The means of the 2005 average profiles are compared to statistics from observations in Figure 3. The observation data in Figure 3 are the HELCOM data from the ICES database (http://www.ices.dk/ocean). The CT values shown were recalculated from measured alkalinity, temperature, phosphate, salinity and pH GSI-IX cost values. The model shows a vertical distribution of all variables resembling observed distributions. The

vertical distribution of temperature is well reproduced by the model. As mentioned above, salinity was adjusted to the observations. DIN and DIP were in satisfactory agreement with observations, but at about 50 metres depth DIN concentrations were overestimated. After the formation of the thermal stratification in April to May DIN transport to the surface is limited. At the same time, DIN is rising from the lower layers. DIN has a minimum at around 100 metres depth in the model that can be explained by the oxygen minimum at these depths. Oxygen dynamics were close to the observations, but the depth of the redoxcline was not reproduced by the model

quite as well as the local oxygen maximum at ca 50 metres. The dynamics of CT lie within the range of the observations. Selleck Adriamycin Local differences were around a depth of 50 metres where the model showed lower concentrations compared to the observations. At the same time we cannot rule out the errors in observed CT at around 40 metres owing to the errors in the Isoconazole measurement of pH values. Both simulations yielded identical sea surface temperatures (SST) and salinity distributions. SST plays a significant role in the biogeochemical

model since it is a controlling factor for flagellate and cyanobacterial growth rates and affects pCO2 and thus the air/sea CO2 exchange. Hence, the agreement between modelled and observed SST is crucial to a realistic simulation of the seasonal development of the carbon and nutrient budgets. Figure 4a indicates that the model reproduced the observed data reasonably well; only during winter was SST slightly underestimated. The simulations of the DIN concentrations agreed satisfactorily with the measured data (Figure 4b). Both the DIN increase during winter that is caused by vertical mixing and lateral fluxes, and the complete depletion of DIN at the termination of the spring bloom in March/April were well reproduced. Similarly, phosphate consumption during the spring bloom was simulated reasonably well by the model. However, after the spring bloom, the modelled phosphate concentrations differed from the observed ones and varied between the two simulations. In the simulation with the additional cyanobacteria group, phosphate consumption continued as a result of nitrogen fixation until July, when the concentration approached zero. However, the rate of phosphate consumption in the model was less than the observed rate.