Analyses of the relations between the wind direction distribution and the water level in the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda (CL) show that the water level

in the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea along the Lithuanian coast increases when westerly winds are dominant and decreases when easterly winds prevail (Dailidienė MAPK inhibitor et al. 2006). Indeed, an area of low pressure established itself over northern Europe during the research period, and the resulting cyclonic circulation was dominated by strong westerly winds. Since the 1960s these westerly airflows have intensified (Bukantis et al. 2001, BACC 2008), as a result of which climate change can cause rapid water level rise in the south-eastern lagoons (CL and VL). On the southern Baltic coast the dominant south-west winds may also have less influence on water level rise, as a result of which the magnitude of the water level rise in the DZBC was half that in the CL and VL. Since the 1960s, westerly airflows have intensified during winter, and this has caused an increased frequency of maritime air-masses Stem Cell Compound Library cost entering the Baltic area, which have caused higher

winter air temperatures and enhanced precipitation (Bukantis et al. 2001, BACC 2008). This process could have led to the more intensive water level rise in January–March observed in the recent period of 1979–2008. On the other hand, the precipitation data for 1978–2008 show less rainfall in the central and northern areas of the Baltic, but more in the southern part (Lehmann et al. 2010). The annual runoff from the River Nemunas into the Baltic has decreased in recent years. According to Dailidienė & Davulienė (2008) the mean Nemunas runoff of 503±40 m3 Ureohydrolase s−1 in 1984–2005 was less than this river’s long-term runoff of 664 m3 s−1 for the period 1811–1995. The catchment area of the Nemunas makes up 5.6% of the entire catchment area of the Baltic Sea and 96% of the catchment area of the Curonian Lagoon. From

this we can conclude that if rainfall had increased in the south-eastern Baltic region, the rises in water level risings would have been greater. Generally, based on the results of this study, regression analysis showed that the rate of increase in the annual average water temperature in coastal Baltic waters appears to be lower than in the lagoons. During the research period (1961–2008) the water temperature and water level trends in the southern and south-eastern coastal lagoons of the Baltic Sea were positive, but maximal anomalies in the coastal lagoons were observed only in the last two decades, and it seems that the processes due to climate change occurred in many regions worldwide (IPCC 2007). A similar annual variation in warming trend was observed in the sea surface temperature of the Baltic Sea (BACC 2008, Lehmann et al. 2010).