The Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR)
The Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR)
Editor(s): Markus Meier, Marcus Reckermann, Joakim Langner, Benjamin Smith, and Ira Didenkulova

This special issue is intended to be a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the scientific topics which Baltic Earth had defined in 2013 as important fields for research. Baltic Earth is an international and interdisciplinary network of scientists and institutions around the Baltic Sea, striving for an improved understanding of the Earth system of the Baltic Sea region (baltic.earth). The research components of Baltic Earth encompass processes in the atmosphere, on land and in the sea, as well as processes and impacts related to the anthroposphere.

This special issue summarizes the current state of knowledge in regional climatology, oceanography, meteorology, hydrology and biogeochemistry, as defined by the Baltic Earth Science Plan and aims to identify gaps and inconsistencies in that knowledge. Hence, the special issue wraps together the currently available knowledge on the Grand Challenges and related topics, as defined in the Baltic Earth Science Plan 2017 (see baltic.earth).

The Baltic Earth Grand Challenges are currently the following:

  • salinity dynamics in the Baltic Sea
  • land–sea biogeochemical interlinkages in the Baltic Sea region
  • natural hazards and extreme events in the Baltic Sea region
  • sea level and coastal dynamics in the Baltic Sea
  • regional variability of water and energy exchanges in the Baltic Sea region
  • multiple drivers of regional Earth system changes in the Baltic Sea region.

Contributions should be in line or strongly related to the themes of the Baltic Earth Science Plan (2017) and must adhere to the following principles: BEAR wrap together the currently available published scientific knowledge. They do not document unpublished research results. The essence of the work is the synthesis of material drawn comprehensively from the available scientifically legitimate literature (e.g. peer-reviewed literature, conference proceedings and reports of scientific institutes). The work should encompass the knowledge about what scientists agree on but also identify cases of disagreement or knowledge gaps.

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26 Apr 2023
| Overview paper
Overview: The Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR)
H. E. Markus Meier, Marcus Reckermann, Joakim Langner, Ben Smith, and Ira Didenkulova
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 519–531, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-519-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-519-2023, 2023
Short summary
11 Apr 2022
Global climate change and the Baltic Sea ecosystem: direct and indirect effects on species, communities and ecosystem functioning
Markku Viitasalo and Erik Bonsdorff
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 711–747, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-711-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-711-2022, 2022
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31 Mar 2022
Biogeochemical functioning of the Baltic Sea
Karol Kuliński, Gregor Rehder, Eero Asmala, Alena Bartosova, Jacob Carstensen, Bo Gustafsson, Per O. J. Hall, Christoph Humborg, Tom Jilbert, Klaus Jürgens, H. E. Markus Meier, Bärbel Müller-Karulis, Michael Naumann, Jørgen E. Olesen, Oleg Savchuk, Andreas Schramm, Caroline P. Slomp, Mikhail Sofiev, Anna Sobek, Beata Szymczycha, and Emma Undeman
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 633–685, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-633-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-633-2022, 2022
Short summary
15 Mar 2022
Climate change in the Baltic Sea region: a summary
H. E. Markus Meier, Madline Kniebusch, Christian Dieterich, Matthias Gröger, Eduardo Zorita, Ragnar Elmgren, Kai Myrberg, Markus P. Ahola, Alena Bartosova, Erik Bonsdorff, Florian Börgel, Rene Capell, Ida Carlén, Thomas Carlund, Jacob Carstensen, Ole B. Christensen, Volker Dierschke, Claudia Frauen, Morten Frederiksen, Elie Gaget, Anders Galatius, Jari J. Haapala, Antti Halkka, Gustaf Hugelius, Birgit Hünicke, Jaak Jaagus, Mart Jüssi, Jukka Käyhkö, Nina Kirchner, Erik Kjellström, Karol Kulinski, Andreas Lehmann, Göran Lindström, Wilhelm May, Paul A. Miller, Volker Mohrholz, Bärbel Müller-Karulis, Diego Pavón-Jordán, Markus Quante, Marcus Reckermann, Anna Rutgersson, Oleg P. Savchuk, Martin Stendel, Laura Tuomi, Markku Viitasalo, Ralf Weisse, and Wenyan Zhang
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 457–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-457-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-457-2022, 2022
Short summary
16 Feb 2022
Salinity dynamics of the Baltic Sea
Andreas Lehmann, Kai Myrberg, Piia Post, Irina Chubarenko, Inga Dailidiene, Hans-Harald Hinrichsen, Karin Hüssy, Taavi Liblik, H. E. Markus Meier, Urmas Lips, and Tatiana Bukanova
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 373–392, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-373-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-373-2022, 2022
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02 Feb 2022
| Highlight paper
Natural hazards and extreme events in the Baltic Sea region
Anna Rutgersson, Erik Kjellström, Jari Haapala, Martin Stendel, Irina Danilovich, Martin Drews, Kirsti Jylhä, Pentti Kujala, Xiaoli Guo Larsén, Kirsten Halsnæs, Ilari Lehtonen, Anna Luomaranta, Erik Nilsson, Taru Olsson, Jani Särkkä, Laura Tuomi, and Norbert Wasmund
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 251–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-251-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-251-2022, 2022
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25 Jan 2022
Oceanographic regional climate projections for the Baltic Sea until 2100
H. E. Markus Meier, Christian Dieterich, Matthias Gröger, Cyril Dutheil, Florian Börgel, Kseniia Safonova, Ole B. Christensen, and Erik Kjellström
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 159–199, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-159-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-159-2022, 2022
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24 Jan 2022
Atmospheric regional climate projections for the Baltic Sea region until 2100
Ole Bøssing Christensen, Erik Kjellström, Christian Dieterich, Matthias Gröger, and Hans Eberhard Markus Meier
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 133–157, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-133-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-133-2022, 2022
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03 Jan 2022
Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region
Marcus Reckermann, Anders Omstedt, Tarmo Soomere, Juris Aigars, Naveed Akhtar, Magdalena Bełdowska, Jacek Bełdowski, Tom Cronin, Michał Czub, Margit Eero, Kari Petri Hyytiäinen, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Anders Kiessling, Erik Kjellström, Karol Kuliński, Xiaoli Guo Larsén, Michelle McCrackin, H. E. Markus Meier, Sonja Oberbeckmann, Kevin Parnell, Cristian Pons-Seres de Brauwer, Anneli Poska, Jarkko Saarinen, Beata Szymczycha, Emma Undeman, Anders Wörman, and Eduardo Zorita
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1-2022, 2022
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16 Sep 2021
Coupled regional Earth system modeling in the Baltic Sea region
Matthias Gröger, Christian Dieterich, Jari Haapala, Ha Thi Minh Ho-Hagemann, Stefan Hagemann, Jaromir Jakacki, Wilhelm May, H. E. Markus Meier, Paul A. Miller, Anna Rutgersson, and Lichuan Wu
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 939–973, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-939-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-939-2021, 2021
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17 Aug 2021
Sea level dynamics and coastal erosion in the Baltic Sea region
Ralf Weisse, Inga Dailidienė, Birgit Hünicke, Kimmo Kahma, Kristine Madsen, Anders Omstedt, Kevin Parnell, Tilo Schöne, Tarmo Soomere, Wenyan Zhang, and Eduardo Zorita
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 871–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-871-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-871-2021, 2021
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