Large rafts of blue-green algae could be found on the Helsinki seashore on Monday. Blooms of the greenish soup were seen on the beaches of Hietaranta and Munkkiniemi, as well as the island of Lauttasaari.

   

Samples taken by researchers of the Helsinki Environment Institute indicated that most of the algae is of the anabaena variety, which can be toxic. However, the experts did not have time to evaluate the toxicity on Monday. Nevertheless signs were put up on afflicted beaches recommending against swimming in the area.

   

Children and people with allergies can easily suffer skin and eye symptoms if they swim in water containing blue-green algae.

When the wind picked up

on Monday most of the algae disappeared from the public beaches, and by the afternoon sunbathers were again enjoying the hot late summer. A few even went swimming at Hietaranta and the beach at Seurasaari.

   

Pockets of the algae remained in small inlets that were protected from the wind.

Monday's blue-green algae

situation was the worst this summer so far.

   

"We had expected the appearance of blue-green algae on the shores, because it has been warm and calm. Up until now the winds have taken the algae somewhere other than the Helsinki shores, but now it came here", Leea Kultanen of the Helsinki Environment Institute said on Monday.

   

Kultanen says that it was something of a surprise that it took as long as it did for large amounts of the algae to appear. The hot summer has favoured the growth of blue-green algae, and the problem could easily have reached the beaches of the Finnish capital much earlier.

   

Meanwhile, the swimming season in Helsinki continues unabated, with water temperatures well above 20°C.

On Monday the Finnish Meteorological Institute

recorded the summer's 27th official hot day at the weather station at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. By Finnish standards, a day is considered hot if the temperature exceeds 25°C.

   

The mercury did not go quite so high at the Kaisaniemi weather station in central Helsinki. Thanks to the cooling effect of the sea, there have been only 13 official hot days in the centre of the city this year.