The “Seili‑index” for the Prediction of Chlorophyll‑α Levels in the Archipelago Sea of the northern Baltic Sea, southwest Finland
: Hänninen Jari, Mäkinen Katja, Nordhausen Klaus, Laaksonlaita Jussi, Loisa Olli, Virta Joni
Publisher: Springer
: 2022
: Environmental Modeling and Assessment
: ENMO
: 1573-2967
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-022-09822-9
: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10666-022-09822-9.pdf
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/73914203
To build a forecasting tool for the state of eutrophication in the Archipelago Sea, we fitted a Generalized Additive Mixed Model (GAMM) to marine environmental monitoring data, which were collected over the years 2011–2019 by an automated profiling buoy at the Seili ODAS-station. The resulting “Seili-index” can be used to predict the chlorophyll-α (chl-a) concentration in the seawater a number of days ahead by using the temperature forecast as a covariate. An array of test predictions with two separate models on the 2019 data set showed that the index is adept at predicting the amount of chl-a especially in the upper water layer. The visualization with 10 days of chl-a level predictions is presented online at https:// saaristomeri.utu.fi/seili- index/. We also applied GAMMs to predict abrupt blooms of cyanobacteria on the basis of temperature and wind conditions and found the model to be feasible for short-term predictions. The use of automated monitoring data and the presented GAMM model in assessing the effects of natural resource management and pollution risks is discussed.