Guest Editorial

Excerpt

Climate change is a big challenge, not only for society but also for science itself. The modelling communities of atmospheric scientists, doing regional climate models, and biologists, building biogeochemical and ecosystem models, have for long lived in different worlds. But the research on climate change and its effects on the environment have forced the two communities to learn from each other and work closer together. In the Baltic Sea region, the conditions for a fruitful marriage are very good. Here, both communities are very mature and competent with a world-wide reputation in their respective fields. Moreover, the Baltic Sea is well suited for a joint modelling effort, as it is among the most intensely investigated seas in the world with a good data coverage going back to the early days of instrumental measurements. In many characteristics it can be regarded as a mini-version of the large ocean although the Baltic Sea is particularly vulnerable towards pollution and eutrophication. This Special Issue of AMBIO presents selected results from the BONUS¹ project ECOSUPPORT, an ambitious attempt for an integration of the two modelling worlds. …