SVAR 2022 brings significant changes compared to previous versions of SVAR, the Swedish Water Archive. The shift towards utilizing current and detailed data, coupled with automated workflows, has led to more consistent products created uniformly across the entire country. Automation has also resulted in a more consistent quality across the dataset, distinguishing it from previous manual methods.

The primary focus of SVAR 2022 has been to meet the needs of water authorities for water bodies and to provide support for SMHI's S-HYPE model and Coastal Zone model. Some products have been discontinued while others have been introduced. Many have also undergone changes, both in terms of geometry and attributes, with the goal of refining and cleaning to produce clearer and more accurate products. For example, drainage basins are now only delimited by watershed boundaries, unlike previous versions where coastlines were also considered. Additionally, main drainage basins now contain only primary drainage areas, while small coastal areas between outlets are now found in the new BARO product.

The coverage of SVAR 2022 primarily extends within Sweden's territories, meaning products are developed solely within Sweden's territorial borders. Drainage basins have therefore not been generated outside Sweden's borders; instead, foreign drainage basins have been downloaded and adapted to the Swedish ones along the border. Unlike previous SVAR versions, marine areas now only extend to the territorial sea boundary in the ocean.

 In the analysis, observed and modelled present and future changes in Swedish seas are described with a focus on the nearby decades. The analysis includes a review of various source materials for the following marine environmental parameters: water temperature, marine heat waves, maximum sea ice extent, fresh water supply, sea levels and land elevation, salinity and inflows of salt into the Baltic Sea, stratification, waves and currents, residence times, upwelling, oxygen conditions, acidification and carbon dioxide, nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen, organic carbon, blue carbon and brownification.

The results show that the sea level and surface water temperature in the seas around Sweden are rising, the occurrence of new heat records is increasing and the maximum extent of sea ice is decreasing. In southernmost Sweden, the sea level rise is already causing problems today, but along the coast of Norrland, the land rise is faster than the rising sea level. Precipitation and runoff from Sweden increase and stratification increases in the Baltic Sea due to increased temperature and reduced salinity in the surface water and increased salinity in the deep water. Future changes in salinity-dependent stratification are uncertain. Oxygen conditions in the Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Baltic Sea are deteriorating and the Baltic proper has undergone a regime shift with a large increase in completely oxygen-free areas. Total nitrogen has decreased in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen has decreased in the Skagerrak and Kattegat, the Gulf of Bothnia and in the southern and western parts of the Baltic Sea. Total phosphorus has increased in all areas except Skagerrak. Phosphate has increased in the Baltic Sea and the Bothnian Sea, but decreased in the Skagerrak. Changes in ocean acidification are not measurable in the central and northern Baltic Sea, while observations in the Skagerrak and Kattegat indicate decreased pH. The visibility depth in large parts of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea has deteriorated and increased browning of the water together with increased amounts of suspended particles from increased runoff causes coastal darkening. Chapter 4 provides an extended summary of the results.

The conclusion from the analysis is that the state of our seas is changing, which needs to be considered in monitoring, planning and management. Continuous monitoring is necessary to follow up the effects of measures and to detect long-term changes in the marine environment. For the planning of a sustainable development, support is also needed from models that can describe future changes and explain the causes and effects from measures and climate change.

