Official W : http://capsulaexpeditions.com/
Applications : www.capsula.org.es
Conditions : http://00capsula00.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/open-call-for-projects-expedition-to-the-baltic-sea/
Applications : www.capsula.org.es
Conditions : http://00capsula00.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/open-call-for-projects-expedition-to-the-baltic-sea/
The Curated Expedition to the Baltic Sea invites artists to contemplate the natural phenomena and their own relationship with the changing sea. Researchers and other cultural agents are encouraged to join the expeditions, straddling the borderline between art and science.
Artists who live in Finland or Estonia, irrespective of their nationality, can take part in this open call. Also Finnish and Estonian artists living abroad may participate.
The project is intended to spur new works of art and inspire the public to take part in different creative processes. Artists decide, whether the general state of the sea is the phenomenon studied, or one of it´s numerous and singular phenomena and ecosystems will be under their exploration.
One of the key aspects of the marine expeditions is to travel slow, using methods of transport that only moderately burden the environment. A canoe, a hot air balloon, a jolly-boat, a marine research vessel or a rowboat are just some possible means of seafaring, used by artistic sea explorers.
Project proposals will be accepted until 21 December 2009. The project will be part of Turku’s programme for the European Capital of Culture year in 2011. Capsula and Bioart Society Finland are responsible for the project.
More information and the instructions for the application:
More information about the 1st Curated Expedition to the Total Solar Eclipse:http://capsulaexpeditions.com
>> So, shall we do it?
>> Are we going to be ready on time?
>> So, shall we do it?
>> Are we going to be ready on time?
An interesting article about fisheries in the Baltic sea.
Great article about the Baltic sea and its actual condition (below).
http://www.helcom.fi/environment2/nature/en_GB/nature/
The Baltic Sea is a small sea on a global scale, but as one of the world's largest bodies of brackish water it is ecologically unique. Due to its special geographical, climatological, and oceanographic characteristics, the Baltic Sea is highly sensitive to the environmental impacts of human activities in its sea area or in its catchment area, which is home to over 85 million people.
The Baltic Sea is a small sea on a global scale, but as one of the world's largest bodies of brackish water it is ecologically unique. Due to its special geographical, climatological, and oceanographic characteristics, the Baltic Sea is highly sensitive to the environmental impacts of human activities in its sea area or in its catchment area, which is home to over 85 million people.
What makes the Baltic so sensitive?
An almost enclosed sea
The Baltic Sea is only connected to the world’s oceans by the narrow and shallow waters of the Sound and the Belt Sea. This limits the exchange of water with the North Sea, and means that the same water remains in the Baltic for up to 30 years – along with all the organic and inorganic matter it contains.
The Baltic Sea consists of a series of sub-basins, which are mostly separated by shallow sills. These basins each have their own water exchange characteristics.
Runoff enters the shallow Baltic Sea from a large catchment area
At an average depth of just 53 metres, the Baltic Sea is much shallower than most of the world’s seas. It contains 21,547 km³ of water and every year rivers bring about 2% of this volume of water into the sea as runoff. The Baltic Sea’s catchment area is almost four times larger than the sea itself.
Brackish water
The brackish water of the Baltic Sea is a mixture of sea water from the North Sea and fresh water from rivers and rainfall. Thesalinity of its surface waters varies from around 20 psu (≈parts per thousand) in the Kattegat to 1–2 psu in the northernmost Bothnian Bay and the easternmost Gulf of Finland, compared to 35 psu in the open oceans.
A stratified sea
Salinity levels also vary with depth, increasing from the surface down to the seafloor. Saltier water flowing in through the Sound and the Belt Sea does not mix easily with the less dense water already in the Baltic, and tends to sink down into deeper basins. At the same time, the less saline surface water flows out of the Baltic. The boundary between these two water masses, known as thehalocline, consists of a layer of water where salinity levels change rapidly. In the Baltic Proper and Gulf of Finland, for instance, the halocline lies at a depth of around 60–80 m. Like a lid, the halocline limits the vertical mixing of water. This means that the oxygen content of the deep basins may decline due to biological and chemical oxygen consumption. The Baltic Proper is replenished by oxygen-rich saltwater flowing in from the North Sea along the sea floor.
The Gulf of Bothnia, separated by a shallow sill from the Baltic proper, has low bottom water salinity and, hence, a very weak or absent halocline. In summer a thermocline – a distinct layer of water where the temperature changes rapidly – divides surface waters into two layers: a wind-mixed surface layer down to a depth of 10–25 m, and a deeper, denser and colder layer extending down to the sea-bed or the halocline. Such temperature stratification ends as surface waters cool in the autumn.
Limited biodiversity
Compared to other aquatic ecosystems, only relatively few animal and plant species live in the brackish ecosystems of the Baltic Sea – although this limited biodiversity does include a unique mix of marine and freshwater species adapted to the brackish conditions, as well as a few true brackishwater species. Where salinity levels are low, in the Baltic’s northern and eastern waters, fewer marine species can thrive, and marine habitats are dominated by freshwater species, especially in estuaries and coastal waters.
Figure 1. Specific features and processes which make the Baltic Sea sensitive (green - natural characteristics, white - human impacts, yellow - harmful effects)
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