluxes in the coastal zone. The knowledge built
up in ecosystem modelling for the Baltic Sea is huge and BALTEX will establish cooperation with
major institutions having experience in this field, such as Stockholm University, the Baltic Sea
Research Institute (IOW) in Warnemünde, Germany, and the Finnish Institute for Marine Research
(FIMR) in Helsinki, Finland.
BALTEX will establish links to and cooperation with other ongoing and future projects established in
the frame of LOICZ and IGBP with a regional focus on the Baltic Sea basin, whenever of benefit for
the participants and helpful to understand physical and biological aspects of the Baltic Sea basin using
a holistic approach. The Baltic Sea basin is currently 11 proposed to become an IGBP Integrated
Regional Study Area, where closer links to regional LOICZ studies in the Baltic Sea coastal regions
are desirable.
10.7. ESSP and GWSP
After the Amsterdam Open Science Conference of all Global Change Research Programmes
(DIVERSITAS, IHDP, IGBP, WCRP) in July 2001, the scientific chairs and directors of these
programmes launched the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) with the overarching aim to
bring together researchers from diverse fields, and from across the globe, to undertake an integrated
study of the Earth System, its structure and functioning; the changes occurring to the System; and, the
implications of those changes for global sustainability. ESSP has undertaken to define joint projects
with a focus on aspects of global change that are critical to human well-being, thereby drawing on the
experience established in the four founding Global Change Programmes. ESSP Joint Projects are
designed to span the interface between global change and global sustainability issues, while also
gathering new knowledge about how specific processes function within the larger Earth System.
One of these is the Global Water Systems Project (GWSP), which forms an ideal umbrella for the
development of BALTEX Phase II as it combines all scientific disciplines dealing with climate and
water research from a physical, biological and chemical point of view with social sciences aspects of
water and land use. The Scientific Framework of GWSP (GWSP, 2005) identifies promising areas for
close cooperation between GEWEX, and thus BALTEX, and GWSP. Based on this analysis and array
of areas, BALTEX and GWSP could exploit synergies in the following fields, which were defined in
close cooperation with the GWSP International Project Office:
11 In early 2005, prior to publication of this document.