She et al. 
Operational Oceanography and Earth System Science 
Frontiers in Earth Science | www.frontiersin.org 
12 
February 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 7 
should be developed for the corresponding scales with 
high predictability. 
- From physical ocean to ocean system and Earth system: 
o End-to-end Earth system modeling: BOOS and Baltic 
Earth partners from weather and climate, environmental 
and fishery institutes should work together to jointly 
develop end-to-end Baltic Earth system modeling 
framework, including human pressure models, 
atmospheric models, physical and biogeochemical 
ocean models, higher trophic level food-web models 
and socioeconomic models. Such modeling framework 
can be used both at basin and national levels to 
support ecosystem-based management and climate 
change adaptation. 
o Data integration: Multi-disciplinary observations, 
ranging from air, water, seabed and human activity, 
should be collected and disseminated centrally to serve 
multiple operational and research purposes. Currently, 
BOOS and Baltic Earth are working independently 
for their own purposes in this area. Hence, it is 
recommended that a common data infrastructure for 
both research and operational observations should 
be established. 
o Extending forecast from physical ocean to marine 
ecosystem and to the entire Earth system: operational 
(coupled) Earth system model should be developed 
for the Baltic Sea, considering the interactions 
between atmosphere-ocean-wave-sea ice-marine 
biogeochemistry-land surface systems. 
- Between local and basin scales: 
o Stakeholders concern in many cases local applications in 
relation to climate change, e.g., in the coastal-estuary- 
catchment continuum. Basin-scale model systems are 
too coarse for these applications. BOOS partners have 
REFERENCES 
Asmala, E., Carstensen, J., Conley, D. J., Slomp, С. P., Stadmark, J., and 
Voss, M. (2017). Efficiency of the coastal filter: nitrogen and phosphorus 
removal in the Baltic Sea. Limnol. Oceanogr. 62, S222-S238. doi: 10.1002/lno. 
10644 
Axell, L. (2013). BSRA-15: A Baltic Sea Reanalysis 1990-2004. Reports 
Oceanography, 45. Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 
Norrkoping, Sweden. 
Axell, L., and Liu, Y. (2016). Application of 3-D ensemble variational 
data assimilation to a Baltic Sea reanalysis 1989-2013. Tellus A 68:1. 
doi: 10.3402/tellusa.v68.24220 
BACC Author Team (2008). Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin. 
Regional Climate Studies. Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. 
BACC II Author Team (2015). Second Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic 
Sea Basin. Cham: Springer. 
Bahurel, P., Adragna, F., Bell, M. J., Jacq, F., Johannessen, J. A., Le Traon, 
P.-Y., et al. (2010). “Ocean Monitoring and Forecasting Core Services, the 
European MyOcean Example,” in Proceedings of OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean 
Observations and Information for Society, eds J. Hall, D. E. Harrison, and D. 
Stammer (Venice: ESA Publication WPP-306), doi: 10.5270/0cean0bs09.pp.02 
developed very high resolution operational models to 
address local challenges such as storm surges, coastal 
flooding and eutrophication. However, these local model 
systems are mainly applied for short time scales. Hence, 
also for climate applications high-resolution coastal zone 
models two-way nested into basin-wide Earth system 
models should be developed. 
2. Optimizing research instruments and products: 
- Monitoring network: The Baltic Sea monitoring network, 
including operational, environmental, fishery, and research 
should be harmonized and optimized through fit-for- 
purpose assessment, breaking institutional barriers and 
cost-effective sampling design. Especially, requirements 
and current gaps for observations for operational Earth 
system prediction and long-term Earth system study should 
be identified. 
- Modeling platforms: Standards for the next generation of 
Baltic Earth system models should be defined; common 
technical challenges for both operational, and climate 
models should be identified. Joint forces can be made 
for improving especially high performance computational 
efficiency, grid flexibility, and model coupling interfaces for 
targeted model systems. 
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS 
All authors contributed in writing, with JS as lead author and 
main author on operational oceanography, HM as main author 
on Baltic Earth and VH as main author on BAL MFC. 
FUNDING 
Funds for supporting this publication is from Danish 
Meteorological Institute. 
Baltic Earth Science Plan Writing Team (2017). Baltic Earth Science Plan 2017. 
International Baltic Earth Secretariat Publication No. 11, February 2017. 
Baschek, B., Schroeder, F., Brix, H., Riethmüller, R., Badewien, T. H., 
Breitbach, et al. (2017). The coastal observing system for northern 
and arctic seas (COSYNA). Ocean Sei. 13, 379-410. doi: 10.5194/os-13- 
379-2017 
Berg, P., and Poulsen, J. W. (2012). Implementation Details for HBM. DMI 
Technical Report No. 12-11 (Copenhagen), 149. Available online at: www.dmi. 
dk/fileadmin/Rapporter/TR/trl2-1 l.pdf. 
Bergen, B., Naumann, M., Herlemann, D. P. R., Gräwe, U., Labrenz, M., and 
Jürgens, K. (2018). Impact of a Major inflow event on the composition and 
distribution of bacterioplankton communities in the Baltic Sea. Front. Mar. Sei. 
5:383. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00383 
Börgel, F., Frauen, C, Neumann, T., Schimanke, S., and Meier, H. E. M. (2018). 
Impact of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on Baltic Sea Variability. 
Geophys. Res. Lett. 45, 9880-9888. doi: 10.1029/2018GL078943 
Buch, E., and Dahlin, H. (2000). BOOS Plan. Baltic Operational Oceanographic 
System 1999-2003. EuroGOOS Publications nr, 14. 
Buch, E., Elken, J., Gajewski, J., Haakansson, B., Kahma, K., and Soetje, K. 
(2006). “Baltic Operational Oceanographic System BOOS,” in 2006 IEEE 
US/EU Baltic International Symposium on Integrated Ocean Observation