Description: Pelagic and demersal juvenile Baltic cod Gadus morhua L. were collected on the slope and the top of Rønne bank in the Baltic Sea during 2 cruises in November and December 1998. The objective of this study was to evaluate distinct changes in otolith increment width observed in demersal juveniles by comparison with laboratory-reared individuals, and to investigate the factors determining variation in these increments. The different increment-width patterns were identified with a method based on the widths of consecutive increments. Otolith increment widths of juvenile cod were found to be highly variable within and between individuals, in both the experimental and the field samples. The first change in increment pattern observed in the field samples was related to settling. The formation periodicity of increments within the different pattern intervals was confirmed with a growth model based on otolith growth rates of juvenile cod reared in the laboratory under different conditions. In this model, otolith growth rate was expressed as a function of rearing temperature and fish dry weight. Otolith growth of the field samples was calculated using ambient temperatures obtained from a 3D-circulation model. The best fit to observed otolith growth rates was obtained under the assumption that fish on the slope performed daily vertical migrations between the warm surface layer and the cold bottom layer. The data suggested that fish stayed in the surface layer during the first increment-pattern interval, performed vertical migrations during the second interval, and stayed in association with the seafloor in the subsequent interval, corresponding to the time after the breakdown of the thermocline.

Description: Due to the ephemeral nature of the atmospheric conditions over the Baltic Sea, the flow field is highly variable, and thus, changes in the resulting circulation and upwelling are difficult to observe. However, three-dimensional models, forced by realistic atmospheric conditions and river runoff, have reached such a state of accuracy that the highly fluctuating current field and the associated evolution of the temperature and salinity field can be described. In this work, effects of remote and local atmospheric forcing on circulation and upwelling in the Baltic Sea are investigated. Changes in the characteristics of the large-scale atmospheric wind field over the central and eastern North Atlantic can be described by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The NAO is related to the strength and geographical position of weather systems as they cross the North Atlantic and thus has a direct impact on the climate in Europe. To relate the local wind field over the Baltic Sea to the large-scale atmospheric circulation, we defined a Baltic Sea Index (BSI), which is the difference of normalised sea level pressures between Oslo in Norway and Szczecin in Poland. The NAO is significantly related to the BSI. Furthermore, the BSI is highly correlated with the storage variation of the Baltic Sea and the volume exchange through the Danish Sounds. Based on three-dimensional model calculations, it is shown that different phases of the NAO during winter result in major changes of horizontal transports in the deep basins of the Baltic Sea and in upwelling along the coasts as well as in the interior of the basins. During NAO+ phases, strong Ekman currents are produced with increased up- and downwelling along the coasts and associated coastal jets, whereas during NAO− phases, Ekman drift and upwelling are strongly reduced, and the flow field can almost entirely be described by the barotropic stream function. The general nature of the mean circulation in the deep basins of the Baltic Sea, obtained from a 10-yr model run, can be described by the depth integrated vorticity balance derived from the transport equation for variable depth.

Description: Spatial and temporal variability in environmental factors can exert major influences on survival and growth of living organisms. However, in many key areas of fisheries science (e.g. growth, survival and recruitment determination), environmental heterogeneity is usually ignored because of insufficient environmental or fisheries data or lack of evidence that such heterogeneity impacts response variables. For the eastern Baltic Sea (ICES Subdivisions 25 to 32), we evaluated spatial and temporal differences in conditions affecting the survival of cod Gadus morhua L. eggs at survival on four distinct spawning sites within the assessment area. We intercalibrated ways of quantifying the volume of water ('reproductive volume') at each site where salinity, oxygen and temperature conditions permitted successful egg development. We have developed and compared a time series (1952 to 1996) of reproductive volumes among the areas to identify spatial differences. The results of 2 independent volume-estimation methods are comparable, indicating that highly significant differences exist among the sites, and that the westernmost spawning ground, Bornholm Basin, has on average the highest reproductive volume and the lowest variability among the 4 sites. These findings may be useful in evaluating how spatial and temporal variability in environmental conditions affect egg hatching success and possibly recruitment in the Baltic stock.