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.

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 data set on deposition sites of dredged material (points) reported by HELCOM Contracting parties according to http://www.helcom.fi/Recommendations/Rec%2036-2.pdf for the reporting period 2011-2016. The dataset contains data reported by nationally by nominated experts by HELCOM PRESSURE group for Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

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.

The dataset represents the radioactive discharges from nuclear facilities in the Baltic Sea area. Data includes isotopes CS137, CO60 and SR90 Aquatic discharges in 2016-2021 with decay corrections. Attribute specification and units SITECODE: Code of the site SITENAME: Name of the site COUNTRY: country in which the site is located CO_2016 - 2020: isotope CO60 discharge during the reporting period SR_2016 - 2020: isotope SR90 discharge during the reporting period CS_2016 - 2020: isotope CS137 discharge during the reporting period CO_avg: average of isotope CO60 for the period CS_avg: average of isotope CS137 for the period SR_avg: average of isotope SR90 for the period

Input of heat pressure dataset contains delta heat values from warm water discharge of - Discharge of warm water from nuclear power plants - Fossil fuel energy production. Discharge of warm water from nuclear power plants (2016-2021): 1 km buffer with steep decrease around outlet (Type D decline), composed of 4 rings [1]. Average input of heat load (Twh) of discharge of warm water from the nuclear power plant outlets. No data on heat load was available for the Leningrad nuclear power plant; therefore, the average heat load of discharge of warm water from nuclear power plants was given. Fossil fuel energy production (only location available): 1 km buffer with steep decrease around outlet (Type D decline), composed of 6 rings[12]. Heat load 1 (TWh) was given to all production sites, based on the average heat load of an individual production site in Helsinki. Heat load from both layers were summed and the layer was normalized. [1] Extent based on Ilus et al. 1986.

The layer depicts the pressure of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea, based on the data from the HOLAS 3 integrated hazardous substances assessment. The methodology utilizes the integrated status values available for each HELCOM assessment unit on level 3. The results are based on multiple hazardous substances groups integration, done through the CHASE tool. The integrated assessment assess the hazardous substances status in biota, water and sediment, and final result in based on the worst status. As the SPIA is carried out using a 1x1km grid and the Integrated hazardous substances is assessed on vector-based HELCOM assessment units, the vector data is rasterized. First, the vector data is rasterized to 100x100m resolution, and thereafter it is aggregated to 10x10km grid using a mean value. A 10 km grid is used in order to make the gradients between assessment units slightly smoother and finally values are converted to 1x1 km resolution. Please see "lineage" section below for further details.

The pressure oil slicks and spills is combination of following datasets: • Illegal oil discharges • Polluting ship accidents Illegal oil discharge data is based on airborne surveillance with remote sensing equipment in the Baltic Sea Area. The area of the detected spills in 2011–2016 was used to represent the pressure. The value of spills under 1km2 were directly given to grid cell, spills over 1km2 were buffered based on estimate spill area. For polluting ship accidents the reported oil spill volumes (m3) in years 2011-2015 were used for the pressure. Some polluting ship accidents spills were missing spilled oil volume, thus a mean of reported volumes was given to accidents with missing oil volume. Datasets were handled separately. Both layers were normalized, summed and normalized again to produce the “oil slicks and spills” pressure layer. Please see below for further details.