Search

The present study aimed to investigate 1) whether country categories and type of DLD predict the type of therapy (direct, indirect, and mixed) the child receives, and 2) whether there is an association between country categories, type of therapy, and type of DLD (receptive, expressive, and mixed). European countries were categorised based on Sapir's typology into Continental, AngloSaxon, Nordic and Mediterranean groups. A fifth group i.e. Central European (including Baltic countries) was added. The data to address these questions comes from an online survey, translated and adapted into 30 languages, and is based on reports by 4685 professionals delivering services for children with DLD. This survey was developed by the COST Action IS1406 members and distributed online among practitioners in the year 2017 across European countries. Results indicated that country categories and type of DLD predicted type of therapy. It was suggested that cultural and contextual factors might play a key role in driving clinical practice above and beyond language profiles, patient characteristics and evidence-based practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia i Polityka is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is another in a series of articles on the research and implementation of saturation diving technology in Poland. It discusses the specificities related to the implementation of this technology against the background of economic and historical conditions in our country. In Poland, the issue of saturation diving for the needs of the emerging offshore mining industry has been for over a dozen years dealt with by the Department of Diving Equipment and Technology of Underwater Works (Polish abbr. ZSNiTPP). In parallel, deep diving technologies were developed, in the first stage, as a basic diving technology and, since 1994, as complementary to ensure the full backup for saturation diving. Since 1995, saturation diving has become an everyday occurrence in the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea. This article shows the difficult path that the implementation of saturation diving took during a period of economic instability when the scale of the domestic offshore industry's facilities was small compared to global companies. Selected animators and participants in the implementation are recalled for two periods: one marked with the cooperation with the Italian underwater services company RANA and the other one, a period of implementation of long-term underwater works based on national capabilities. The article also considers the technical and organisational conditions for the implementation of saturation diving for the Polish mining industry. In 1990, the Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Company Petrobaltic (today LOTOS) played one of the key roles in the implementation of saturation diving in our country. The implementation of saturation diving in Poland was linked to the only operational diving system of Italian production, the Af-2, which enabled scientific research related to the application of new technical solutions and testing under operational conditions, as well as contributed to the development of scientific, engineering, and medical staff for the Polish offshore industry. The company played one of the main roles in the implementation of saturation diving in our country The 1995 became a landmark year in the history of saturation diving in Poland, as well as in the Baltic Sea. Through this technology, the process of installing the first two underwater exploitation heads on production wells B3-7 and B3-10 was initiated. The saturation diving was possible thanks to the leasing of the Af-2 diving system by Petrobaltic and its subsequent purchase by the Naval Academy in 1998.This system, after a series of upgrades, is still in service today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern Baltic Sea is a peculiar area, where the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone (STZ), stretching from Bornholm into the North Sea, connects to the Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (TTZ) that continues SE up to the Black Sea. In this study, we show the structure and evolution of this controversially debated area, both on crustal and basin scale, by using three seismic reflection profiles combined with 2-D potential field data. The results demonstrate that the southern Baltic Sea is underlain by a thick crust of the East European Craton with a Moho depth in the range of 38-42 km. The overall crustal architecture is shaped by three phases of localized stretching in the early Paleozoic, Devonian-Carboniferous, and Permian-Mesozoic. The most spectacular feature of the southern Baltic Sea is a zone of thick-skinned compressional deformation produced by Late Cretaceous-early Paleogene inversion, including a system of thrusts and back thrusts penetrating the entire crust in an 80-90 km wide inversion zone. ENE-vergent thrusts are traced from the top of the Cretaceous down to the Moho and they are accompanied by back thrusts of opposite vergence, also reaching the Moho. Inversion tectonics resulted in the uplift of a block of cratonic crust as a pop-up structure, bounded by thrusts and back thrusts, and