The following thesis deals with two primary matters. The first being the effort of Estonian politicians to change how Estonia's regional belonging is viewed by other countries before the admission into the European Union. These efforts can be illustrated by political actions whose aim was to create the image of Estonia as a Nordic country. These efforts slightly diminished after the admission into the European Union although on some levels they can be still observed. Despite close cooperation Estonia isn't adequate member of Nordic countries to this day. This thesis aspires to explain reasons for these action of Estonian politicians and why they were left off after the admission into EU. The second matter being the region of Nordic countries. Collective Nordic identity helped establish transnational cooperation among involved nations which represents one of the essential characteristics of a Nordic country. The emphasis is on historical context of Nordic identity and the development of Nordic cooperation from its initiation until current state. First the thesis introduces a theoretical insight into the region matters. Consequently it deals with the first matter, the efforts to redefine Estonia as a Nordic country, which is followed by analysis of the concept of a Nordic country and Nordic...

The Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has increased dramatically since the start of the industrialisation. The effects that the increase of CO2 has on the future climate are still not fully investigated. CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to the, for all life on earth, necessary greenhouse effect. It is confirmed that higher CO2 concentration in the atmosphere increases the green house effect, which results in higher temperature. The main source to the increase of CO2 is burning of fossil fuels. The change in land use is also a contribution to the increase of the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The largest sinks of CO2 are organic consumption and oceanic uptake. The organic consumption of CO2 varies a lot at higher latitudes due to the difference in vegetation between the seasons. During the warmer seasons the consumption of CO2 is large and during the winters the consumptions of CO2 is practically zero. The ocean uptake of CO2 varies also a lot during the year because the CO2 dissolves more easily in cold water. The purpose of this study is to analyse CO2 concentration and air-sea fluxes of CO2 measured at Östergarnsholm, a small flat island east of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, and compare the results to previous studies. The CO2 concentration data was collected between 1997 – 1999 and 2001 – 2003. The CO2 flux data was collected between 2001 and 2003. The analysis of the CO2 concentration showed that for the period 1997 to 1999, the CO2 concentration at Östergarnsholm was lower than for the reference series from a Polish site in the Baltic Sea. A correction was made by adding 27 ppm to the Östergarnsholm series. The annual fluctuations of CO2 concentration at Östergarnsholm are significant (about 40 ppm). During the summer 1998, the expected decrease was not as large as it should be because of the El Niño outbreak 97/98 and the locally cold and rainy summer. The direct measured CO2 fluxes were corrected with the well known Webb correction before they were analysed. The CO2 fluxes are wind dependant – higher wind speed give higher CO2 flux. The CO2 fluxes are also dependant of the difference in partial pressure between the air and the water. Parameterised CO2fluxes were calculated and compared to the direct measured CO2 fluxes. The parameterisations use a quadratic as well as a cubic wind dependency. To calculate the parameterised CO2 fluxes, a fixed value of the difference in partial pressure between the air and the water was used because the CO2 in the water was not measured. The parameterised CO2 fluxes wind dependency agreed with the direct measured CO2 fluxes. / Koldioxid(CO2)-koncentrationen i atmosfären har ökat stadigt sen början av industrialiseringen. Effekten som de ökade CO2-halterna kommer ha på framtidens klimat är ännu inte helt utrett. CO2 bidrar till den livsviktiga växthuseffekten. Det är en ökning av växthusgaser, bland annat CO2, som leder till en ökning av växthuseffekten. Ökad växthuseffekt leder till högre temperatur på jorden. Den största ökningen av CO2 i atmosfären beror på förbränning av fossila bränslen. Även förändringen i markanvändning leder till ökade halter av CO2. De största sänkorna av CO2 är den organiska konsumtionen av CO2 och havens upptag av CO2. Den organiska konsumtionen av CO2 varierar mycket under året och är som störst under de varmare månaderna. Havens upptag av CO2 varierar också mycket under året eftersom havens förmåga att lösa CO2 beror på vattnets temperatur. Syftet med den här studien är att analysera CO2-koncentrationen och CO2-flödena mellan hav och luft på Östergarnsholm, en liten, låg ö öster om Gotland. Resultaten jämförs med tidigare studier. CO2-koncentrationsdata samlades in mellan 1997 – 1999 och 2001 – 2003. CO2-flödesdata samlades in mellan 2001 och 2003. Analysen av CO2-koncentrationen visar att under perioden 1997 till 1999 är CO2- halterna för låga på Östergarnsholm. En korrektion gjordes genom att lägga till 27 ppm till de uppmätta CO2-halterna. Årsvariationerna av CO2-halterna är mycket tydliga men sommaren 1998 sjunker inte CO2-halten till så låga värden som de borde vara. Att CO2-halterna inte sjönk mer beror dels på El Niño-utbrottet 97/98 och dels på den lokalt kalla och regniga sommaren. De direkt mätta CO2-flödena korrigerades med hjälp av den välkända Webbkorrektionen innan de analyserades. CO2-flödena är beroende av vindhastigheten – högre vindhastighet ger högre CO2-flöden. CO2-flödena beror också på skillnaden i CO2-halt mellan luften och havet. Parameteriserade CO2-flöden beräknades och jämfördes med de direkt mätta CO2-flödena. De parameteriserade CO2-flödena beräknas antingen med kvadratiskt eller kubiskt vindberoende. För att beräkna parameteriserade CO2-flöden användes ett fast värde på skillnaden i CO2-halt mellan luften och vattnet eftersom CO2-halten i vattnet inte mäts. De parameteriserade CO2- flödenas vindberoende stämde överrens med de direkt mätta CO2-flödena.

