The Baltic is the largest brackish water system in the world. Its only connection to more open seas are the shallow sounds between Sweden and Denmark. x01x02 The sea is slowly shrinking because of geological uplifting of land after the last glaciation. x01x02 In many respects the Baltic is...

Nearly 87 % of the Black Sea is entirely anoxic (without oxygen) and contains high levels of hydrogen sulphide. This is the result of past geological events, its shape and its specific water balance (high degree of isolation from the world ocean, deep water depression with a maximum depth of 2...

The Arctic Ocean covers a large area with harsh climatic conditions. x01x02 There are strong seasonal and geographical variations in light, temperature and ice cover. x01x02 The European part of the Arctic Ocean covers only about 8 % of the total area of the Arctic Ocean, but due to its great...

The North Sea is a shallow and rather young ecosystem formed by the flooding of a landmass some 20 000 years ago. Its coasts and waters are still being colonised by new species from the Atlantic. The strong coupling between benthic and pelagic communities in the shallow parts of the sea makes it...

The Caspian is the largest enclosed sea in the world. It is brackish, with salinity up to 13.7 u0089. Significant changes in water levels occur. These, combined with the presence of large shallow areas, constitute a potential threat to biodiversity and especially to the many endemic species. The...

The North-east Atlantic Ocean is a part of the Atlantic Ocean and is dominated by deep ocean basins, except the Celtic Sea, the shelf along the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast. The formation of the North Atlantic deep water is one of the driving forces for the thermohaline circulation of the...

The development of coastal indicators by EEA in the period 1998-2001 is described in this report, the first of three volumes. It explains the process and results of a study of potential state and pressure indicators for eutrophication. The report also describes the development of, and...

This report provides an assessment of trends in concentrations of six hazardous substances in mussels and fish in Europe's seas since 1985. The trends are linked to reduction measures, foodstuff limit values and trends in inputs to coastal and marine waters. The results are presented in a series...

As a part of the work programme of the European Environment Agency (EEA), the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) has compiled a first version of a European marine database 'Marinebase'. This database on water quality parameters covers aggregated data related to eutrophication...

Eutrophication is the enhanced primary production of marine algae due to excessive supply of nutrients from human activities, independent of the natural productivity level of the sea area in question. The main objectives of this report are to evaluate the causes, state and development of...