Design sea ice conditions for offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea

Maria Tikanmäki; Jaakko Heinonen; Anni Jokiniemi; Patrick B. Eriksson

doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104463

Design sea ice conditions for offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea

Maria Tikanmäki^*, Jaakko Heinonen, Anni Jokiniemi, Patrick B. Eriksson

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA4907 Arctic infrastructure

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Sea ice conditions in the northern Baltic Sea (north from the latitude 56.8⁰N) were determined based on the past ice charts from the period of 1980/81 to 2021/22 created by the Finnish Ice Service. The scope of the study was in the parameters relevant for structural design of offshore wind turbines such as the maximum level ice thickness occurring once in 50 years, ice season length, the existence of ice ridges, ice type and ice thickness histograms. It was noted that the ice conditions vary significantly in different areas and site-specific estimation of ice conditions is important. The harshest ice conditions were met in the northern part of the Bay of Bothnia where ice was met every year, and the average ice season length was up to 180 days.

Original language	English
Article number	104463
Journal	Cold Regions Science and Technology
Volume	234
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104463
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge Tekes - the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, Aker Arctic Technology Inc., ABB Marine, Arctia Shipping, Technip Offshore Finland Oy, Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy, the Finnish Transport Agency, and Ponvia Oy for funding the ARAJÄÄ project and the Academy of Finland for funding the SmartSea project (Strategic research programme [grant numbers 292985 and 314225]). Also, the funding from the European Union - NextGenerationEU instrument via the Academy of Finland is greatly acknowledged (grant number 348588).

Keywords

Offshore wind power
Sea ice assessment
Sea ice conditions
The Baltic Sea

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104463Licence: CC BY

j.coldregions.2025.104463Final published version, 11.6 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Design sea ice conditions for offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea",

abstract = "Sea ice conditions in the northern Baltic Sea (north from the latitude 56.80N) were determined based on the past ice charts from the period of 1980/81 to 2021/22 created by the Finnish Ice Service. The scope of the study was in the parameters relevant for structural design of offshore wind turbines such as the maximum level ice thickness occurring once in 50 years, ice season length, the existence of ice ridges, ice type and ice thickness histograms. It was noted that the ice conditions vary significantly in different areas and site-specific estimation of ice conditions is important. The harshest ice conditions were met in the northern part of the Bay of Bothnia where ice was met every year, and the average ice season length was up to 180 days.",

keywords = "Offshore wind power, Sea ice assessment, Sea ice conditions, The Baltic Sea",

author = "Maria Tikanm{\"a}ki and Jaakko Heinonen and Anni Jokiniemi and Eriksson, {Patrick B.}",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104463",

language = "English",

volume = "234",

journal = "Cold Regions Science and Technology",

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T1 - Design sea ice conditions for offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea

AU - Tikanmäki, Maria

AU - Heinonen, Jaakko

AU - Jokiniemi, Anni

AU - Eriksson, Patrick B.

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - Sea ice conditions in the northern Baltic Sea (north from the latitude 56.80N) were determined based on the past ice charts from the period of 1980/81 to 2021/22 created by the Finnish Ice Service. The scope of the study was in the parameters relevant for structural design of offshore wind turbines such as the maximum level ice thickness occurring once in 50 years, ice season length, the existence of ice ridges, ice type and ice thickness histograms. It was noted that the ice conditions vary significantly in different areas and site-specific estimation of ice conditions is important. The harshest ice conditions were met in the northern part of the Bay of Bothnia where ice was met every year, and the average ice season length was up to 180 days.

AB - Sea ice conditions in the northern Baltic Sea (north from the latitude 56.80N) were determined based on the past ice charts from the period of 1980/81 to 2021/22 created by the Finnish Ice Service. The scope of the study was in the parameters relevant for structural design of offshore wind turbines such as the maximum level ice thickness occurring once in 50 years, ice season length, the existence of ice ridges, ice type and ice thickness histograms. It was noted that the ice conditions vary significantly in different areas and site-specific estimation of ice conditions is important. The harshest ice conditions were met in the northern part of the Bay of Bothnia where ice was met every year, and the average ice season length was up to 180 days.

KW - Offshore wind power

KW - Sea ice assessment

KW - Sea ice conditions

KW - The Baltic Sea

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DO - 10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104463

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85219080319

SN - 0165-232X

VL - 234

JO - Cold Regions Science and Technology

JF - Cold Regions Science and Technology

M1 - 104463

ER -

Design sea ice conditions for offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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