The Open Science Afternoon ("Avoimen tieteen iltapäivä") organized by the Library was celebrated on 24 October 2022 at the Think Corner under the international theme “Open for Climate Change”. The Baltic Sea and Climate Awareness had been chosen as the special theme of the week by the University of Helsinki this year. The situation in the Baltic Sea was approached with the initiation of Tvärminne Zoological Station research coordinator Laura Kauppi on measurement results and data on the Baltic Sea.
Kauppi presented collected data time series from the Tvärminne station at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, with maximum coverage over a hundred years. The longest time series are found in benthic animals and temperatures. Among other things, Kauppi reported that the lifespan of mud mussels has decreased in 100 years from 35 years to 17 years. As regards the average water temperature, there has been a few degrees of increase and heatwaves have increased and intensified.
Different forecasting models can also be made on the basis of time series, which take into account climate actions taken or not done. In the panel, Kauppi estimates that in the future it would also be possible for citizens to participate in the observation of temperatures in the same way as already done at the guest laji.fi service. Through the service, anyone can report invasive species sightings. At the moment, the automatic water measurement results (temperature, salinity, oxygen content, pH and turbidity) in Tvärminne Hangonniemi can already be monitored in real time at helsinki.fi/monicoast.
The Open Science Afternoon panel discussed, among other things, how open data and publications could help the situation in the Baltic Sea. It was found that it is possible to make generalizations about the Baltic Sea results that are also globally exploited and therefore data sharing would also be important. At present, HELCOM coordinates cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. As a rule, SYKE (Finnish Environment Institute) and ELY Centre data are open and individual researchers share data with each other, but data produced in Tvärminne, for example, is not yet fully publishable.
The panel also considered what role the existing FINMARI consortium and the Baltic Sea Portal could play in sharing data and raising climate awareness. Discoverability and exploitability of data were also found to be key words when it comes to raising climate awareness. Here, for example, libraries play a big role.
The general emphasis was placed on the creation of national infrastructures with continuity in funding and hence operations. For example, the popularity of The Helsinki Term Bank for the Arts and Sciences, which was awarded the University of Helsinki Open Science Prize in conjunction with HiLIFE, is based on high quality according to Professor Tiina Onikki-Rantajääskö, who participated in the panel. Through academic knowledge production, Term Bank aims to reach critical mass and thus maintain content of interest. Good luck and success on the path to openness signposted by Open Science laureates, The Helsinki Term Bank for the Arts and Sciences and HiLIFE!