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•The average daytime cloudiness to be by a few per cent higher than that produced by standard routines.•The results for the night being similar or lower.•Application of the algorithm results to environmental studies on a regional scale should consider the factors that have a potential to reduce the reliability of data.•The results can be successfully used to determine average metrics of cloudiness over the Baltic Sea.•The average values of daily changes in cloud cover over the sea depend on the season (it is higher in warm months, and lower in winter), which generally corresponds to the length of the day (which is short in winter, and long in summer) and contrasts with the amount of cloudiness (which is high in winter, and smaller in a warm season).

Recently developed system for assessment of radiation budget for the Baltic Sea has been presented and verified. The system utilizes data from various sources: satellite, model and in situ measurements. It has been developed within the SatBałtyk project (Satellite Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Environment - www.satbaltyk.eu) where the energy radiation budget is one of the key element. The SatBałtyk system generates daily maps of the all components of radiation budget on every day basis. We show the scheme of making daily maps, applied algorithms and empirical data collection within the system. An empirical verification of the system has been carried out based on empirical data collected on the oil rig placed on the Baltic Sea. This verification concerned all the components of the surface radiation budget. The average daily NET products are estimated with statistical error ca. 13 Wm-2. The biggest absolute statistical error is for LWd component and equals 14 Wm-2. The relative error in relation to the average annual values for whole Baltic is the biggest for SWu and reaches 25%. All estimated components have correlation coefficient above 0.91.

This paper is the second part of the description of the first stage of the SatBałtyk project’s implementation. Part 1 (Woźniak et al. 2011, in this issue) presents the assumptions and objectives of SatBałtyk and describes the most important stages in the history of our research, which is the foundation of this project. It also discusses the operation and general structure of the SatBałtyk system. Part 2 addresses various aspects of the practical applicability of the SatBałtyk Operational System to Baltic ecosystem monitoring. Examples are given of the Baltic’s characteristics estimated using the preliminary versions of the algorithms in this Operational System. At the current stage of research, these algorithms apply mainly to the characteristics of the solar energy influx and the distribution of this energy among the various processes taking place in the atmosphere-sea system, and also to the radiation balance of the sea surface, the irradiance conditions for photosynthesis and the condition of plant communities in the water, sea surface temperature distributions and some other marine phenomena correlated with this temperature. Monitoring results obtained with these preliminary algorithms are exemplified in the form of distribution maps of selected abiotic parameters of the Baltic, as well as structural and functional characteristics of this ecosystem governed by these parameters in the Baltic’s many basins. The maps cover practically the whole area of the Baltic Sea. Also given are results of preliminary inspections of the accuracy of the magnitudes shown on the maps. In actual fact, the errors of these estimates are relatively small. The further practical application of this set of algorithms (to be gradually made more specific) is therefore entirely justified as the basis of the SatBałtyk system for the effective operational monitoring of the state and functioning of Baltic ecosystems. This article also outlines the plans for extending SatBałtyk to include the recording of the effects and hazards caused by current and expected storm events in the Polish coastal zone.

This article is the first of two papers on the remote sensing methods of monitoring the Baltic ecosystem, developed by a Polish team. The main aim of the five- year SatBałtyk (2010–2014) research project (Satellite Monitoring of the Baltic Sea Environment) is to prepare the technical infrastructure and set in motion operational procedures for the satellite monitoring of the Baltic environment. This system is to characterize on a routine basis the structural and functional properties of this sea on the basis of data supplied by the relevant satellites. The characterization and large-scale dissemination of the following properties of the Baltic is anticipated: the solar radiation influx to the sea’s waters in various spectral intervals, energy balances of the short- and long-wave radiation at the Baltic Sea surface and in the upper layers of the atmosphere over the Baltic, sea surface temperature distribution, dynamic states of the water surface, concentrations of chlorophyll aand other phytoplankton pigments in the Baltic water, distributions of algal blooms, the occurrence of upwelling events, and the characteristics of primary organic matter production and photosynthetically released oxygen in the water. It is also intended to develop and, where feasible, to implement satellite techniques for detecting slicks of petroleum derivatives and other compounds, evaluating the state of the sea’s ice cover, and forecasting the hazards from current and future storms and providing evidence of their effects in the Baltic coastal zone. The ultimate objective of the project is to implement an operational system for the routine determination and dissemination on the Internet of the above-mentioned features of the Baltic in the form of distribution maps as well as plots, tables and descriptions characterizing the state of the various elements of the Baltic environment. The main sources of input data for this system will be the results of systematic recording by environmental satellites and also special-purpose ones such as TIROS N/NOAA, MSG (currently Meteosat 9), EOS/AQUA and ENVISAT. The final effects of the SatBałtyk project are to be achieved by the end of 2014, i.e. during a period of 60 months. These two papers present the results obtained during the first 15 months of the project. Part 1 of this series of articles contains the assumptions, objectives and a description of the most important stages in the history of our research, which constitute the foundation of the current project. It also discusses the way in which SatBałtyk functions and the scheme of its overall operations system. The second article (Part 2), will discuss some aspects of its practical applicability in the satellite monitoring of the Baltic ecosystem (see Woźniak et al. (2011) in this issue).