Cyanobacterial blooms decrease in sea, lakes

The cyanobacterial situation has calmed down both in inland waters and sea areas, said the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) in a press release on Thursday.

Almost all cyanobacterial observations concern small amounts of cyanobacteria. In lakes, storm Riikka stirred up the surface waters which caused the blue-green algae to be mixed with the water mass.

In the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea there are now considerably smaller amounts of cyanobacteria, in places due to mixing with the water mass.

The national cyanobacterial monitoring is based on the monitoring of cyanobacterial deposits in surface water, and the intention is to provide an overview of the cyanobacterial situation in different water bodies.

Observations are carried out as part of the monitoring of the state of the environment in cooperation with the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, municipal environmental and health authorities and the Finnish Environment Institute. Finnish Rotary Clubs are also actively involved in nationwide cyanobacterial monitoring.

This summer, cyanobacterial monitoring includes about 400 permanent observation sites across the country on inland and coastal waters and in the archipelago.

Information on the cyanobacterial situation in the open seas is mainly obtained from satellite images, but also from the Finnish Border Guard, the marine research vessel Aranda, the optical device located at the Utö Atmospheric and Marine Research Station as well as cruise and merchant ships (MS Finnmaid and MS Silja Serenade).