In this development project, concentrations of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 have been calculated for the whole of Sweden for the year 2019. Simulations have been made with a new methodology that enables an almost completely seamless combination of dispersion modelling on three scales; regional, urban and street scale, without double counting emissions. Pollution levels have been calculated at 50x50 m2 resolution, which provides a complete and detailed dataset at a national level. The spatial resolution of 50 m captures concentration gradients important for high-resolution exposure calculations. A strength of using dispersion models to calculate pollutant levels is the direct connection to emission inventories and projections.New functionality, parameterizations and inputs have been developed with the goal of increasing the performance of model calculations while preserving storage capacity. This is crucial to be able to carry out a comprehensive national modelling with a high geographical resolution. Parameterizations and detailed input data have been developed to better represent the real dispersion conditions, the physical environment and the size of emissions from, for example, traffic.For NO2, high levels are seen in urban environments near roads with high traffic load, and exceedances of the air quality limit values are seen in several locations. The number of exceedances of current air quality standards are relatively low for PM10. Levels of PM2.5 are often low and no exceedances of current standards occur at all. In a future perspective with stricter requirements for clean air, the situation will likely be different. With potentially stricter limit values there is a risk for exceedances in the several Swedish municipalities, especially for PM10.The validation of the modelling results compared to measurements has shown that modelling quality objectives are achieved for PM2.5 at both urban and local traffic stations. For NO2 and PM10, the modelling quality objectives are not met. The model underperforms at a number of stations and the 90 % requirement is thus not achieved. The RDE indicator is however fulfilled for several stations except for NO2 at traffic stations where the margin to fulfilment was very close. Further investigation of these sites is required and should be prioritized to understand the causes and improve modelled concentrations. Model performance, memory and storage capacity remain a major challenge for performing high-resolution calculations efficiently. Work on this also needs to be prioritised in future projects.The national modelling results constitute a national description of the current state of air quality in which all of Sweden's municipalities are included. The dataset facilitates the identification of locations where air pollution levels are at risk of exceeding threshold values for air quality standards and environmental quality objectives. This can be of great help to municipalities that lack measurements and modelling of air pollution and supports the work with Swedish air pollution assessment and mitigation. A comprehensive national assessment is especially important to have available when the updated EU Ambient Air Quality Directive, with stricter requirements for clean air, is implemented in the coming years. The dataset can also support the design of measurement networks, selection of measurement site locations and provide valuable information to experts and researchers as well as an interested public. The results will be made freely available on the SMHI web portal “Luftwebb” by the turn of the year 2023/2024.

A climatological atlas of the oxygen situation in the deep water of the Baltic Sea was first published in 2011 in SMHI Report Oceanography No 42. Since 2011, annual updates have been made as additional data have been reported to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre. In this report the results for 2020 have been updated and the preliminary results for 2021 are presented. Oxygen data from 2021 have been collected from various sources such as international ICES coordinated trawl survey, national monitoring programmes and research projects with contributions from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.For the autumn period each profile in the dataset was examined for the occurrence of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) and anoxia (total absence of oxygen). The depths of onset of hypoxia and anoxia were then interpolated between sampling stations producing two surfaces representing the depths at which hypoxic and anoxic conditions respectively are found. The volume and area of hypoxia and anoxia were then calculated and the results transferred to maps and diagrams to visualize the annual autumn oxygen situation during the analysed period.The updated results for 2020 and the preliminary results for 2021 show that the severe oxygen conditions in the Baltic Proper after the regime shift in 1999 continues. Levels of anoxia decreased somewhat compared to the record years 2018-2019, while the extent of hypoxia remained largely unchanged. The decreased in anoxia was seen in the southern Baltic Proper and in the Gulf of Finland.The hydrogen sulphide that had disappeared from the Eastern and Northern Gotland Basin due to the inflows in 2014-2016 continues to increase in the deep water. No major inflow has occurred during 2021.

In 2011 SMHI published the Report Oceanography No 42 with a climatological atlas of the oxygen status in the deep water of the Baltic Sea in 2011. Subsequently, annual updates have been released as new data have been reported to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre. This report provides an update for 2021 and presents the preliminary results for 2022. The oxygen data for 2022 were collected from various sources, including international ICES coordinated trawl surveys, national monitoring programmes, and research projects involving Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. 

For the autumn period, each profile in the dataset was analyzed for the occurrence of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) and anoxia (total absence of oxygen). The depths of onset of hypoxia and anoxia were then interpolated between sampling stations to produce two surfaces that represent the depths at which hypoxic and anoxic conditions are present, respectively. The volume and area of hypoxia and anoxia were then calculated and the results transferred to maps and diagrams to visualize the annual autumn oxygen situation during the analyzed period. 

