Coastal erosion caused by the heavy storm surge of November 2004 in the southern Baltic Sea

Abstract

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 48:93-101 (2011) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00927 Contribution to the CR Special: 'Environmental change and socio-economic response in the Baltic region' Coastal erosion caused by the heavy storm surge of November 2004 in the southern Baltic Sea Tomasz A. Łabuz*, Halina Kowalewska-Kalkowska Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Szczecin, 70-383 Szczecin, Poland *Email: labuztom@univ.szczecin.pl ABSTRACT: The Świna Gate Sandbar (southern Baltic Sea) is affected by storm surges caused by passages of deep low-pressure systems over the Baltic Sea. The storm surge of 22–25 November 2004, with a maximum sea level of 1.35 m above mean sea level (MSL) as measured at the ΄Swinouj΄scie gauging station, was one of the most severe storm events in 1993–2007. It produced changes in the coastal relief by inducing significant erosion of the dune shore in the western and eastern subsections of the sandbar area examined. Seawater flooded the beach and flowed over the low ridges, up to 3 m above MSL. As a result, all relief forms below the 3 m level were eroded, and the dunes retreated by an average of 2 to 6 m. The maximum amount of sediment that eroded away amounted to 22 m3 per 1 m of coastline. This study showed that the magnitude of coastal erosion and retreat is dependent both on the height and the duration of the sea surge. KEY WORDS: Storm surge · Coastal erosion · Sand volume changes · Pomeranian Bay · ΄Swina Gate Full text in pdf format PreviousCite this article as: Labuz TA, Kowalewska-Kalkowska H (2011) Coastal erosion caused by the heavy storm surge of November 2004 in the southern Baltic Sea. Clim Res 48:93-101. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00927 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 48, No. 1. Online publication date: July 19, 2011 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2011 Inter-Research.