The marine research vessel Aranda started its annual winter monitoring tour on Monday 11 January 2010. During the tour, a number of variables will be studied – water temperature, salinity, deepwater oxygen conditions and, especially, nutrient concentrations. The information on wintertime nutrient concentrations is of crucial importance, e.g., for the algae prognosis for the next summer.
Other items of the expedition programme are zooplankton samples, studies ón the occurrence and quantities of Ctenophora species, and studies on the carbon dioxide concentration´in the Baltic sea waters. Moreover, new towable research equipment will be tested, and anchored research instruments will be taken up.
The expedition will visit all the major parts of the Baltic Sea. The rour goes ´first to the Eastern Gulf of Finland, then through the Western Gulf of Finland to the Åland Sea and further to the Bothnian Sea and the Bothnian Bay. Then the route continues through the Archipelago Sea to Turku, and further through the Baltic Proper, west of Gotland, down to Rostock, and finally back through the stations of the main basin of the Baltic Sea, to Helsinki. The scheduled day of arrival is 5 February, and the duration of the tour is thus almost four weeks.
More information
Leader of the expedition: Mr Juha Flinkman research specialist,
Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, phone +358 40 750 3911
Ctenophora: Ms Maiju Lehtiniemi, research specialist,
SYKE, phone +358 40 725 5085
Carbon dioxide studies: Mr Matti Perttilä, research professor,
Finnish Meteorological Institute, phone +358 40 5010 308
