Springtime Chl-a concentration is here used as a proxy for productive surface waters. In the Baltic Sea Spatial Pressure and Impact Index (SPIA), areas with high springtime phytoplankton production will be given higher importance, as they are considered important areas for the Baltic Sea food web. In the current map, mean of springtime maximum weekly values (weeks 12-22 for the HOLAS3 assessment period 2016-2021). Satellite Chl-a concentration of the surface waters has been used and converted to index by Finnish Environment institute with resolution of 1 km x 1 km grid cells.

This dataset contains datasets for the Eutrophication assessment developed under the HELCOM Third Holistic Assessment of the Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS 3). The dataset contains all Baltic Sea monitoring CTD data reported by HELCOM Contracting Parties to ICES for the HOLAS3 assessment period 2016-2021. The data have been reported using the ICES Ocean reporting format: https://www.ices.dk/data/data-portals/Pages/ocean-format.aspx https://www.ices.dk/data/Documents/ocean/ICES-Oceanography-Data-Submission-Format.zip

This dataset represents the underlying sediment data on core indicator Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their metabolites. The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in sediment and biota. Quantitative threshold value is used to evaluate if core indicators status is Achieve, Fail or Not assessed. As There is no commonly agreed threshold value for measuring metabolites available, this report only considers concentrations of contaminants. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and off-shore areas and division of the coastal areas by WFD water types or water bodies). Attribute information: "region" = name of subbasin "country" = country "station" = Unique code for the station "stationNam" = name for the station "determinan" = determinant parameter (ANT = anthracene) "detGroup" = the grouping of determinands used to display the results "_shape" = shape used to map assessment results "colour" = colour used to map assessment results "l3area" = HELCOM assessment unit on scale 3 "l4area" = HELCOM assessment unit on scale 4 "nyall" = total number of years of data "nyfit" = number of years of data used in the assessment "nypos" = number of years with at least one measurement above the limit of detection "lastyear" = most recent year of data "prtrend" = the significance of the change over the most recent 20 years; for the assessment conducted in November 2017 and published in June 2018, this is the period 1996-2016 "rtrend" = annual ‘linear’ change over the most recent 20 years "meanLY" = fitted value in last monitoring year "clLY" = upper one-sided 95% confidence limit on fitted value in last monitoring year "EQS" = Threshold value "EQSdiff" = difference between clLY and EQS "EQSbelow" = whether the mean value in the last monitoring year is significantly below EQS

This pressure dataset is derived from three human activities datasets - Urban land use (on land) - Recreational boating and sports (updated layer for 2018 version, please see separate http://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8c30e828-1340-4162-b7f9-254586ae32b6) - Bathing sites These data are described in more detail in separate fact sheets. Urban land use data was first converted to 1 km grid cells and expanded with 1 km. Thus, coastal urban areas extended also to the sea. These areas were given value 1 and other sea areas, value 0. Bathing sites (points) were converted to 1km grid and given value 1, rest of the sea areas were given value 0. Normalized recreational boating data was converted to 1 km grid cells. These three layers were summed to produce the layer (values from 0 to 3), after that the layer was normalized. Hunting and recreational fishing data were excluded from human disturbance layer, as they are mostly reported per country and would have resulted in overestimation of the actual pressure.

This dataset contains data used for assessing the HELCOM core indicator Nutritional status of seals 2018. The data has been collated by indicator leads based on national monitoring data. For this dataset, the data is aggregated and summarized by ICES Subdivisions. Attribute information: "Major_FA": FAO Major Area "SubArea": FAO Subarea "Division": ICES division "SubDivisio": ICES sub-division "Unit" "Area_full" "Area_27" "Area_km2": Area of ICES sub-division "ICES_SD": ICES sub-division "Female": Number of females per ICES sub-division "Male": Number of males per ICES sub-division "F1_year_ol": Number of 1 year old individuals per ICES sub-division "F2_year_ol": Number of 2 year old individuals per ICES sub-division "F3_year_ol": Number of 3 year old individuals per ICES sub-division "n_hunted": Number of hunted individuals per ICES sub-division "n_by_caught": Number of by caught individuals per ICES sub-division "n_stranded": Number of stranded individuals per ICES sub-division "Length_100": Number of individuals with 100 to 110 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_111": Number of individuals with 111 to 120 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_121": Number of individuals with 121 to 130 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_131": Number of individuals with 131 to 140 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_141": Number of individuals with 141 to 150 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_151": Number of individuals with 151 to 160 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_161": Number of individuals with 161 to 170 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_171": Number of individuals with 171 to 180 cm length per ICES sub-division "Length_mor": Number of individuals with more than 181 cm length per ICES sub-division "Data_sourc": Data provider "Data_origi": Country of the data "Data_restr": Data restriction "Blubber_10": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 10 to 20 mm "Blubber_21": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 21 to 30 mm "Blubber_31": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 31 to 40 mm "Blubber_41": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 41 to 50 mm "Blubber_51": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 51 to 60 mm "Blubber_61": Number of individuals with measured blubber of 61 to 70 mm

