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.

Pressure layer combines all human activities that cause changes to hydrological conditions. The human activities were presented as point data which were given spatial extents (given below). The pressure value was given as the proportion of the grid cell under the pressure. The following human activities were combined into the changes to hydrological conditions layer; - Hydropower dams (a 1km2 grid cell in the river estuary was selected) - Water course modification (1 km) - Wind turbines (operational, 0.3 km, linear decline) - Oil platforms (0.5 km, linear decline) The human activity datasets were first processed separately covering the whole Baltic Sea and then summed together and overlapping areas were dissolved to remove double counting. Attenuation gradients are assigned to each layer as described above. Area effected decreases when distance from avtivity increases. Layer was normalized.

This dataset reflects spatial distribution of nutrients load and load of selected hazardous substances on the Baltic Sea from land based sources. The data, obtained through national monitoring programmes in 2014, were reported by Contracting Parties to HELCOM in the frame of HELCOM PLC-6 project and collected in the HELCOM Pollution Load Compilation (PLC-water) database (http://apps.nest.su.se/helcom_plus/). The reporting was organized in accordance with the HELCOM Guidelines for the annual and periodical compilation and reporting of waterborne pollution inputs to the Baltic Sea (PLC-Water, http://www.helcom.fi/Lists/Publications/PLC-Water%20Guidelines.pdf). The dataset has been produced based on guidance by HELCOM PRESSURE and REDCORE Drafting Group. The dataset contains following attributes: Unique code: unique code of the source Name: source name Country: country in the BS catchment area PLC sub-basin: Baltic Sea PLC sub-basin Total annual Cd discharge: total annual discharge of Cadmium Report_data_Cd: reported data of cadmium Total annual Hg discharge: total annual discharge of Mercury Report_data_Hg: reported data of mercury Total annual Pb discharge: total annual discharge of Lead Report_data_Pb: reported data of lead Source: source of the input

This dataset reflects spatial distribution of nutrients load and load of selected hazardous substances on the Baltic Sea from land based sources. The data, obtained through national monitoring programmes in 2014, were reported by Contracting Parties to HELCOM in the frame of HELCOM PLC-6 project and collected in the HELCOM Pollution Load Compilation (PLC-water) database (http://apps.nest.su.se/helcom_plus/). The reporting was organized in accordance with the HELCOM Guidelines for the annual and periodical compilation and reporting of waterborne pollution inputs to the Baltic Sea (PLC-Water, http://www.helcom.fi/Lists/Publications/PLC-Water%20Guidelines.pdf). The dataset has been produced based on guidance by HELCOM PRESSURE and REDCORE Drafting Group. The dataset contains following attributes: Unique code: unique code of the municipal direct sources Name of WWTP: name of the municipal WWTP Country: country in the BS catchment area PLC sub-basin: Baltic Sea PLC sub-basin Water flow: water flow Total annual N load: Total annual N load Total annual P load: Total annual P load

HOLAS II data set on Nuclear power plants discharge water outlets (name, delta temperature of water discharge, heat load) for 2011-2015. The coverage of the data set is full, except for the Leningrad power plant the data is not available.

This layer is based on data from the BIAS project representing ambient underwater noise, modelled into a 0.5 km x 0.5 km grid, and representing sound pressure levels at 1/3 octave bands of 125 Hz exceeded at least 5% of the time. Measured and modelled acoustic data is provided as Sound Pressure Level (SPL). The time period for the data is annual values for year 2014. The selected depth interval is 0 m – bottom to represent the ambient underwater noise in the whole water column. The data were normalized setting level 0 at 92 db re 1µPa and level 1 at 127 db re 1µPa.

This dataset reflects spatial distribution of nutrients load and load of selected hazardous substances on the Baltic Sea from land based sources. The data, obtained through national monitoring programmes in 2014, were reported by Contracting Parties to HELCOM in the frame of HELCOM PLC-6 project and collected in the HELCOM Pollution Load Compilation (PLC-water) database (http://apps.nest.su.se/helcom_plus/). The reporting was organized in accordance with the HELCOM Guidelines for the annual and periodical compilation and reporting of waterborne pollution inputs to the Baltic Sea (PLC-Water, http://www.helcom.fi/Lists/Publications/PLC-Water%20Guidelines.pdf). The dataset has been produced based on guidance by HELCOM PRESSURE and REDCORE Drafting Group. The dataset contains following attributes: Unique code: unique code of the source Name: source name Country: country in the BS catchment area PLC sub-basin: Baltic Sea PLC sub-basin Total annual Cd discharge: total annual discharge of Cadmium Report_data_Cd: reported data of cadmium Total annual Hg discharge: total annual discharge of Mercury Report_data_Hg: reported data of mercury Total annual Pb discharge: total annual discharge of Lead Report_data_Pb: reported data of lead Source: source of the input

This dataset reflects spatial distribution of nutrients load and load of selected hazardous substances on the Baltic Sea from land based sources. The data, obtained through national monitoring programmes in 2014, were reported by Contracting Parties to HELCOM in the frame of HELCOM PLC-6 project and collected in the HELCOM Pollution Load Compilation (PLC-water) database (http://apps.nest.su.se/helcom_plus/). The reporting was organized in accordance with the HELCOM Guidelines for the annual and periodical compilation and reporting of waterborne pollution inputs to the Baltic Sea (PLC-Water, http://www.helcom.fi/Lists/Publications/PLC-Water%20Guidelines.pdf). The dataset has been produced based on guidance by HELCOM PRESSURE and REDCORE Drafting Group. The dataset contains following attributes: Station code: unique code of the monitoring station Station name: station name Latitude: latitude Longitude: longitude

This dataset is built from following Human activities datasets: • http://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/81c917ea-492d-48e2-9f00-e1bb7fe3e4fc • http://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4fcd51dd-b8be-4e83-8cad-37c566782e8f The game hunting of seabirds data (see separate metadata): The total number of hunted seabirds were averaged over 2011-2015 (number of hunted seabirds / year). The area of the reporting unit was used to calculate the number of hunted seabirds / km2 and the data was converted to 1km x 1km grid. The predator control of seabirds data (see separate metadata): The total number of hunted cormorants were averaged over 2011-2015 (number of hunted cormorants / year). The area of the reporting unit was used to calculate the number of hunted cormorants / km2 and the data was converted to 1km x 1km grid. The two datasets were first separately log transformed and then summed, to get the total value for each grid cell. Zero values were given to all grid cells with no reported seabird hunting activity. The layer was normalized.

Input of hazardous substances pressure layer is interpolated from CHASE Assessment tool concentration component. The contamination ratio values were calculated with CHASE Assessment tool for hazardous substances monitored in water, sediment and biota. Classified mean contamination ratio was used in the interpolation. Classification is based on the http://stateofthebalticsea.helcom.fi/about-helcom-and-the-assessment/downloads-and-data/. The points were interpolated to cover the entire Baltic Sea with Spline with barriers interpolation method. Please see "lineage" section below for further details on attributes, data source, data processing, etc.