the displacement of the Moho within the STZ and TTZ. The similar mechanism of intra-cratonic inversion was recognized for the Donbas Foldbelt in eastern Ukraine, and it may be characteristic of rigid cratons, where deformation is localized in a few preexisting zones of weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of surface waves in the Baltic Sea is crucial for enhancing the safety and efficiency of maritime transport. Over the years, the accuracy of wave forecasts in this area has seen considerable improvement and has proven reliable for forecast windows of 2 to 3 days. However, the issuance of warnings for marine operations often requires longer forecast ranges. This study investigated the forecasting accuracy over a longer time frame of 4 to 6 days and assessed its effectiveness in issuing warnings for moderate and severe wave conditions. To achieve this, we have evaluated the high-resolution wave forecasts for the Baltic Sea available at the Copernicus Marine Services Monitoring Forecasting Centre (BAL MFC) against buoy and altimeter data. Our analysis demonstrates strong agreement between the model predictions and the observed data for shorter forecast ranges. Nevertheless, starting from the third day of the forecast, there is a growing bias in the values of significant wave height. The underestimation becomes more pronounced on the last day of the forecast, with significant wave heights underestimated by approximately 10% compared to buoy data and 20% compared to altimeter data. Part of this underestimation was addressed to the forecast system setup that used the combination of Harmonie and ECMWF winds. As the wind-wave coupling was tuned to Harmonie winds, which without tuning lead to overestimation of significant wave height, it affected negatively the longer forecasts using ECMWF wind forcing. To access the forecast ability to predict high-sea wave events, a 4-meter threshold was employed, aligning with Finnish Meteorological Institute wave warning. The results of two cases show that forecasts 84, 96, and 120 hours in advance provide valuable insights for effective warning issuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low probability of oil pollution of coasts from two main potential sources located in the waters of Kaliningrad Region (Russian Federation) in the Baltic Sea is shown based on the results of modelling using Seatrack Web (SMHI, HELCOM). The most threatened areas of the coastal zone and coast, in the middle part of the Curonian Spit - UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as the distal part of the Vistula Spit and on the entire western coast of the Sambia Peninsula, were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment of the Baltic Sea is heavily influenced by human activities. In addition, the region is undergoing significant changes in the face of global climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the state of the environment and greenhouse gas emissions in the region. In 2022, the Programme for the development of the system of climate and environmental monitoring of the Russian seas was launched. For the Baltic Sea, the spatial and temporal scheme of the regional monitoring module has been designed to carry out long-term, regular, and largescale surveys. The satellite monitoring is based on the analysis of radiometer data and includes analyses of the spatial and temporal variability of suspended particulate matter and chlorophyll a concentrations, as well as sea surface temperature. The shipboard monitoring consists of seasonal and monthly surveys. The coastal monitoring is based on data from sensors installed on a 57-m met tower as a permanent climate and environmental monitoring station located on the coast of the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case study we investigate the role of transnational networks and language brokering in labour migration within the European Union. By describing the working days of Estonians hired by a city maintenance company in Sweden, we demonstrate how language skills and network ties of a manager enable work migration in the local context. Most of the recruited workers belong to the manager's circle of family and friends. The manager is thus both capitalising on his social relationships and reinforcing a social support network in the receiving country for the individuals involved. The article promotes our understanding of the interface between migration, multilingualism, and language brokering in the understudied blue-collar workplaces and dissects the social and economic values of linguistic resources in work migration across the Baltic Sea. The data consist of ethnographic observations of daily work routines, video recordings of interaction, and interviews. (Labour migration, multilingualism, manual work, language broker) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The height determination of control and detail points is essential during the process of planning and manufacturing in the practice of civil engineering. Planning maps are drawn for the former, while the intended plan is set out on the ground during manufacturing, and after the manufacturing the completed installation is mapped. Using the same reference system in all three