The West Pomerania coastal dunes — alert state of their development

摘要

Polish coastal dunes are mostly eroded by the sea and human activity. Each year, storms result in coastline retreat and narrowing of the dune belt. Additionally, longer and longer sections of the coast are being developed, mostly for tourist purposes. In effect, natural dune communities and the natural protection are disappearing in the area of the developed sea-coast. Increasingly numerous protective measures are implemented to counteract these adverse tendencies. Longer and longer sections of the coast are being artificially supported and dunes are being supplemented with coastal protection structures. This paper presents some own field results from coastal dunes of the western sea coast of Poland from Swinoujscie to Kotobrzeg (428 and 329 the Polish kilometre grid of Polish Maritime Offices). This study is based mostly on levelling measurements along the selected coastal profiles. The superimposition of these profiles reveals changes in the coastal relief. Additionally, sediments were sampled for analysis; the run-ups of storm surges were determined. The results prove that storm surges are the main factor behind coastline retreat in the investigated area of the Polish Baltic coast.