The updated results for 2021 and the preliminary results for 2022 show that the severe oxygen conditions in the Baltic Proper after the regime shift in 1999 continues. Levels of anoxia increased somewhat compared to the results for 2020, while the extent of hypoxia remained largely unchanged 2021 but increased in 2022. The increase in anoxia was seen in the southern Baltic Proper and in the Gulf of Finland. In 2021 anoxia was found at 21% of the bottom areas and 31% suffered from hypoxia. Preliminary results for 2022 show that anoxia affected 21% of the bottom areas and 34% suffered from hypoxia. The concentration of hydrogen sulphide is extremely high in all the basins around Gotland. In the Eastern and Western Gotland Basin hydrogen sulphide in the bottom water has reached levels not recorded before. The inflows that occurred during 2021 - 2022 did only affect the oxygen situation in southern parts of the Baltic Proper. No inflows reached the deeper basins around Gotland.    

In 2011 SMHI published the Report Oceanography No 42 with a climatological atlas of the oxygen status in the deep water of the Baltic Sea. Subsequently, annual updates have been released as new data have been reported to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre. This report provides an update for 2022 and presents the preliminary results for 2023. The oxygen data for 2023 were collected from various sources, including ICES coordinated trawl surveys, national monitoring programmes, and research projects involving Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. For the autumn period, each profile in the dataset was analyzed for the occurrence of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) and anoxia (total absence of oxygen). The depths of onset of hypoxia and anoxia were then interpolated between sampling stations to produce two surfaces that represent the depths at which hypoxic and anoxic conditions are present, respectively. The volume and area of hypoxia and anoxia were then calculated and the results transferred to maps and diagrams to visualize the annual autumn oxygen situation during the analyzed period. The updated results for 2022 and the preliminary results for 2023 show that the severe oxygen conditions in the Baltic Proper after the regime shift in 1999 continues. Levels of anoxia and hypoxia decreased somewhat 2023 compared to the high results for 2022. The increase in 2022 was mainly due to large areas in the south eastern Baltic Proper are added, areas were data is sparse and results are uncertain. In 2022 anoxia was found at 23% of the bottom areas and 35% suffered from hypoxia including anoxic areas. Preliminary results for 2023 show that anoxia affected 18% of the bottom areas and 32% suffered from hypoxia (including anoxic areas). The concentration of hydrogen sulphide is extremely high in all the basins around Gotland. In the Eastern and Western Gotland Basin hydrogen sulphide in the bottom water has reached levels not recorded before. The inflows that occurred during 2022 - 2023 did only affect the oxygen situation in southern parts of the Baltic Proper. No inflows reached the deep basins around Gotland. In late 2023 a larger inflow occurred followed by a series of small inflows that might improve the oxygen situation in 2024.     

In this report, the merging and homogenisation of 456 time series of monthly mean temperature, are presented. The time series consists of data from in total 836 weather stations in the Swedish station network between the years 1860 and 2021. The time series are merged in order to use more of the available data and to restrict the interpolation of data. The merging is performed with a newly developed automatic tool, which is described here. The homogenisation and interpolation of data is performed with a development of the homogenisation tool HOMER (Bart).

The merging of the time series between the years 1860 and 2021 gives a data coverage over of 44 %. Corresponding data coverage for the raw time series with more data than 15 years is 30%. 257 of the 456 merged time series consist of over 60 years of data (which corresponds to two normal periods). 173 of the raw times series consist of over 60 years of data.

For 22 of the time series no homogeneity breaks are detected. These time series can be considered to be homogeneous. For the other series 1 788 homogeneity breaks are detected which corresponds to 17 years of observations per break. Most common is three homogeneity break in a series. 37 % of the homogeneity breaks is supported in meta data or coincide with merging points. 37 % of the data is negatively corrected (observations has higher temperature than the homogenised value), 24 % positively corrected. The remaining 40 % is not corrected.