steps, both horizontally and vertically, is recommended even though in some cases it is unavoidable to change from one reference level to another. Regardless of the fact that both refer to the mean sea level of the Baltic Sea, this can create difficulties, since the difference between the EOMA and Bendefy networks used in Hungary shows varying values depending on the geographical location. The aim of the analysis is to determine a constant difference regarding the analysed settlements based on the common points of the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia i Polityka is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historia i Polityka is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historia i Polityka is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Surface water temperature characteristics of the Vistula River mouth and the Gdańsk Bay were determined on the basis of available observations, remote sensing and hydrodynamic models. The water temperature in the Vistula River and the Gdańsk Bay was found to be much higher than the air temperature. In recent decades, the water temperature in the Vistula River mouth and the Gdańsk Bay has increased significantly. It has been determined that water temperature in the bay is affected not only by air temperature, but also by water discharge of the Vistula River and wind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the summer of 2021, the Baltic Sea states of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been facing an influx of refugees from the territory of Belarus. This migration is fully controlled by the Belarusian authorities. Refugees, coming mainly from Middle Eastern countries, are forced to cross the border with neighbouring EU countries. The aim of this article is therefore to present the legal responses of the Lithuanian and Polish authorities to this influx, to compare the solutions adopted and to critically analyse them. Both states decided to use constitutional measures in the form of states of emergency introduced on a part of their territory, and adopted a number of solutions in laws and regulations. Therefore, the article critically analyses the legal basis for the introduction of a state of emergency in both states. It also analyses the solutions adopted at the statutory level, which enable border services to use push-back. The legal regulations introduced are also compared with international and European Union law binding on both Lithuania and Poland. Therefore examples of violations of international law in the field of refugees' rights to seek international protection are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large scale excavations of Neolithic settlements and cemeteries along the Swedish east coast and on the islands of Gotland and Öland in the Baltic Sea during the last 30 years have produced a large amount of new information concerning the Funnel Beaker Culture, the Pitted Ware Culture and the Battle Axe Culture. Excavations of large areas in a number of sites have given us a much deeper understanding of how these societies were organized, how people made their living and how they buried their dead. Large scale studies of palaeoecological remains, lipids in ceramics and isotopes in animal and human bones have given us new information concerning differences in diet and economy, and studies of genetic material have produced new essential knowledge of ethnic and cultural affiliations. The excavation at Tråsättra covered the whole area of a permanent hunter-gatherer settlement that can be related to the late Pitted Ware Culture, ca. 2600– 2400calBC. This gave us the opportunity to study the organization of the settlement, economy and diet, craftsmanship and ritual activities in detail. Also, finds of a large number of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines, a cult building with ritual deposits and a small cemetery made a unique analysis of religious and ideological aspects of the hunter-gatherers in the archipelago of the eastern middle part of Sweden during the late Middle Neolithic B possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Europejski is the property of University of Warsaw and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article deals with different hypotheses concerning the dating and destination of the socalled Yngvarr expedition. First, the primary sources are discussed, i.e., the runestones that can be found in central Sweden and that were carved during the Viking Age. As the information in these inscriptions is limited, researchers have also drawn upon Old Icelandic texts preserved in manuscripts that where written three to four centuries after the expedition. The annals and Yngvars saga víðforla are discussed, especially concerning the credibility of dating Yngvarr's death to c. 1041. One section focuses on the acceptance or rejection of this dating based on runestone ornamentation. Hypotheses about Yngvarr's expedition can be broadly divided into those that accept the dating to c. 1041 as a 'fact' for further considerations and hypotheses, and those that reject it. Hypotheses that draw on Yngvars saga víðforla for proving the route or destination of the historical expedition tend to not sufficiently acknowledge that the setting (among other things) is part of the saga's storyworld. