The Archipelago Sea environment

Seili research station is located in the Archipelago Sea, one of the world’s most extensive archipelago systems, with +40 000 islands, shallow basins and strong land–sea interactions. The region forms a natural gradient from inner coastal waters to the open Baltic Sea. The station is located central zone of the area, providing easy access to both inner and outer archipelago.

These conditions provide opportunities to study, for example:

• coastal and archipelago ecosystems
• salinity and habitat gradients
• eutrophication and nutrient dynamics
• climate-driven environmental change
• biodiversity in fragmented marine landscapes

Environmental monitoring has also been conducted at Seili since the 1960s. Time-series data include e.g. seawater properties, plankton communities and weather observations. These datasets are available to support research on ecological change in the northern Baltic Sea.