Eutrophication is one of the greatest threats for the Baltic Sea, and one of its more critical consequences is bottom water hypoxia. Nutrient enrichment and oxygen-depletion affect both the deep central basins and a number of coastal areas, even though strategies for nutrient reduction have lately been implemented. In order to better understand why those threats are expanding and formulate more effective remediation strategies two main achievements are needed: (1) new data on benthic nutrient dynamics should be available in order to develop updated budgets for sensitive Baltic areas; (2) the main transformation processes and their regulation mechanisms (i.e. oxygen availability, presence of macrofauna, different organic loading scenarios) should be better constrained. Paper I was able to demonstrate that re-oxygenation of previously anoxic sediment has a positive effect on the ecosystem because of better retention of nutrients and efficient conversion of fixed nitrogen to nitrogen gas. Sediment colonization by the invasive genus Marenzelleria counteracts some of the positive aspects provided by benthic oxygenation (in particular, nutrient retention, N2 loss). A possible explanation for this reversal can be that Marenzelleria does stimulate anaerobic more that aerobic metabolism. Results from Paper II suggest that at the outermost stations of Himmerfjärden denitrification follows a pronounced seasonal pattern, primarily regulated by bottom water temperatures. At the innermost and impacted site oxygen level in the bottom water varies considerably during the year and causes denitrification/DNRA predominance to be the main nitrate reduction pathway. On an annual scale, the net amount of lost N2 is comparable at the four sampling sites and accounts for 96% of the total DIN discharged from the sewage treatment plant, suggesting that denitrification in the estuarine sediment acts as a major nitrogen sink for external N inputs.

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are man-made chemicals. Their unique properties make them beneficial for a wide range of industrial and consumer applications, such as constituents in fire fighting foams, hydraulic oils and food packaging materials.PFAAs have shown to be highly persistent in the environment, and the toxicological potential of long chain PFAA homologues is of a concern. International regulation and voluntary actions by the industry have been implemented and led to reduced primary emissions of PFAAs to the environment. However, the concentrations of some PFAAs in e.g. birds from the Baltic Sea are still very high and of ecotoxicological concern. Measures to reduce the PFAA contamination require an understanding of the sources and how the PFAAs are being transported in the environment.In this licentiate thesis a mass balance was assembled for perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in the Baltic Sea. A one-box model was used including the input pathways river inflow, atmospheric deposition, wastewater discharges and inflow from the North Sea via the Danish Straits, while the loss processes considered were sediment burial, transformation of the chemicals and outflow to the North Sea via the Danish Straits. Additionally, the inventories of the four target PFAAs in the Baltic Sea were estimated. Both chemical fluxes and inventories were estimated using recently published monitoring data (2005-2010).In order to obtain a detailed perspective on the current knowledge regarding PFAAs in the Baltic Sea, challenges and uncertainties in data selection were discussed for the most dominant input pathways. This included WWTP emissions and calculation of emission factors (EFs), atmospheric deposition and riverine inflow.River inflow and atmospheric deposition were the dominant inputs, while wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents made a minor contribution. The input to the Baltic Sea exceeded the output for all 4 PFAAs, suggesting that inputs were higher during 2005-2010 than during the previous 20 years despite efforts to reduce emissions of PFAAs. Comparing the difference between PFAA input and output with the PFAA inventory, the doubling time for the concentration in the Baltic Sea was estimated to be 8-94 yr for PFHxA, 12-16 yr for PFOA, 3-5 yr for PFDA and 4 yr for PFOS. The surplus of the input can be an effect of retention and delayed release of PFAAs from atmospheric deposition in the soils and groundwater of the watershed.The licentiate thesis contributes to a holistic understanding of the major input and output pathways and inventories of PFAAs in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, it points out current knowledge gaps in our understanding of sources and fate of PFAAs in the aquatic environment. / <p>At the time of the defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript</p>