Växtplanktondata från provtagningar under perioden 1986–2021 längs Västra Götalands kust (Bohuskusten och Göteborgs skärgård) har analyserats. Fokus har varit åtta stationer som har tidsserier från 1991–2021 med provtagningar året om. Data från andra stationer har också använts. När det gäller klorofyll samt fysiska och kemiska parametrar finns ett större datamaterial med provtagningar på 14 stationer. En station i centrala Skagerrak har använts för jämförelser. Resultat från mikroskopanalys av prover visar på en relativt hög biodiversitet. Antal identifierade släkten är 195 och antalet arter är stort. Högst antal arter observeras under hösten, troligen som en effekt av transport av vatten från Nordsjön till Bohuskusten. Under den undersökta perioden har antal observerade släkten ökat. Om detta beror på en verklig ökning av biodiversiteten, t.ex. att arter som trivs i hög temperatur kommit till eller på andra faktorer, t.ex. att skickligheten hos de som analyserar prover ökat, går inte att utläsa från materialet. Strukturen på växtplanktonsamhället varierar under året och geografiskt. Havstensfjorden har en högre andel dinoflagellater jämfört med de flesta andra stationer. Flera arter som är nya för området har observerats, bl.a. Alexandrium pseudogonyaulax, Chaetoceros cf. peruvianus, Pseudosolenia calcar-avis och Dinophysis tripos. Växtplanktonbiomassan mätt som klorofyll a (0–10 m djup) har minskat i Koljöfjord, Havstensfjord, Byfjorden och vid Galterö (Stenungsund) under perioden 1991–2021 när man tittar på årsmedelvärden. Det gäller även om enbart värden från sommaren används. Då noteras även en minskning vid Stretudden (Brofjorden), vid Valö (Askimsfjorden) och station Å17 (öppna Skagerrak). Siktdjupet har ökat på flera platser sommartid: vid Byttelocket (Smögen), Stretudden (Brofjorden), Släggö (Gullmarsfjorden) och i Koljöfjorden. Koncentrationer under vintern av löst oorganiskt kväve (DIN = summan av nitrat, nitrit och ammonium) har minskat i ytvattnet på de flesta lokaler medan fosfathalter är i stort sett oförändrade. Kiselhalter vintertid har ökat på stationer som ligger i närheten av Göta Älvs/Nordre Älvs mynning eller andra floder eller åar. Författarna finner det troligt att åtgärder för att minska tillförsel av näringsämnen från land till hav har haft effekt. Minskad kvävebelastning har sannolikt resulterat i lägre växtplanktonbiomassa och större siktdjup vid kusten, bl.a. innanför Orust och Tjörn. Andra orsaker till förändringarna kan dock inte uteslutas. Årsmedelvärden för ytvattentemperatur (0–10 m) har ökat med upp till 2 grader 1991–2021, sommartid har ytvattentemperaturen ökat med 1–2°C. Salthalt i ytvattnet är oförändrad under den undersökta perioden. Skadliga alger förekommer varje år. År 2017 var det en större blomning av Pseudochattonella som orsakar fiskdöd. Alggifter som ansamlas i musslor och ostron utgör en risk för människors hälsa och ett problem för havsbruket. Kontrollprogram som administreras av Livsmedelsverket har säkerställt att produkter som innehåller alggifter inte kommit ut på marknaden. Det vanligaste problemet är dinoflagellater från släktet Dinophysis som producerar diarrégifter. Arter från släktet Alexandrium förekommer också, där de flesta producerar paralyserande skaldjursgifter. År 2017 uppmättes höga halter i musslor och skörd stoppades. Flera andra släkten av skadliga alger observeras regelbundet, t.ex. kiselalgen Pseudo-nitzschia som producerar ett alggift som kan orsaka minnesförlust. Kammaneten Mnemiopsis leidyi har etablerat sig i området sedan år 2006. Ursprunget är troligen Nordamerikas östra kust. Arten livnär sig på mindre plankton och är  5  vanlig sommartid. Den har sannolikt påverkat strukturen på växtplanktonsamhället. Författarna föreslår ett utökat samarbete mellan myndigheter som ansvarar för växtplanktonövervakningen för att förbättra övervakningen och informationen till allmänheten och till havsbrukare. En anpassning till övervakning av effekter av klimatförändringar rekommenderas. Flera ändringar i nuvarande övervakningsprogram föreslås, bl.a. att pikoplanktonanalys permanentas och att en station med högfrekvent växtplanktonprovtagning etableras i Göteborgs södra skärgård. Placeringen är vald för att möjliggöra tidiga varningar för skadliga algblomningar för vattenbruk längre norrut. Den Baltiska strömmen transporterar generellt sett vattnet norrut längs den svenska västkusten. Dessutom föreslås en ny station vid norra Bohuskusten mellan Smögen och Kosterfjorden där det är glest mellan provtagningspunkterna idag. Antalet stationer behöver dock balanseras mot provtagningsfrekvensen. Tät provtagning i tiden är på många sätt viktigare än provtagning vid många stationer, d.v.s. en stor geografisk spridning. Nya metoder bör övervägas, t.ex. automatisk växtplanktonanalys med avbildande flödescytometri (Imaging Flow Cytometry). Genetiska metoder (eDNA – metabarcoding) bör införas i övervakningen av biodiversitet och främmande arter. Dessutom föreslås övervakning av havets brunifiering genom att halter av Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter mäts. 

