Indicator Specification

This indicator describes the levels of and trends in the levels of eight hazardous substances in marine biota in European seas , based on individual assessments of monitoring data for the following substances: mercury (Hg) and its compounds; cadmium (Cd) and its compounds; lead (Pb) and its compounds; HCB; PCBs, using chlorinated biphenyls CB28, CB52, CB101, CB118, CB138, CB153 and CB180 as representatives; the pesticide DDT (using pp’DDE as a representative); the pesticide Lindane (1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane); the polyaromatic hydrocarbon BaP. The indicator is based on data on the levels of these substances measured in organisms from the regional seas as follows: Baltic Sea — Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus); North-East Atlantic Ocean — blue mussel (Mytilus app), Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), flounder (Platichtys flesus); Mediterranean Sea — Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovinicialis); Black Sea — Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovinicialis).

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This indicator looks at the following: Time series of population-weighted heating and cooling degree days averaged over Europe; Observed trends in heating and cooling degree days; Projected trends in heating and cooling degree days.

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The indicator illustrates the geographical distribution and trends in summer/autumn concentrations of oxygen in the near-bottom waters of the regional seas of Europe. It uses oxygen concentrations in the near-bottom layer during the period July-October. The following marine regions and subregions are covered, in line with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (sub)regions: Baltic Sea, North-East Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea (see 'Regional seas surrounding Europe' map: Regional Seas ).

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This indicator shows the cumulative number and trends in the introduction and recording of marine NIS in the regional seas of Europe since 1949.

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The indicator addresses trends in land surface productivity derived from remote sensing observed time series of vegetation indices. The vegetation index used in the indicator is the Plant Phenology Index (PPI, Jin and Eklundh, 2014). PPI is based on the MODIS Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance product (MODIS MCD43 NBAR. The product provides reflectance data for the MODIS “land” bands (1 - 7) adjusted using a bi-directional reflectance distribution function. This function models values as if they were collected from a nadir-view to remove so called cross-track illumination effects. The Plant Phenology Index (PPI) is a new vegetation index optimized for efficient monitoring of vegetation phenology. It is derived from radiative transfer solution using reflectance in visible-red (RED) and near-infrared (NIR) spectral domains. PPI is defined to have a linear relationship to the canopy green leaf area index (LAI) and its temporal pattern is strongly similar to the temporal pattern of gross primary productivity (GPP) estimated by flux towers at ground reference stations. PPI is less affected by presence of snow compared to commonly used vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) or Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). The product is distributed with 500 m pixel size (MODIS Sinusoidal Grid) with 8-days compositing period.  References: Jönsson P., Eklundh L., 2004. TIMESAT—a program for analyzing time-series of satellite sensor data. Computers & Geosciences 30 (2004) 833–845. Eklundh L., Jönsson P., 2015. TIMESAT: A Software Package for Time-Series Processing and Assessment of Vegetation Dynamics. In: Kuenzer C., Dech S., Wagner W. (eds) Remote Sensing Time Series. Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, vol 22. Springer, Cham Jin, H., Eklundh, L. 2014. A physically based vegetation index for improved monitoring of plant phenology, Remote Sensing of Environment, 152, 512 – 525. Karkauskaite, P., Tagesson, T., Fensholt, R., 2017. Evaluation of the Plant Phenology Index (PPI), NDVI and EVI for Start-of-Season Trend Analysis of the Northern Hemisphere Boreal Zone, Remote Sensing, 9 (485), 21 pp. Jin, H.X.; Jönsson, A.M.; Bolmgren, K.; Langvall, O.; Eklundh, L., 2017. Disentangling remotely-sensed plant phenology and snow seasonality at northern Europe using MODIS and the plant phenology index. Remote Sensing of Environment 2017,198, 203-212. Abdi, A. M., N. Boke-Olén, H. Jin, L. Eklundh, T. Tagesson, V. Lehsten and J. Ardö (2019). First assessment of the plant phenology index (PPI) for estimating gross primary productivity in African semi-arid ecosystems. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 78: 249-260. Jin, H., A. M. Jönsson, C. Olsson, J. Lindström, P. Jönsson and L. Eklundh (2019). New satellite-based estimates show significant trends in spring phenology and complex sensitivities to temperature and precipitation at northern European latitudes. International Journal of Biometeorology 63(6): 763-775.

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