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Marine heatwaves in the Baltic Sea: IOW researchers investigate causes and effects

A summer sunrise over a calm Baltic Sea with the silhouette of a ship on the horizon colours the water and the sky deeply red.
The Baltic Sea is one of the fastest warming marine regions in the world, having warmed by over 1 °C in the last three and a half decades. Furthermore, the marine ecosystems there are now increasingly affected by marine heatwaves. Photo: IOW / K. Beck

Marine heatwaves – periods in which the upper water layers in the sea temporarily become exceptionally warm – are occurring with increasing frequency worldwide. Recent studies by the IOW have now confirmed this trend also for the Baltic Sea. IOW researchers analysed very large meteorological and hydrographic data sets and identified the specific wind and weather conditions that cause Baltic Sea heatwaves. They also analysed for the first time the extent to which heatwaves reach the Baltic Sea floor and discovered that they can lead to severe oxygen depletion even in usually well-aerated coastal waters.

 

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