Phytoplankton constitute the base of the marine food web and is used all over theworld to assess the quality status of marine and freshwater systems. Phytoplanktonare for example used in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and in theEU Water Framework Directive. There are long time series of data from monitoringprograms, where phytoplankton are analyzed using microscopy. However, presentlyDNA methods are quickly emerging. The aim of this project was to develop a practical and robust method to analyze phytoplankton that can be implemented inSwedish marine monitoring programs.The project was performed by joining the regular marine monitoring cruisesfor a period of one year (2019–2020). We collected parallel seawater samples forDNA metabarcoding of phytoplankton. Nineteen stations were sampled, all theway from the Bothnian Bay in the northern Baltic Sea to the Skagerrak adjacent tothe North Sea, with a sampling frequency of ~1 sampling per month. Best practiceswere developed for field sampling, DNA extraction, sequencing, bioinformatics andtaxonomic annotation. We also produced a system for data handling at the nationalhost, and provided a new data type for national data host for marine biology andoceanography, the National Oceanographic Data Centre (https://sharkweb.smhi.se/hamta-data/).An important part of the project was to compare results from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy. In general, results of DNA metabarcoding gives about twiceas high biodiversity measures than microscopy, even though it varies betweendifferent phytoplankton groups. We found that the reference databases have shortcomings and need to be further developed. To find out if DNA metabarcoding canbe used quantitatively, we added an internal standard to the samples, composedof synthetic DNA strings. The analysis showed varying results, and therefore furtherdevelopment is needed. The distribution of common eukaryotic groups showedrelatively good agreement between DNA metabarcoding and the carbon biomassmicroscopy metric, while biovolume and abundance showed larger deviations.With DNA metabarcoding we were able to produce detailed maps of the occurrenceof potentially harmful algae, for example the genus Prymnesium.By using physicochemical data measured in the monitoring programs wehave looked for environmental drivers of phytoplankton diversity and communitycomposition. Both salinity and nutrients were shown to have significant impactson the phytoplankton communities.In summary, we think that the developed DNA metabarcoding method wouldbe a valuable complement to the established microscopy-based phytoplanktonmonitoring.

