The history and future perspectives of Baltic Sea Eutrophication

This presentation illustrates the past and present situation in the Baltic Sea with an outlook on future development. The semi-enclosed and highly stratified Baltic Sea has intermittently experienced anoxic conditions in the bottom water, however, they have greatly increased in the past decades.

Reasons are clearly related to nutrient input from nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and river loads that fuel a vicious cycle promoting surface water blooms and deoxygenation. Ecological status is believed to deteriorate with climate change due to warming and enhanced stratification but the Baltic Sea can still recover with appropriate measures for reducing nutrient inputs.