AMBER

Assessment and Modelling Baltic Ecosystem Response

Begin date 1.1.2009

End date 31.12.2011

Grant: 1 704 912€

The general aim of AMBER is the implementation and application of the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) to the Baltic Sea with a focus on the coastal ecosystem (CE). The first step of AMBER is the separation of climate from anthropogenic signals in the CE by means of a combinatorial variation in model’s boundary conditions using the output of existing regional climate change scenarios and the output of a watershed model simulating changes in land use.

 

The second step of AMBER is the application of models for future projections. To reduce the problem of model uncertainties, the ensemble method will be applied. The resulting projections are milestones for the development of EAM tools.

 

To implement the EAM concept successfully requires the best available scientific information as a basis for integrated management. Therefore, retrospective analyses on long‐term data sets, intensive modeling with different types of models and selected measurements of biogeochemical transformation processes in the near coastal area and the groundwater will be applied and integrated into a sound scientific basis for supporting the development of EAM tools such as risk assessment, mitigation strategies, and Ecological Quality Objectives. Finally, cost‐effective indicators will be developed to improve monitoring strategies and to guide management decision making. EAM with its tools will be the core of science based advice for integrated management.

Keywords

Ecosystem Approach to Management and future model projections, Ecological Quality Objectives, changes in land use of catchment area, quantification of groundwater input, eutrophication

List of Participants and Principal Scientists

Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemünde, Germany		Joachim Dippner  (Coordinator)
Forschungsverbund Berlin e. V., Germany		Behrendt Horst
Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemünde, Germany		Michael Böttcher
University of Helsinki, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Finland		Susanna Hietanen
Department of applied Environmental Science, Stockholm University, Sweden		Christoph Humborg
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sweden		Markus Meier
University of Hamburg, Germany		Christian Möllmann
Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Germany		Gerald Schernewski
Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Germany		Maren Voss
Archipelago Research Institute, University of Turku, Finland		Ilppo Vuorinen
Coastal Research and Planning Institute, University Kleipeda, Lithuania		Arturas Razinkovas
Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland		Jan Marcin Weslawski
Helsinki University of Technology		Olli Simula

Reports

Year 1 progress report

Please visit the AMBER webpage for more information!