Future Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region and Environmental Impacts

The regional characteristics and impacts of future climate change in the Baltic Sea countries have been explored since at least the 1990s. Later research has supported many findings from the early studies, but advances in understanding and improved modeling tools have made the picture gradually more comprehensive and more detailed. Nevertheless, many uncertainties still remain.

The publication explores projected climate change in the Baltic Sea Region (projected changes in temperature, precipitation, wind, hydrology) and in the Baltic Sea Ocean climate (ice cover, water temperature, salinity, sea level change, storm surge).

The environmental impacts of atmospheric changes are described, based on BACC I and BACC II assessments. Environmental impacts of climate change include atmospheric chemistry, freshwater and marine biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and coastal erosion. However, future environmental change in the region will be affected by several interrelated factors. Climate change is only one of them, and in many cases its effects may be exceeded by other anthropogenic changes.