In the Himmerfjärden Bay a large excess of nitrogen over phosphorus in the discharge from a large sewage treatment plant (STP) has suppressed growth of diazotrophic cyanobacteria in its inner parts. Implementation of nitrogen removal in the STP in 1997 drastically reduced nitrogen load and triggered growth of diazotrophs, mainly Aphanizomenon sp. This study is part of a long-term series of experiments with the overall aim to test how algal biomass and production in a receiving area can be reduced, without stimulating nitrogen fixation and biomass growth by diazotrophic cyanobacteria. Nitrogen removal was discontinued in the STP during two years (2007-8) and resumed in 2009, and the discharge shifted from 25 to 10 m depth, above the seasonal pycnocline. Cellular 15N showed that N2 was the most important N source for diazotrophic cyanobacteria, and that uptake of combined nitrogen was insignificant. As biomass was declining and at the end of the productive season, we could detect a small, but significant, increase in cellular δ15N at the inner bay stations (H3 and H4). However, this coincided with an increased proportion of Anabaena spp. of the total diazotrophic biomass. This may indicate that Anabaena spp. has a higher uptake of combined nitrogen compared with Aphanizomenon sp. or that declining populations of Aphanizomenon sp. take up combined nitrogen. We also found no evidence of uptake of combined nitrogen during the winter months when nitrogen supply is ample and Aphanizomenon sp. is devoid of heterocysts. During the first half of summer (week 21-27) heterocyst frequencies were higher at the outer stations B1 and H2, compared to the inner bay stations (H4 and H5). The lower frequencies at the inner bay stations are likely due to the reduced growth rate suffered by the Aphanizomenon sp. due to stronger competition for phosphorus by non-diazotrophs at these stations and hence lower need for heterocysts. Towards the end of summer conditions even out along the bay, as the surplus phosphorus from the spring bloom is used up at the outer stations and no heterocyst gradient is present. Heterocyst frequency varied significantly over the summer, with minimum values in the beginning of July, coinciding with the highest water temperatures, and higher frequencies in early and late summer. We suggest this is primarily due to a more efficiently functioning nitrogenase enzyme at high temperatures with a reduced need for “expensive” heterocysts. Spring heterocyst differentiation occurred around 4-6 weeks after depletion of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and only when water temperature was 5-9 oC and a pycnocline established. It seems that temperature and light in concert will initiate growth, leading to an internal nitrogen deficiency which starts heterocyst differentiation. / Himmerfjärden eutrophication study