Historical Swedish observations of temperature, length of vegetation period, precipitation, snow, global radiation, and geostrophic wind have been analysed. The length of available time series varies among these variables. Whereas there are temperature observations for Uppsala ranging back to 1722 continuous measurements of global radiation at eight Swedish stations start only in 1983. Climate indicators based on these observations show that: • The annual mean temperature for Sweden has increased by 1.9 °C compared to the period 1861• The amount of annual precipitation increased since 1930 from about 600 mm/year to almost 700 mm/year. • The number of days with snow cover has reduced since 1950. • The global radiation increased with circa 10 % since the mid-1980’s. • The geostrophic wind has no clear change pattern since 1940. The listed changes are annual averages for Sweden. These are robust and statistically significant in most cases. The picture is getting more diverse when investigating smaller regions or different seasons instead of annual means. For instance, the increase of precipitation is mainly related to enhanced precipitation during autumn and winter whereas there are no obvious trends in spring and summer. Moreover, changes in extremes are generally harder to identify. For instance, despite the clear negative trend in the number of days with snow cover there is no significant trend for the maximum snow depth. –1890.Denna

The county analyzes (Sjökvist et al. 2015) were published by SMHI in 2015 with the aim to produce county-wise climate data based on results from the IPCC's fifth assessment report (AR5, 2013). In 2021, SMHI published a new climate scenario web service (www.smhi.se/klimat), containing updated data from climate research. As both the methodology, calculation methods and level of detail have been developed and updated, differences between the results in the county analyzes and the scenario service are expected. This report aims to clarify the differences between the two datasets and explain what these differences are due to, in support of old and new users of SMHI's climate data.

The temperatures in the surface layer were above normal in January, February (Figure 1), June and September. In August the surface temperature was below normal at many stations and for the rest of the year the surface temperature was generally normal. The minimum temperatures in the surface layer in 2023 were reached in March in Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Baltic Proper. In the Gulf of Bothnia, the maximum ice extent was reached in March and water temperatures remained low until May. By May 28, 2023, the ice had completely melted, and the 2022-2023 ice season was classified as mild. The next season, 2023-2024, started early on October 23, 2023.Temperatures above normal were measured in the deep and intermediate waters in the Baltic Proper. In the Baltic Proper the temperature in the deep waters show an increasing trend and the temperature in the bottom water is record high.The nutrient surveys in winter showed that the concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen were below normal in the Baltic Proper and the Bothnian Bay, whereas silicate and phosphate were above normal in the Bothnian Bay. The latter is consistent with a trend of increasing phosphate and silicate concentration in the Bothnian Bay. The nutrients decreased during the spring bloom. In 2023, the spring bloom started in February in the Kattegat and March at the Skagerrak stations, with high biomasses and chlorophyll concentrations. At N14 Falkenberg the summer biomass was dominated by dinoflagellates. In the Baltic Proper the spring bloom occurred between the March and April cruises. In the Bothnian Sea the spring bloom occurred in April with a consequently drop of inorganic nitrogen to levels near the detection limit in May. In the Bothnian Bay the levels did not drop until July due to the later spring bloom. At station NB1/B3 in the Bothnian Sea, an unusual autumn bloom occurred in October.The largest areas of cyanobacteria surface accumulations occurred during the last week of June. In August, the storm Hans caused nutrients to come up towards the surface and become available making the cyanobacteria blooms start all over and continue until mid-September.No new inflows occurred that could renew the deep water, and therefore concentrations of nutrients in the deep basins of the Baltic Proper continued to increase during 2023. The deep waters show increasing concentrations of nutrients as well as hydrogen sulphide. The concentrations of both ammonium and hydrogen sulphide are at record high levels in both the eastern and western Gotland basins.

Summary

The temperature in surface layer was above normal in several months during 2022,temperatures below normal were measured only on a few occasions in the summer.These occasions were caused by upwelling events. The minimum temperatures in thesurface layer in 2022 were reached in March in Skagerrak, which is a month later thannormal. In Kattegat the temperature reached its minimum in January and in March inthe Baltic Proper.