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents a comparison of the impact of personal and environmental factors on the entrepreneurial intention of students living in Baltic Sea region countries. Data on students’ intentions to start their own businesses was obtained from 10054 respondents studying in Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden by implementing Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS) in 2021. Data analysis was conducted using modified Krueger’s (2009) entrepreneurial intention model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Six hypotheses were tested using the data received from all respondents and the data of individual sub-samples broken down by gender, level of study, the field of study, and country of residence. A positive relationship with students’ entrepreneurial intentions was clarified and the selected hypotheses were proved by analysing all variables of all sub-samples, except for three in the case of Lithuania and two in the case of Sweden and Finland due to insufficient level of statistical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that Finland and Sweden to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as full members prior to the Alliance's Vilnius Summit in June 2023. It mentions that Sweden will help NATO consolidate the defence of the Baltic Sea, including secure sea lines of communication. It also mentions Finnish forces, for their part, will facilitate NATO's defence of its northeastern flank, which stretches from the Baltic Sea to opposite the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic.

The Baltic Sea region regularly experiences low-level military incidents and violations of territorial borders. Both international media and the Baltic elite interpret Russian violations of airspace as intentional and provocative. Based on reports in the Baltic News Service on Russian airspace violations, this article assesses whether there are systematic patterns regarding geographical distribution as well as variation over time. Moreover, this article examines whether Russian airspace violations can serve as costly signals of resolve and as a deterrent to further NATO expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Methane (CH4) is a climate-relevant atmospheric trace gas which is emitted to the atmosphere from coastal areas such as the Baltic Sea. The oceanic CH4 emission estimates are still associated with a high degree of uncertainty partly because the temporal and spatial variability of the CH4 distribution in the ocean surface layer is usually not known. In order to determine the small-scale variability of dissolved CH4 we set up a purge-and-trap system with a significantly improved precision for the CH4 concentration measurements. We measured the distribution of dissolved CH4 in the water column of the western Kiel Bight and Eckernförde Bay in June and September 2018. The top 1 m was sampled in high-resolution to determine potential small-scale CH4 concentration gradients within the mixed layer. CH4 concentrations throughout the water column of the western Kiel Bight and Eckernförde Bay were generally higher in September than in June. The increase of the CH4 concentrations in the bottom water was accompanied by a strong decrease in O2 concentrations which led to anoxic conditions favorable for microbial CH4 production in September. In summer 2018, northwestern Europe experienced a pronounced heatwave. However, we found no relationship between the anomalies of water temperature and excess CH4 in both the surface and the bottom layer at the site of the Boknis Eck Time-Series Station (Eckernförde Bay). Therefore, the 2018 European heatwave most likely did not affect the observed increase of the CH4 concentrations in the western Kiel Bight from June to September 2018. The highresolution measurements of the CH4 concentrations in the upper 1 m of the water column were highly variable and showed no uniform decreasing or increasing gradients with water depth. Overall, our results show that the CH4 distribution in the water column of the western Kiel Bight and Eckernförde Bay is strongly affected by both large-scale temporal (i.e. seasonal) and small-scale spatial variabilities which need to be considered when quantifying the exchange of CH4 across the ocean/atmosphere interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benthic alkalinity production is often suggested as a major driver of net carbon sequestration in continental shelf ecosystems. However, information and direct measurements of benthic alkalinity fluxes are limited and are especially challenging when biological and dynamic physical forcing causes surficial sediments to be vigorously irrigated. To address this shortcoming, we quantified net sediment-water exchange of alkalinity using a suite of complementary methods, including 1) 224Ra budgeting, 2) incubations with 224Ra and Bromide as tracers, and 3) numerical modelling of porewater profiles. We choose a set of sites in the shallow southern North Sea and western Baltic Sea, allowing us to incorporate frequently occurring sediment classes ranging from coarse sands to muds, and sediment-water