Marine environmental monitoring data coast and sea
SMHI is commissioned by the Swedish Agency for Water and Marine Management to archive and publish data that has been collected in Swedish marine environmental monitoring. See also link to the Swedish EPA web page forkvalitetssystem för samordnad miljöövervakning
Our mission is to perform quality control on data deliveries, archive and make data available to the public. In our mission data products are also made.
Data that is not considered sensitive from a secrecy law perspective is made according to the CC0 license and is thereby free to use, re-use, distribute and aggregate.
Data users may, but are not required to cite us or anyone else of the data hosts in environmental monitoring. Financier and principal for the marine environmental monitoring is the Swedish Agency for Water and Marine Management.
Program area coast and sea.
Part of programs in the Swedish archive for oceanographic data: The pelagic, soft bottom macrofauna, epibenthos, mammals within the seal and eagle program.
| Program parts | Survey | Period |
|---|---|---|
| National data The pelagic, trends |
Hydrography and nutrients in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat and Skagerrak | 1979-now |
| Regional data The pelagic, trends |
Hydrography and nutrients in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat and Skagerrak | 1980-now |
| Survey | Period | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Soft bottom macrofauna Bothnian Bay |
1983-now | jan.albertsson@umu.se |
| Soft bottom macrofauna Baltic Sea Proper |
1971-now | jonas.gunnarsson@su.se stefan.tobiasson@lnu.se |
| Soft bottom macrofauna Kattegat and Skagerrak seas |
1983-now | fredrik.pleijel@marine.gu.se |
| Epibenthos Baltic Sea Proper |
1993-now | susanne.qvarfordt@su.se |
| Epibenthos Skagerrak |
1993-now | jan.karlsson@marine.gu.se |
| Epipelagic chemistry and biology Bothnian Bay |
1989-now | joakim.ahlgren@umu.se |
| Epipelagic chemistry and biology Baltic Sea Proper |
1982-now | jakob.walve@su.se |
| Epipelagic chemistry and biology Kattegat and Skagerrak seas |
1979-now | svea@smhi.se |
| Grey seal | 1989-now | olle.karlsson@nrm.se |
| Harbour seal | 1988-now | olle.karlsson@nrm.se |
| Ringed seal | 1995-now | olle.karlsson@nrm.se |
| Harbour porpoise | 2016-now | julia.carlstrom@nrm.se |
Investigation types (marine environmental monitoring methods)
A brief summary is displayed below but a more thorough description of methods can be found on the webpage of Swedish Agency for Water and Marine Management (only in Swedish) Havs- och vattenmyndighetens "undersökningstyper"
Physical and chemical parameters
Water samples are collected with e.g. a Ruttner sampler or CTD rosette at distinct depths from the surface to the bottom. The analyses are performed directly or in the laboratory. Sometimes a measuring probe (CTD; Conductivity, Temperature and Density) is used for continuous sampling of salinity, temperature, oxygen and occasionally chlorophyll. Seawater transparency is measured using a so-called secchi disc. More information is available in Swedish here: Hydrografi och närsalter, kartering.
Zoobenthos
Sampling is often performed with a sediment grabber such as a Van Veen grabber that collects a known amount of bottom susbtrate. The material is seeved and the organsisms found are preserved for furter taxonomic annotation, counting and weighing. For each species data are presented consisting of the number of counted individuals per sample, the number of counted individuals per area and the total weight of counted individuals per sample and per area. For some organisms only presence is reported. The bottom sediment characteristics is also often reported. More information is available in Swedish here: Mjukbottenlevande makrofauna, kartering andMjukbottenlevande makrofauna, trend och områdesövervakning.
Epibenthos
Data are usually collected by divers that follow a transect along the bottom of the sea and observes the presence of different species. Observations are either noted on-site or analyzed afterwards from photographies, videos or samples collected by divers or cameras (e.g. a sled mounted camera dragged on the bottom). Depth and position along the transect is often noted. The methods vary tremendously. For each species the following parameters can be presented: number of species in a particular area, total number of species counted, percent cover of the bottom substrate or the species depth distribution. The characteristics of the bottom substrate is also often reported and how large portion of the substrate that has been overlaid with sediment deposition. More information is available in Swedish here: Vegetationsklädda bottnar, ostkust andVegetationsklädda bottnar, västkust.
Zooplankton
Samples are collected by towing a zooplankton net vertically through the water column. The sampled volume is estimated either from a gauge on the zooplankton net or from the net area and length of the tow. The organisms found in the net are preserved for subsequent taxonomic annotation, counting and size classification. Since the number of organisms found in one net tow can be extremely high the sample are sometimes split into parts that are recalculated to represent the entire net tow sample. For each species (and sometimes developmental stage and sex) the number of individuals counted, the number of individuals per water volume and sometimes weight, average and median length are reported. More information is available in Swedish here: Djurplankton, trend- och områdesövervakning.
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton/picoplankton are often sampled by collecting seawater with e.g. a Ruttner sampler or a CTD-rosette that can sample distinct depths or with a hose that are positioned vertically in the water column and closed to collect a so-called integrated sample. The collected plankton are preserved for subsequent taxonomic annotation, counting and size classification. For each species (and sometimes among different size classes and trophic status according to HELCOM PEGs list) data are presented for number of counted individuals in the sample, number of counted individuals per water volume, weight per water volume and cell volume per water volume. Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton are reported and some measurements are focused on picoplankton (e.g. Cyanobacteria). More information is available in Swedish here: Växtplankton.
Bacterioplankton
Seawater is collected with e.g. a Ruttner sampler or a CTD-rosette that can sample distinct depths or with a hose that are positioned vertically in the water column and closed to collect a so-called integrated sample. The abundance and production (bacterial heterotrophic production) of bacteria is measured. The cell size and biomass of the measured bacteria are also reported.
Chlorophyll
Seawater can be collected with a hose that is positioned vertically in the water column and closed (integrated sample). Or samples can be collected with in bottles from distinct depths. The seawater is filtered and from fluorescent measurments the chlorophyll levels (e.g. Chl a) are quantified.
Primary production
Primary production is measured with two methods: either in situ where carbon fixation is measured in bottles that are positioned in the water for a few hours or through incubator measuremetns where carbon fixation is measured in a light gradient. The total primary production in the sea is calculated from current light conditions (PAR). More information is available in Swedish here: Primärproduktion.
Sedimentation
Sedimentation traps are allowed to sit on-site for a number of days up to a month to collect the material that sediment through the water column. The sedimented materials dry weight is measured and the sedimentation speed is calculated. The proportion of different substances that build up the sedimented material is also reported. More information is available in Swedish here: Sedimentation.
Harbour porpoise
The distribution of harbour porpoises are invented using sensors that collect click sounds. The number of counted harbour porpoises per site are estimated from the number of click sounds reported
Seals
The distribution of ringed seals, grey seals and harbour seals are studied from inventories made from airplane or by land observations. The number of counted individuals per site is reported. More information is available in Swedish here: Bestånd av knubbsäl och vikaresäl andGråsälsbestånd.
Seal pathology
Dead seals are autopsied and measurments of their condition is reported. When the exact location of the found seal is unknown the county's city of residency is reported according to the Swedish EPA's guidelines. More information is available in Swedish here: Patologi hos gråsäl, vikaresäl och knubbsäl.