About this Research Topic
The Baltic Sea is an intracontinental marginal sea in Northern Europe, with particular properties which set it apart from most other marginal seas and coastal regions, such as its pronounced salinity dynamics and unique biogeochemical features. But at the same time, it has been one of the best observed and modeled marine and coastal regions in the world and it can serve as an example and provide case studies for other heavily populated coastal regions worldwide.
Baltic Earth is an open scientific network which endeavours to gain a comprehensive understanding of the earth system, on the scale and under the conditions of the Baltic Sea, its coasts and tributaries. With a strong community of researchers and large international conferences and workshops, Baltic Earth intends to help achieve the scientific basis for a sustainable coastal and environmental management of the region.
This Research Topic is rooted in the 5th Baltic Earth Conference in Jurmala, Latvia, 13-17 May 2024, inciting “New Challenges for Baltic Sea Earth System Research”. We invite contributions from the conference but also welcome manuscripts from other coastal sea regions worldwide related to:
• Biogeochemistry of the Baltic Sea – Linking observations and modelling. This focuses on investigations on the marine and terrestrial carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and pathways towards an understanding of primary production mechanisms and organic matter transformations in the Baltic Sea.
• Natural hazards and extreme events. Here, we look at observations and the analysis and modelling of high impact events in the Baltic Sea region, including storm surges and waves as well as extreme precipitation or drought events.
• Sea level dynamics, sediment dynamics, coastal processes and impacts on coasts. We examine the variability and change of sea levels and sediment dynamics, and the related impacts on the coasts of the Baltic Sea.
• Human impacts, interactions and management options. This asks for an analysis of interactions between anthropogenic and natural forcings, and how to cope with the various human and environmental impacts, including management and also geoengineering options in the Baltic Sea region.
• Modeling past and future climate changes and teleconnections. This is on recent and projected changes in regional climate variables and impacts on the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceanography, and biosphere as well as an identification of critical regions with teleconnections to the Baltic Sea.
• Small scale processes not yet resolved and their impact on the large scale dynamics and patterns. We look at submesoscale dynamics in the Baltic Sea and similar coastal and/or marginal sea environments, e.g. energy transfer, mixing, development of stratification, coastal-offshore exchanges, fluxes of substances etc.
• Comparing marginal seas worldwide. How do climatic, geological and human impacts in different polar, moderate and other marginal seas compare with conditions in the Baltic Sea?
• Philosophical aspects of Baltic Sea Earth system research. Here we would like to extend the scientific thinking towards broader, integrative perspectives and discuss issues like complex systems with multiple drivers, the public authority of scientific knowledge, the knowledge market or the boundary between science and activism.
For more information, see the conference website: https://baltic.earth/jurmala2024
Baltic Earth is an open scientific network which endeavours to gain a comprehensive understanding of the earth system, on the scale and under the conditions of the Baltic Sea, its coasts and tributaries. With a strong community of researchers and large international conferences and workshops, Baltic Earth intends to help achieve the scientific basis for a sustainable coastal and environmental management of the region.
This Research Topic is rooted in the 5th Baltic Earth Conference in Jurmala, Latvia, 13-17 May 2024, inciting “New Challenges for Baltic Sea Earth System Research”. We invite contributions from the conference but also welcome manuscripts from other coastal sea regions worldwide related to:
• Biogeochemistry of the Baltic Sea – Linking observations and modelling. This focuses on investigations on the marine and terrestrial carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and pathways towards an understanding of primary production mechanisms and organic matter transformations in the Baltic Sea.
• Natural hazards and extreme events. Here, we look at observations and the analysis and modelling of high impact events in the Baltic Sea region, including storm surges and waves as well as extreme precipitation or drought events.
• Sea level dynamics, sediment dynamics, coastal processes and impacts on coasts. We examine the variability and change of sea levels and sediment dynamics, and the related impacts on the coasts of the Baltic Sea.
• Human impacts, interactions and management options. This asks for an analysis of interactions between anthropogenic and natural forcings, and how to cope with the various human and environmental impacts, including management and also geoengineering options in the Baltic Sea region.
• Modeling past and future climate changes and teleconnections. This is on recent and projected changes in regional climate variables and impacts on the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceanography, and biosphere as well as an identification of critical regions with teleconnections to the Baltic Sea.
• Small scale processes not yet resolved and their impact on the large scale dynamics and patterns. We look at submesoscale dynamics in the Baltic Sea and similar coastal and/or marginal sea environments, e.g. energy transfer, mixing, development of stratification, coastal-offshore exchanges, fluxes of substances etc.
• Comparing marginal seas worldwide. How do climatic, geological and human impacts in different polar, moderate and other marginal seas compare with conditions in the Baltic Sea?
• Philosophical aspects of Baltic Sea Earth system research. Here we would like to extend the scientific thinking towards broader, integrative perspectives and discuss issues like complex systems with multiple drivers, the public authority of scientific knowledge, the knowledge market or the boundary between science and activism.
For more information, see the conference website: https://baltic.earth/jurmala2024
Keywords: Baltic Earth, Baltic Sea, Regional Climate Research, Biogeochemistry, Oceanography, Regional Change
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