Temperatures above normal were measured in the deep and intermediate waters in theBaltic Proper. In the Baltic Proper the temperature in the deep waters show anincreasing trend.

The ice season was classified as mild but the duration was longer than normal, with thefirst ice observations around 25th of October and the last ice seen on 2nd of June.

The nutrient surveys in winter showed that the concentrations of dissolved inorganicnitrogen were below normal, whereas silicate and phosphate were above normal in theBothnian Bay. The latter is consistent with a trend of increasing phosphate and silicateconcentration in the Bothnian Bay. The nutrients decreased in spring as the springbloom started, in 2022 this happened in March in Kattegat and in April in Skagerrak,which is later than normal. In the Baltic Proper it occurred between the February andMarch cruises in the southern parts while it started about a month later in the basinsaround Gotland. In the Bothnian Sea we lack nutrient data for the period when thespring bloom occurred, but phytoplankton data shows that the spring bloom occurred inApril. In the Bothnian Bay inorganic nitrogen dropped to levels near the detection limitin July.

The potentially toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuta was found in cell numbers abovethe warning limit during autumn at the stations situated in Skagerrak and Kattegat.

The largest area of cyanobacteria surface accumulations was observed by satellite onthe 28th of June when about 83 300 km2 of the Baltic Proper and Gulf of Finland wereaffected.

No new inflows occurred that could renew the deep water, and thereforeconcentrations of nutrients in the deep basins of the Baltic Proper continued to increaseduring 2022. The deep waters show increasing concentrations of nutrients as well ashydrogen sulphide. The concentrations of both ammonium and hydrogen sulphide areat record high levels in both the Eastern and Western Gotland Basins. 

A Government decree on Swedish authorities’ work on climate adaptation establishes that 32 national authorities and all 21 County Administrative Boards shall, within their areas of responsibility and within their activities, initiate, support and monitor adaptation to climate change. The decree also establishes that the authorities shall report their work annually to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). The reporting is carried out in a web-based system, developed specifically by SMHI for this purpose. SMHI shall support the authorities in their implementation and prepare an annual follow-up analysis to the Government by the 15th of April. This report constitutes SMHI’s analysis of the work carried out in 2022. 

The purpose of this year’s analysis is to establish to what degree the authorities covered by the decree have completed the entailed tasks. The analysis also focuses on reported obstacles and identifies if any changes have occurred compared to previous reporting cycles. Finally, an assessment is made on the effects on society that the climate adaptation work has led to.

The analysis shows that the authorities have made clear progress between the years 2019 to 2022. However, there is great variation in how the various authorities approach the tasks in the decree. Most authorities have mainstreamed climate adaptation within their action plans in the regular planning and control processes or have ongoing work in doing so.

Most authorities have up-to-date climate and vulnerability analyses and action plans, and have also established goals. Just over half of the authorities have identified laws and regulations that affect the authority’s work with climate adaptation. The number of authorities that report that they take climate adaptation into account in their procurement has increased. The County Administrative Boards support the municipalities' climate adaptation work, analyse how the county is affected by climate change based on various aspects, and produce material for increased knowledge and planning. 

Identified actions by the authorities are often associated with flooding and are of the analytic kind. Most authorities have mainstreamed climate adaptation into relevant processes, for example in guidelines, regulations, strategies and in physical planning. Most authorities involve external stakeholders in the process and County Administrative Boards cooperate with municipalities within the county and the majority also with the Regions. National authorities mainly cooperate with other national authorities.

Lack of financial and/or available human resources is a limiting factor that can lead to some authorities not having the opportunity to produce the knowledge needed. The authorities are also increasingly experiencing that a lack of knowledge, regulations and methodological support constitute obstacles to the work moving forward.

