Environmental Impact Assessment Centre of Finland Ltd (EIA Ltd) is an independent research company founded in 1990 to apply state of the art mathematical surface water models and data tools for practical demands, and to maintain the validity of models with their continuous development and critical evaluation against field observations. Until 1990 EIA Ltd was part of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). EIA models have been developed for watersheds, rivers, lakes, coastal and sea areas and atmosphere. They have been applied to 300 different locations round the world since 1974.
Typical surface water modelling application includes 3D-computation of water currents in existing coastal area or inland waters, taking into account such factors as dynamic wind and air temperature field, water temperature, salinity, and ice cover. Often the main focus of application is estimating transport and reaction of sediments, nutrients or other subtances within the water, giving possibilties to model such processes as transport of nutrients, transport of waste water, blue-green algae growth, cooling water spreading, and erosion and sediment accumulation. Target area sizes are from small lakes to the whole Baltic Sea.