| Baltic HOME | |
 Swedish |
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| SMHI has begun the construction of
the Baltic HOME expert system. HOME stands for Hydrology, Oceanography and Meteorology for
the Environment. Baltic HOME is a
supportive system designed for people who need to make decisions on environmental
questions in the Baltic Sea region. HOME is a comprehensive approach to identifying the
processes involved when chemical substances are transported through air, soil and water.
All environmental variables will be taken into consideration and treated. The system will
supply information on the existing conditions and form prognoses of physical and
biogeochemical conditions in arbitrary points of the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak as
well as their catchment areas. Preliminary results The present version of Baltic HOME produces real time data on air concentrations, deposition, river discharge, substance transport with rivers and conditions in the sea. The vision is to produce physical and biogeochemical data variables of conditions, time series, prognosis and scenarios for arbitrary areas of the Baltic and North Sea and their drainage areas. |
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 The Physical Processes |
 The Chemical Processes |
| Goals Operational management of a system for water, energy and substance flows in the Baltic Sea and North Sea and their catchment areas in realtime (including 24-hour prognoses) that can be run backwards in time and also preserve the possibility to calculate scenarios. |
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| The System Framework | |
| Physiographic Data | |
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Databases with digital geographic
information about watersheds, lakes, watercourses, coastlines, land heights, land use, and
sea depths are collected through custom work or from easily accessible databases.
Calculations are being compiled for 15 sea areas and 39 drainage areas in the first
version. We are partners in the BALANS project aimed of a new land cover database for the Baltic sea drainage area. |
| Meteorological Data | |
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For operation in realtime, the system will be run with MESAN-data. When re-analysis of MESAN time series exist, these are used for operation backwards in time. In the first version, a time series database constructed on synoptic observation from 1979 to 1998 will be used. Subsequent system operations will be run from prognoses from HIRLAM and ECMWF. Time series for assumed climate change from SWECLIM will also be used for operation. |
| Emission Data | |
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Emissions of substances to air, ground,
lakes, watercourses and sea are necessary information when calculating concentrations and
spreading in air and water. Emissions to air are needed for all of Europe and to water for the entire drainage area. Changes in the emission data base can show effects of planned actions. |
| Data on air-borne substance distribution | |
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Deposition of substances are calculated in MATCH. MATCH will be expanded to cover the entire drainage area. Development of a realtime and of a prognosis version is planned. Long time series will also be produced. |
| Flowdata for water and nitrogen in lakes and watercourses | |
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Water and nitrogen flow on land, in lakes and in watercourses will be calculated with the HBV and HBV-N models. The HBV-model has been calibrated for catchment in all ocean areas. The HBV-N model will be further enhanced for both finer detailed and more outlined calculations for the entire area. Monitored nitrogen concentrations are used in Version 1.0. |
| Flowdata for water and specific substances in the ocean | |
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The PROBE-Baltic and SCOBI ocean models calculate date in 15 sea areas. Temperature, salinity, nitrate, ammonium, phosphate, phyto and zoo plankton, detritus, oxygen, benthonic nitrogen and benthonic phosphorus will be calculated for every metre of depth level at time intervals of ten minutes. Water and substance flows to and from the ocean areas can be calculated simultaneously. |
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Updated 2000-07-06 |
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