It is recommended that SMHI initiate a discussion with the Government Office regarding the scope and frequency of the annual reporting analysis, continue to support authorities with regard to climate adaptation in procurement, review the terminology, update the web-based reporting system and offer support for the implementation of the decree in the light of the new national strategy due in 2023. The National Network for Adaptation is recommended to create multi-stakeholder arenas for cooperation and knowledge exchange, including private and non-state actors.

Based on the analysis the Government is recommended to consider a clarification of the wording in the decree regarding the County Administrative Board's role to support and follow-up the Regions, what a climate and vulnerability analysis should include, on what basis goals should be formulated and whether or not identification of adaptation needs must be included. The Government is further recommended to continuously update the decree if exceptions are made in the written charter for the authorities, revise the national climate adaptation goal and develop one or more measurable goals. Finally, the Government is recommended to secure satisfactory, earmarked and long-term funding for climate adaptation for all authorities under the decree and introduce legal requirements for climate-adapted procurement for municipalities and regions.

A Government decree on Swedish authorities’ work on climate adaptation establishes that 32 national authorities and all 21 County Administrative Boards shall, within their areas of responsibility and within their activities, initiate, support and monitor adaptation to climate change. The decree also establishes that the authorities shall report their work annually to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). SMHI shall support the authorities in their implementation and prepare an annual follow-up analysis to the Government by the 15th of April. This report constitutes SMHI’s analysis of the work carried out in 2023. The analysis describes to what degree the authorities covered by the decree have completed the entailed tasks, how they assess future climate risk levels for different sectors and what needs authorities have identified for the continued work with climate adaptation.The analysis shows that the authorities have made progress from 2022 to 2023 and that most authorities have carried out the tasks in the decree. Most authorities have up-to-date climate and vulnerability analyses and action plans, and have also established goals. More authorities than in previous reports have identified laws and regulations that affect the authority’s work with climate adaptation. A majority of authorities report that requirements for considering climate adaptation in procurement are not relevant to their organisations. However, authorities responsible for, for instance, infrastructure or the built environment state that it is relevant. All County Administrative Boards that have reported state that they support the municipalities' climate adaptation work, however, only a few follow-up the municipalities' work systematically. The analysis shows that the County Administrative Boards analyse how the county is affected by climate change and produce material for increased knowledge and planning.Regarding future climate risk levels for different sectors, the sectors assessed by the authorities as having a high risk of being affected by a changing climate were primarily continuity and crisis management, biodiversity, businesses, oceans and fisheries, health, cultural heritage, coastal areas, rural development, reindeer husbandry, forestry and water management. No sector was assessed to have a low climate risk.Regarding identified adaptation needs, municipalities, County Administrative Boards and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency were identified as the primary actors needing to act. Cooperation is often needed, as more than 60 percent of adaptation needs are stated to require cooperation. Most authorities involve external actors and there is a broad range of different actors involved in the authorities' climate adaptation work, for example municipalities, academia, business, industry and Sami organizations. Several authorities also collaborate with international actors, both through continuous collaboration and through projects financed by the EU. Lack of financial and/or available human resources is the main limiting factor restraining the ability to produce the knowledge or support needed. The authorities are also increasingly experiencing that a lack of knowledge and coordination constitute obstacles to the work moving forward. Half of the authorities report a need for further coordination and acknowledge that climate adaptation work entails both co-benefits and goal conflicts. A cross-sectoral approach is therefore needed. Most authorities have mainstreamed climate adaptation into relevant processes, for example in guidelines, regulations, strategies, continuity management and in physical planning. Those who have not yet mainstreamed climate adaptation into relevant processes state that this work is ongoing.Finally, it is recommended that SMHI continue to support authorities with regard to the annual reporting and continue to develop the web-based reporting system. The Government is recommended to commission the development of requirements for climate-adapted procurement for actors other than the authorities covered by the decree, secure funding and commission a review of financing options. Here, several sources of funding should be considered, including state, private and EU funds.