The Diatom/Dinoflagellate index (Dia/Dino index) reflects the dominance patterns in the phytoplankton spring bloom. It has high relevance for the pathway of the food into the pelagic or benthic food web. In principle, the indicator is applicable in all coastal and open sea assessment units, except lagoons, large river plumes and the Bothnian Bay; however, thresholds for the good status are defined only for the southern and central Baltic Sea up to now. The indicator is not yet agreed as a HELCOM core indicator but is tested in the HOLAS II project for the Eastern Gotland Basin. In this assessment unit, the average Dia/Dino index of the years 2011-2016 was just below the threshold value of 0.5 for good status. The confidence of the indicator evaluation depends on the data frequency. The data have to represent the diatom and dinoflagellate blooms adequately. If the diatom bloom is not sufficiently represented in the data, an alternative Dia/Dino index may be applied, based on silicate consumption data. This indicator is robust; its calculation is simple and traceable. The phytoplankton monitoring is operational in the whole Baltic Sea using methods prescribed in the COMBINE manual. Currently, a high quality of the data is assured by the experts of the HELCOM Phytoplankton Expert Group (PEG). The basic data are phytoplankton biomass data, determined as explained in the HELCOM COMBINE manual, originating from the depth of 0 – 10 m. Also silicate data were used that were taken parallel to the phytoplankton sampling. Diatom-dinoflagellate ratio dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 2 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Area (km2)" = Area of the HELCOM assessment unit "Name" = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Threshold value" = Threshold value of indicator "Unit" = Unit of the indicator "Indicator value" = Result of the indicator "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

This dataset represents the Integrated biodiversity status assessment for harbour seals. Status is shown in five categories based on the integrated assessment scores obtained in the tool. Biological quality ratios (BQR) above 0.6 correspond to good status. The assessment is based on the one-out-all-out approach, i.e. the indicator reflecting the worst status in each assessment unit. The status of the harbour seals was assessed using two core indicators: - Population trends and abundance of seals - Distribution of Baltic seals. This dataset displays the result of the integrated biodiversity status in HELCOM Assessment unit Scale 2 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "level_2 = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Area_km2" = Area of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "EcosystemC" = Ecosystem component analyzed "BQR" = Biological Quality Ratio "Conf" = Confidence Total_indi" = Number of indicators used "D1CX" = MSFD descriptor 1 criteria X "conf_D1CX" = Confidence of MSFD descriptor criteria X "STATUS" = Status of assessment (0-0.2 = not good (lowest score), 0.2-0.4 = not good (lower score), 0.4-0.6 = not good (low score), 0.6-0.8 = good (high score, 0.8-1.0 = good (highest score))

This core indicator evaluates the status of abundance of wintering waterbirds in the Baltic Sea region, here visualized for grazing feeders. The wintering waterbirds are considered to reflect good status when at least 75% of the considered species deviate less than 30% downwards (species laying more than one egg per year) or 20% downwards (species laying one egg per year) from the baseline condition during the reference period 1991-2000. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 3 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and offshore areas). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "country" = Country "Group area" = Name of the group area "level_2" = Name of scale 2 HELCOM assessment unit (subbasin) "level_3" = Name of scale 3 HELCOM assessment unit "Area (km2)" = Area of HELCOM assessment unit "coastal" = HELCOM ID of the coastal areas "open_sea" = Open sea assessment unit name "Abundance" = Assessed parameter "Threshold" = Threshold value "Wading feeders" = Results for the category "Wading feeders status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Surface feeders" = Results for the category "Surface feeders status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Pelagic feeders" = Results for the category "Pelagic feeders status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Benthic feeders" = Results for the category "Benthic feeders status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Grazing feeders" = Results for the category "Grazing feeders status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

This dataset contains datasets for the Eutrophication assessment developed under the HELCOM Third Holistic Assessment of the Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS 3). The dataset contains all Baltic Sea monitoring bottle data reported by HELCOM Contracting Parties to ICES for the HOLAS3 assessment period 2016-2021. The data have been reported using the ICES Ocean reporting format: https://www.ices.dk/data/data-portals/Pages/ocean-format.aspx https://www.ices.dk/data/Documents/ocean/ICES-Oceanography-Data-Submission-Format.zip

This dataset represents the integrated assessment of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea in 2011-2016, assessed using the CHASE tool (https://github.com/helcomsecretariat/CHASE-integration-tool). The integration is based on hazardous substances core indicators covering concentrations of hazardous substances. This dataset displays the result of the assessment in HELCOM Assessment unit Level 3 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and offshore areas). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "country" = Country/ opensea "level_3" = Name of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "area_km2 = Area of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "AULEVEL" = Scale of the assessment units "coastal" = Code of scale 3 HELCOM assessment unit "Input" = Contamination ratio of the assessment unit (Higher score indicates higher contamination) "Confidence" = Confidence of the assessment (Low/ Moderate/ High/ Not assessed) "Status" = Status value for the assessment (= 1.0: Low contamination score, > 1.0: High contaminantion score)