interfaces ranging from biologically irrigated and advective to diffusive into the investigations. Sediment-water irrigation rates in the southern North Sea were approximately twice as high as previously estimated for the region, in part due to measured porewater 224Ra activities higher than previously assumed. Net alkalinity fluxes in the Baltic Sea were relatively low, ranging from an uptake of -35 µmol m-2 hr-1 to a release of 53 µmol m-2 hr-1, and in the North Sea from 1 to 33.6 µmol m-2 hr-1. Lower than expected apparent nitrate consumption (potential denitrification), across all sites, is one explanation for our small measured net alkalinity fluxes. Carbonate mineral precipitation and sulfide re-oxidation also appear to play important roles shaping net sediment-water fluxes in the North Sea and Baltic Sea sites, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expands the discussion of Baltic Sea environmental governance by examining the implications of climate change on governance. It scrutinizes the physical challenges posed by climate change and analyses how the existing governing system can meet these challenges. The findings indicate that the present governing system is limited and cannot capture future changes and feedback effects. Therefore, this article recommends that multiple governance approaches should be explored. Management practices should be cross-sectoral and flexible, based both on the recognition of past experiences and all types of knowledge, including scientific but also local. Further interdisciplinary research can guide this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knudsen (1900) derived relations for water and salt when baroclinic water exchange dominates in a semi-enclosed basin. Here, are the corresponding relations for barotropic water exchange developed. With these relations at hand, the net volume and net salt exchange can be found as averages over a certain time, say a week, month, or year. These relations are applied to the barotropic water exchange in the Sound strait connecting the Baltic Sea with the Kattegat. The study covers the years 1977 to 2018. Volume in- and outflows are characterized by being of the same order of magnitude, whereas the average time for inflow and outflow is close to 35% and 65%, respectively. The average net volume flow is close to 50% of the average runoff input to the Baltic Sea, suggesting the other 50% of the runoff input is leaving through the Belt Sea strait. The seasonal net volume flow through the Belt Sea strait is estimated by closing the Baltic Sea water budget. During summer, the Sound and the Belt Sea straits show different responses to changes in runoff and Baltic Sea volume. The net volume flow through the Belt Sea strait even change sign being directed inwards during June and July on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rapidly increasing capacity of electricity generation from wind power, the demand for accurate power production forecasts is growing. To date, most wind power installations have been onshore and thus most studies on production forecasts have focused on onshore conditions. However, as offshore wind power is becoming increasingly popular it is also important to assess forecast quality in offshore locations. In this study, forecasts from the high-resolution numerical weather prediction model AROME was used to analyze power production forecast performance for an offshore site in the Baltic Sea. To improve the AROME forecasts, six post-processing methods were investigated and their individual performance analyzed in general as well as for different wind speed ranges, boundary layer stratifications, synoptic situations and in low-level jet conditions. In general, AROME performed well in forecasting the power production, but applying smoothing or using a random forest algorithm increased forecast skill. Smoothing the forecast improved the performance at all wind speeds, all stratifications and for all synoptic weather classes, and the random forest method increased the forecast skill during low-level jets. To achieve the best performance, we recommend selecting which method to use based on the forecasted weather conditions. Combining forecasts from neighboring grid points, combining the recent forecast with the forecast from yesterday or applying linear regression to correct the forecast based on earlier performance were not fruitful methods to increase the overall forecast quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address "wicked problems" that threaten the good ecological status of the Baltic Sea such as climate change with diverse stakeholder values and complex solutions, new interdisciplinary knowledge that incorporates citizen science is urgently needed. This paper scrutinizes environmental heritage in the Baltic Sea region by exploring what it means to persons living in the Baltic Sea environment. It asks the question, what is environmental heritage? It uses a qualitative research method using both texts and photographs--collected in an open competition--to consider humanistic viewpoints of persons living in the changing climate in the Baltic Sea Region. A thematic content analysis was utilized to identify emerging themes in the text and