Oceanographic Services at SMHI

		General Information
		How to get here
		SMHI Oceanographic Services Nya Varvet 31 SE-426 70 Vastra Frolunda Sweden Tel: +46 31 7518975 Fax: +46 31 7518980

General Information.

The Oceanographic Laboratory monitors the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak, produces status, changes and trend descriptions of physical, chemical and some biological parameters as well as reports data and other information to international organisations and conventions. To ensure quality in analyses and data the laboratory is accredited by SWEDAC according to ISO 17025. Our experts take part in working groups within ICES and IOC to define international standards on analyses, data handling and reporting.

Our data and products are used in environmental and climate studies, forecasts, for research and for verification and development of oceanographic models within SMHI, and at national and international levels. For example, the Marine Information Centres at the County Boards in Umeå, Stockholm and Göteborg and the local associations for coastal management regularly use oceanographic products from the laboratory for surveillance of the open sea and coastal areas in Sweden.

International conventions like HELCOM and OSPARCOM as well as EEA require that the national member states provide reports on the environmental status. In Sweden SEPA has established data centres to streamline reporting on data, reports and indicators. The Oceanographic Laboratory is the national data centre of physical and chemical parameters within the national open sea monitoring programme and regularly publishes indicator reports on the web. The laboratory database SHARK contains quality assured data from SMHI, neighbouring countries and local water management associations monitoring programmes. The international exchange of data is an important part of the work in producing reports and indicators.

International co-operation is a necessary ingredient to get cost-effective monitoring cruises, real-time data, data use and reporting. The Oceanographic Laboratory plays an active part in EuroGOOS, BOOS and EU-programmes to obtain these goals.

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How to get here

Oceanographic Services are situated at Nya Varvet in Göteborg, about 8km west of the city centre. You can get there by taking the nr 11 tram towards Saltholmen, and getting off at the station Nya Varvet. From there is about five minutes walk to the SMHI office.

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