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

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 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 core indicator evaluates the status of abundance of breeding waterbirds in the Baltic Sea region. The breeding 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 1 (Whole Baltic Sea). Attribute information: "Status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator "level_1" = Name of HELCOM scale 1 assessment unit "Common Shelduck" = Results for common shelduck "Eurasian Oystercatcher" = Results for Eurasian oystercatcher "Pied Avocet" = Results for pied avocet "Ringed Plover" = Results for ringed plover "Turnstone" = Results for turnstone "Dunlin" = Results for dunlin "Arctic Skua" = Results for Arctic skua "Common Gull" = Results for common gull "Herrin Gull" = Results for herring gull "Lesser black-backed gull" = Results for lesser black-backed gull "Little Tern" = Results for little tern "Caspian Tern" = Results for Caspian tern "Arctic Tern" = Results for Arctic tern "Goosander" = Results for goosander "Red-breasted Merganser" = Results for red-breasted merganser "Great crested grebe" = Results for great crested grebe "Great Cormorant" = Results for great cormorant "Razorbill" = Results for razorbill "Common Guillemot" = Results for common guillemot "Black Guillemot" = Results for black guillemot "Tufted Duck" = Results for tufted duck "Common Eider" = Results for common eider "Velvet Scoter" = Results for velvet scoter "Mute Swan" = Results for mute swan "Graylag Goose" = Results for greylag goose "Great black-backed Gull" = Results for great black-backed gull "Sandwich Tern" = Results for sandwich tern "Greater Scaup" = Results for greater scaup

This dataset represents the underlying data on core indicator 'Reproductive disorders: malformed embryos of amphipods 2018'. The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on the presence of hazardous substances in the bottom sediments. The rate of embryo malformations indicates reproductive toxicity due to the presence of hazardous substances in the bottom sediments. The threshold value has not been achieved on all stations within each basin indicating that toxic effects of contaminants may be present. The variability of the malformation rate is much greater within a basin than between the Bothnian Sea and the Baltic proper. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 2 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins). Attribute information: "YEAR" = Year of sampling "Basin" = Subbasin abbreviation "REGION" = Region code within the Baltic Sea "STATN" = Station "Lat_WGS84d" = latitude coordinate of station "Lon_WGS84d" = longitude coordinate of station "TotalEmbry" = Total embryos "UNDIFFiren" = Undifferentiated "MALFORmed" = Malformed "MEMBraneDa" = Membrane damage "FemalesWME" = Females with malformed embryos "NofFemales" = Number of Females "AveFecundi" = Average Fecundity "STN" = "FFemWAE" = Frequency Females with aberrated embryos "FreqAberrE" = Frequency Aberrant Embryos "inGES_Fem" = inGES (Females) "inGES_Emb" = inGES (Embryos) "inGES_Over" = inGES (overall)

This indicator evaluates the eutrophication status of the Baltic Sea area based on water clarity measured by secchi depth during summer. The measured average secchi depth (in meters) is based on in-situ measurements from oceanographic monitoring data for 2011-2016 summer months (June-September). More detailed description on methodology can be found at http://www.helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/indicators/water-clarity and http://www.helcom.fi/Documents/Eutrophication%20assessment%20manual.pdf This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 open sea sub-basins and division of coastal areas to WFD water types or water bodies). The open sea areas have been assessed based on HELCOM Monitoring data and results for coastal areas are based on national WFD results. Attribute information: “HELCOM_ID” = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "Country" = Country/ opensea "level_2" = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Name" = Name of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit” "Area (km2)" = Area of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Method" = Name of method use to define indicator “Season” = Season of the indicator (Summer = June-September) “Period” = Assessment unit period (20112016 = 2011 – 2016) "Indicator value (ES)" = Indicator value calculated for the assessment unit "Standard deviation (STD)" = Standard deviation of data used for calculating ES "Number of samples " = Number of samples "Thershold value (ET)" = Commonly agreed thershold value "Ratio between ES and ET (ER)" = Ratio between ES and ET (in case of indicator with positive response to eutrophication) "ES_SCORE” = Confidence based on the data used for calculating ES "ET_SCORE” = Confidence of target-setting procedure "I_SCORE” = Confidence (%) = average of ES-Score and ET-Score "Indicator Weight" = Indicator Weight in integrated eutrophication assessment “Status” = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail”, “Not assessed” or "Not applicable") “Confidence” = Confidence of result based on I-SCORE (“High”, “Moderate” or “Low”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

This core indicator evaluates the status of abundance of wintering waterbirds in the Baltic Sea region, here visulized for surface 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 represents the underlying biota data on core indicator Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD). The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) in Baltic Sea fish. Quantitative threshold values are used to evaluate if core indicators status is Achieve, Fail or Not assessed. The threshold value is an environmental quality standard (EQS), derived at EU level as a substance included on the priority list under Directive 2008/105/EC. 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/ opensea "station" = Unique code for the station "stationNam" = name for the station "determinan" = determinant parameter "detGroup" = the grouping of determinants used to display the results "species" = species of measurment "_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 "HQS" = Threshold value "HQSdiff" = difference between clLY and HQS "HQSbelow" = whether the mean value in the last monitoring year is significantly below HQS

This dataset represents the underlying sediment data on core indicator Heavy metals – Cadmium. The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of heavy metal cadmium (Cd) in seawater, mussels and sediments. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate if core indicators status is Achieve, Fail or Not assessed. Threshold values are based on Environmental quality standards (EQS), defined at EU level for substances included in the priority list under the Water Framework Directive. Attribute information: "region" = name of subbasin "country" = country "station" = Unique code for the station "stationNam" = name for the station "determinan" = determinant parameter (CD = Cadmium) "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 dataset represents the underlying data on core indicator Abundance of waterbirds in the wintering season 2018. Attribute information: "SITECODE_n" =unique site code "YEAR" = year of the observation "SPECIES" = species observed "ABUNDANCE" = Abundance "Country" = Country code "COORD_ X": longitude coordinate of site "COORD_Y": latitude coordinate of station "SITECODE": unique site code with country code