The situation of the bottom sediment and the benthic communities was similar to the past five years. The oxygen situation of the seabed and the water near the seabed in the sampling stations of the research vessel Muikku in the outer archipelago of the Gulf of Finland was also mainly good. A central factor improving the oxygen situation from last year was that the eutrophic, low-oxygen deep water from the main basin has not flowed into the Gulf of Finland in the weather conditions of the past summer, unlike in the spring of 2014, for example. Hydrogen sulphide was only found in the deep areas near the coast of Estonia and the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. The oxygen situation in the open sea basins of the Gulf of Finland was better than the last ten years. The oxygen situation in the Gulf of Finland has improved The phosphorus content in the deep basins of the Bothnian Sea has increased. As a result, the oxygen situation in the Bothnian Sea has remained relatively good, and the oxygen situation in the (basins of the) Bay of Bothnia is excellent. No significant amount of the deep water in the main basin can flow into the Gulf of Bothnia due to the thresholds in the seabed. Part of this phosphorus has been replaced by saltier water and moved into the higher water layers. The phosphate phosphorus content in the deep waters of the Baltic Sea main basin and the mouth of the Gulf of Finland has clearly decreased compared to what it was a year ago. Whether or not the anoxic water reaches the Gulf of Finland depends on the weather and current conditions during the coming autumn and winter. The heavier salty water flowing into the main basin has partially replaced the old eutrophic and anoxic water, which has in turn moved towards the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. Compared to Aranda's cruise in June, the area with oxygen-rich water to the north-east of the island of Gotland had diminished somewhat. Like the monitoring cruise in June, the one in August also found the water in the basins to the north of Gotland to be anoxic. The impact of the salty, oxygen-rich water that flowed into the Baltic Sea main basin (Baltic Proper) in December 2014 via the Danish straits was still visible in August up to the deep basins east of Gotland. The deep basins in the central parts of the Baltic Proper still have oxygen

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