visual inquiry was used to decipher what meanings related to environmental change were conveyed in submitted the photographs. Some of the findings include that environmental heritage is perceived as experiences of living and interacting with the Sea and other non-human actors like animals, but also as material objects in the environment such as sustainable architecture. It also found that environmental heritage is articulated as a source of conflict, between users and uses and the traditional and new ways of life. Resolution of this conflict is important in guiding effective solutions to the challenge of climate change. It is thus important to develop interdisciplinary methods that facilitate the merging of different knowledge systems in order to generate effective solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new maritime search and rescue system based on S-band illumination harmonic radar (HR). Passive and active tags have been developed and tested while attached to life jackets and a small boat. In this demonstration test carried out on the Baltic Sea, the system was able to detect and range the active tags up to a distance of 5800 m using an illumination signal transmit-power of 100 W. Special attention is given to the development, performance, and conceptual differences between passive and active tags used in the system. Guidelines for achieving a high HR dynamic range, including a system components description, are given and a comparison with other HR systems is performed. System integration with a commercial maritime X-band navigation radar is shown to demonstrate a solution for rapid search and rescue response and quick localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay serves a double purpose: First, to demonstrate the potentials of digital methods, particularly Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS), in researching tourism history. To this end, it uses the example of nineteenth-century Baltic Sea tourism in order to show what benefits, problems and challenges the use of digital methods entails. Given the volume of data, in this case thousands of entries from Nineteenth Century guest lists of six Baltic Sea resorts, digital tools prove to be crucial to visualize and analyze spatial patterns of early tourist’s mobility. Second, on the level of historiographical insights, the essay asks for explanations for the specific spatial patterns of tourism movements. It analyses the spatial origin of visitors of the Baltic Sea resorts Travemünde near Lübeck, Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg, Pernau (Pärnu), Arensburg (Kuressaare), Hanko (Hangö) and Mariehamn (Maarianhamina), all in the Russian Empire, in certain sample years throughout the nineteenth century. The hypothesis of a determination by traffic infrastructure proves to be of only limited relevance. Cultural and climatic factors play considerably more decisive roles in shaping the prevailing north-south and east-west directions of visitor streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Populations living in fragmented habitats may suffer from loss of genetic variation and reduced between-patch dispersal, which are processes that can result in genetic differentiation. This occurs frequently in species with reduced mobility, whereas genetic differentiation is less common among mobile species such as migratory birds. The high dispersal capacity in the latter species usually allows for gene flow even in fragmented landscapes. However, strongly philopatric behaviour can reinforce relative isolation and the degree of genetic differentiation. The Southern Dunlin (Calidris alpina schinzii) is a philopatric, long-distance migratory shorebird and shows reduced dispersal between isolated breeding patches. The endangered population of the Southern Dunlin breeding at the Baltic Sea has suffered from habitat deterioration and fragmentation of coastal meadows. We sampled DNA across the entire population and used 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci to examine whether the environmental changes have resulted in genetic structuring and loss of variation. Results: We found a pattern of isolation-by-distance across the whole Baltic population and genetic differentiation between local populations, even within the southern Baltic. Observed heterozygosity was lower than expected throughout the range and internal relatedness values were positive indicating inbreeding. Conclusions: Our results provide long-term, empirical evidence for the theoretically expected links between habitat fragmentation, population subdivision, and gene flow. They also demonstrate a rare case of genetic differentiation between populations of a long-distance migratory species. The Baltic Southern Dunlin differs from many related shorebird species that show near panmixia, reflecting its philopatric life history and the reduced connectivity of its breeding patches. The results have important implications as they suggest that reduced connectivity of breeding habitats can threaten even long-distance migrants if they show strong philopatry during breeding. The Baltic Southern Dunlin warrants urgent conservation efforts that increase functional connectivity and gene flow between