In this study data from the regional climate model RCA1 is compared to measured data to investigate how good the model is during ice conditions and mainly how well the turbulent surface fluxes are described by the model. Comparisons of the sensible heat flux and the momentum flux as well as mean parameters are included. The measured data used are from the Bothnian Bay measured during the BASIS field experiment in February to March 1998. RCA1 (Rossby Centre regional Atmospheric model) is a regional climate model for Northern Europe based on HIRLAM and forced by ERA-40 data. Two different grid points of the RCA1 44 km grid have been chosen with geographical coordinates as close as possible to the two measuring sites. The first site is a small peninsula south of the town Umeå at the east coast of Sweden and the second one is the ship R/V Aranda anchored in the sea ice outside the Finnish west coast. The model presents generally too large negative (downward) sensible heat fluxes and too large momentum fluxes over ice. The largest difference between modelled and measured sensible heat fluxes are seen after warm front passages due to melting conditions. There are some uncertainties in the comparison of modelled fluxes and measured fluxes at Umeå due to a complex and varying ice cover around this measuring site. The vertical structure in the atmosphere has also been studied and modelled temperature, wind and humidity profiles were compared to radiosondes at the Umeå site. Two periods with on-ice flow and off-ice flow was analysed and one of the main differences was that for the on-ice situation an internal boundary layer was built up over the ice. Modelled profiles are generally smoother then measured profiles and inversions and other small-scale phenomena like low-level jets are almost never described correctly by the model but there are tendencies of the phenomena to occur. / Sammanfattning av ”En undersökning i hur bra den regionala klimatmodellen RCA1 beskriver olika parametrar över is, i huvudsak de turbulenta flödena”. I denna undersökning har den regionala klimatmodellen RCA1 jämförts med mätdata för att se hur bra modellen är över is och framförallt hur bra den beskriver de turbulenta flödena över is. RCA1 är en regional klimatmodell för norra Europa baserad på HIRLAM och som drivs av ERA-40 data. Modelldata har jämförts med mätdata från två platser i Bottenviken, en liten halvö utanför Umeå på den svenska östkusten och forskningsfartyget Aranda som var fastankrad i havsisen utanför Finlands västkust. Mätningarna gjordes under BASIS fältexperiment i februari till mars 1998. Modellen ger generellt för stora negativa (nedåtriktade) sensibla värmeflöden över is och likaså för stora impulsflöden över is. Den största skillnaden mellan modellvärden och mätningar förekom efter det att varmfronter passerat och detta beror delvis på smältförhållanden. I jämförelsen av de turbulenta flödena beräknade av RCA och de uppmäta turbulenta flödena från Umeå finns det vissa osäkerheter pga. den komplicerade issituationen runt denna mätplats med mycket varierande isförhållanden. Den vertikala strukturen i atmosfären har också undersökts och temperatur, vind och fuktighetsprofiler har jämförts. Två perioder varav en där det blåste från havet mot isen (on-ice) och en där det blåste från isen mot havet (off-ice) valdes ut och en av skillnaderna var att det bildades ett internt gränsskikt över isen i on-ice perioden. Modellen har en tendens att släta ut profilerna och småskaliga fenomen som inversionsskikt, inversionshöjder och low-level jets är nästan aldrig korrekt beskrivna i modellen men det finns tendenser till inversioner och vindmaximum.

This thesis discusses one of the most serious security challenges faced by the Baltic states since regaining their independence. This security challenge is a product of Russia’s assertive foreign policy towards its western neighbours, which has intensified after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In order to understand the rationale behind the Kremlin’s policy in the region, the thesis aims to analyse how internal and external factors shape the foreign policy of Russia towards the Baltic states. By taking neo-classical realism as its theoretical framework, the thesis uses mixed research methods for collecting data and applies qualitative content analysis to analyse the three main factors that shape Russia’s Baltic policy. The thesis identifies that NATO’s actions in the anarchic international system raise security threats towards Russia. This shapes Putin’s threat perceptions and compels him to react with counteractions, and since the foreign policy in Russia is concentrated mainly in the hands of the president, his perceptions are decisive. Nevertheless, Putin is dependent on Russians’ support and exploits nationalist feelings of the Russian population to pursue his foreign policy. The thesis concludes that the combination of these three factors makes Russia’s foreign policy towards the Baltic states more aggressive.

Stockholm is built on top of a rare landscape phenomenon: At the ridge of an esker crossing where the sweet water of Mälaren meets the brakish of the Baltic sea. An absolute ecological melting pot, not to be found anywhere else in this part of the world.  Due to the development of Stockholm, the nature of what takes place here has over the past 800 years slowly been lost in the citys urban web. As the citys development continues and generates a land-mass-bi-product in shape of blast stone. -Could the ecology of this rare aquatic environment connecting sweet and brakish be regenerated if the connection was recreated artificially with excess blast stone?

The project aims to examine how an architectural experience can help to increase awareness and encourage solutions for the Baltic Sea issues. The essence of the project lies in the experience which will be embodied by an exhibition as well as a gathering space for the Baltic science community on a remote island called Lilla Båtskär, situated in the archipelago of Åland, Finland. The exhibition aims to explain the issue from different perspectives, categorized into three themes. The incisions, linked to the themes,  will serve as generators for creating awareness and understanding of the issue, while the The Science community function as a foundation to provide enhanced prerequisites for extended collaborations and exchange of expertise between the Baltic countries. The combination of these two faculties subsequently merges into a unique experience with a strong identity and attachment to the Baltic Sea.

This thesis defines the formation and consummation of Soviet Bolshevism as another imperialist force rather than its stated objective of freeing the people of the United Soviet Socialist Republics from the clutches of an inequitable elite. Through the policies and objectives of the Soviet government the workers and citizens of Ukraine and the Baltic republics were not liberated or given autonomy over their lives and labor, as Marxist-Leninism would have them believe. I review the Russification efforts found first in the Tsarist Russian Empire and then continued by Soviets in the nature of pursuing or denying cultural, political, and economic self-sufficiency.