breeding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW) is the subsurface salinity minimum layer in the depth range 200–400 m in the East/Japan Sea. The origin, variability, and pathways of the ESIW were investigated using a 4‐year‐long (2015–2018) high‐resolution (1/24°) ocean reanalysis and Lagrangian particle modeling. A backward particle tracking analysis revealed that the ESIW was formed south of Vladivostok and shows strong interannual variability. In 2018, owing to strong northwesterly winds, heat loss to the air intensified, and freshwater transport from the northern East/Japan Sea was simultaneously decreased by about 18% compared with the previous year. Furthermore, there was increased formation of water masses heavier than that of the typical ESIW, and the volume of the ESIW was reduced. A forward particle tracking analysis showed that the contribution of the particles originated from the northern end of the East/Japan Sea was about two times greater than those from the southern end. The major portion of the ESIW's freshwater came from the northern East/Japan Sea, where sea ice melted and the Amur River discharged. The remaining portion was from the Changjiang River, which came through the Korea Strait. The ESIW reached the Ulleung Basin over the course of a year mainly through the deep channel, the Ulleung Trough, located to the north of the basin. The diapycnal diffusivity of 1.0 × 10−4 m2 s−1 could erode away the low salinity core in about 27 years. Plain Language Summary: In the southwestern part of the East/Japan Sea (EJS), low salinity water called the East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW) is found between depths of 200 and 400 m. We studied the origin, variability, and pathways of the ESIW through high‐resolution ocean reanalysis and Lagrangian particle tracking modeling. It was found that that the major source of the ESIW is the Amur River freshwater and the sea ice meltwater from the northern end of the EJS. The ESIW forms southward of Vladivostok and extends southward below the mixed layer. It moves southward, mostly through deep channels until it reaches the Ulleung Basin, which is located in the southwestern part of the EJS. The ESIW characteristics show interannual variation. In 2018, the salinity of the ESIW was higher than that in the other years, and it corresponded to strong atmospheric forcing and reduced the low salinity water transport from the northern end. The amount of the ESIW, thus, was reduced by about 18% compared with that for the previous year. Owing to vertical mixing, the low salinity core of the ESIW could be eroded away in about 27 years. Key Points: The main source of the East Sea Intermediate Water is the low salinity water at the northern end of the East/Japan SeaThe formation of the water mass was significantly decreased in 2018 due to enhanced cooling and reduced freshwater transportA major portion of the water mass reaches the Ulleung Basin through the Ulleung Trough over a period of one year [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertical land motion (VLM) is the connection between absolute sea‐level (ASL) from a satellite altimeter (ALT) and relative sea‐level from a tide gauge (TG). VLM is often sparsely observed yet is required for understanding sea‐level rise. Many studies have sought to exploit ALT and TG data to infer VLM, yet regionally correlated systematic errors in altimetry have not been considered. We have developed a Kalman filtering and smoothing framework to simultaneously estimate location‐specific VLM and residual mission‐specific systematic errors in a geocentric reference frame. We used ALT minus TG, ALT crossovers and global positioning system (GPS) bedrock height observations in a multi‐stage solution approach that gradually separated time‐variable parameter estimates in an ill‐posed problem. We evaluated the performance of the method using the Jason‐series along‐track data in the Baltic Sea, where glacial isostatic adjustment is the dominant driver of VLM. We estimated local VLM variability at TGs of up to ∼4.5 mm/yr which is not evident in spatially interpolated GPS velocities. The estimated regional altimeter errors are significant and within the range of ∼±0.5–2.5 mm/yr. Our approach improves agreement between ASL estimates from ALT and TG records, provides a ∼20% decrease in root mean squared error of latitudinal ASL variability at TGs, and a reduction of the ASL rate from altimetry by ∼0.3 mm/yr across the region. This method advances the ALT‐TG approach to determining VLM at TG locations and systematic errors of altimetry, which is broadly applicable to other regional‐ and global‐scale studies. Plain Language Summary: Changes in sea‐level can be measured relative to the land by tide gauges, or relative to the center of mass of the Earth by satellite altimeters. These two different types of sea‐level measurements will differ if the land is moving (vertical land motion (VLM)), or if there are errors in either system. Here we compared tide gauge and altimeter data to estimate how much the land is moving ‐ at the same time, we estimated small but significant errors in the altimetry system at a regional scale. We tested our new method over the Baltic Sea and showed this revealed local motion of some tide gauges that could not be previously detected using other approaches, such as interpolation of VLM determined from nearby global positioning system sites. Our approach helps refine sea‐level change measurements which are critical for informed management of coastal regions. Key Points: We developed a new method to estimate vertical land motion and regional altimeter (ALT) systematic errors, tested in the Baltic Sea regionWe detected localized motion at several gauges in the Baltic region that cannot be inferred from interpolated global positioning system or geophysical model velocitiesWe captured significant ALT errors and improved the agreement between absolute sea‐level from tide gauge and altimetry records [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of social–ecological knowledge diversity (SEKD) provides a novel way of examining coupled human–environment interactions—it acknowledges differences in knowledge, values, and beliefs of stakeholder groups within social–ecological systems (SES). Thus, understanding and measuring SEKD is an essential component of sustainable management with implications for conflict resolution, collective action and policymaking. However, methods to efficiently define and model knowledge diversity are still underdeveloped. Using a semiquantitative cognitive mapping approach, we collected and analyzed stakeholder‐specific knowledge and perceptions of the Western Baltic cod fishery to model SEKD. Results demonstrate substantial variation in perceptions across different individuals and social groups. SEKD was evident in (a) distinctive meanings attached to social factors relative to ecological factors, (b) causal relationships underlying the understanding of SES dynamics, and (c) social impacts of ecological changes on ecosystems (and vice versa). By identifying and representing knowledge‐specific disparities in SES frameworks, our model explicitly improves the understanding of human–environment interactions with implications that could help reduce conflicts and legitimize management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important vertebrate fossil remains were collected in the Pohang Basin in South Korea for many decades, but only few have been described up to now. Here, three deep-sea shark teeth are described, which most likely derived from the Duho Formation (middle Miocene) near Pohang City, South Korea. One of the teeth is identified as belonging to the genus Mitsukurina, while the others are assignable to Dalatias. None of these taxa were previously reported from the Korean Peninsula. The occurrences of these deep-water fishes in the Pohang Basin support the hypotheses that the Duho Formation was deposited in a deep-sea environment, and sharks, even including benthopelagic forms were already widely distributed throughout the East Sea when this sea was still developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the health of coastal and open sea marine ecosystems represents a substantial challenge for sustainable marine resource management, since it requires balancing human benefits and impacts on the ocean. This challenge is often exacerbated by incomplete knowledge and lack of tools that measure ocean and coastal ecosystem health in a way that allows consistent monitoring of progress towards predefined management targets. The lack of such tools often limits capabilities to enact and enforce effective governance.We introduce the Baltic Health Index (BHI) as a transparent, collaborative and repeatable assessment tool. The Index complements existing, more ecological‐oriented, approaches by including a human dimension on the status of the Baltic Sea, an ecosystem impacted by multiple anthropogenic pressures and governed by a multitude of comprehensive national and international policies. Using a large amount of social–ecological data available, we assessed the health of the Baltic Sea for nine goals that represent the status towards set targets, for example, clean waters, biodiversity, food provision, natural products extraction and tourism.Our results indicate that the overall health of the Baltic Sea is suboptimal (a score of 76 out of 100), and a substantial effort is required to reach the management objectives and associated targets. Subregionally, the lowest BHI scores were measured for carbon storage, contaminants and lasting special places (i.e. marine protected areas), albeit with large spatial variation.Overall, the likely future status of all goals in the BHI averaged for the entire Baltic Sea is better than the present status, indicating a positive trend towards a healthier Baltic Sea. However, in some Baltic Sea basins, the trend for specific goals was decreasing, highlighting locations and issues that should be the focus of management priorities.The BHI outcomes can be used to identify both pan‐Baltic and subregional scale management priorities and to illustrate the interconnectedness between goals linked by cumulative pressures. Hence, the information provided by the BHI tool and its further development will contribute towards the fulfilment of the UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainability Development Goals. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]