Extreme sea levels at selected stations on the Baltic Sea coast** This work was financed by the Polish National Centre for Science research project No. 2011/01/B/ST10/06470.
Tomasz Wolski,
Bernard Wiśniewski,
Andrzej Giza,
Halina Kowalewska-Kalkowska,
Hanna Boman,
Silve Grabbi-Kaiv,
Thomas Hammarklint,
Jürgen Holfort,
Žydrune Lydeikaitė
Affiliations
Tomasz Wolski
University of Szczecin, Faculty of Geosciences, al. Wojska Polskiego 107/109, 70–483 Szczecin, Poland;
Bernard Wiśniewski
Maritime University of Szczecin, Faculty of Navigation, Wały Chrobrego 1–2, 70–500 Szczecin, Poland
Andrzej Giza
University of Szczecin, Faculty of Geosciences, al. Wojska Polskiego 107/109, 70–483 Szczecin, Poland;
Halina Kowalewska-Kalkowska
University of Szczecin, Faculty of Geosciences, al. Wojska Polskiego 107/109, 70–483 Szczecin, Poland;
Hanna Boman
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Erik Palménin aukio 1, FI–00101 Helsinki, Finland
Silve Grabbi-Kaiv
Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Toompuiestee 24, 10149 Tallinn, Estonia
Thomas Hammarklint
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sven Källfelts Gata 15, 42471 Göteborg, Sweden
Jürgen Holfort
Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, Neptunallee 5, 18057 Rostock, Germany
Žydrune Lydeikaitė
Environmental Protection Agency, Taikos pr. 26, LT–91149, Klaipeda, Lithuania
The purpose of this article is to analyse and describe the extreme characteristics of the water levels and illustrate them as the topography of the sea surface along the whole Baltic Sea coast. The general pattern is to show the maxima and minima of Baltic Sea water levels and the extent of their variations in the period from 1960 to 2010. A probability analysis is carried out on the annual sea level maxima and minima for 31 water level gauges in order to define the probability of occurrence of theoretical sea levels once in a specific number of years. The spatial distribution of sea levels for hundred-year maximum and minimum water levels is illustrated. Then, the number of storm surges for the accepted criteria are presented: these numbers increased in the 50-year period analysed. The final part of the work analyses some extreme storm events and calculates the static value and dynamic deformation of the sea surface by mesoscale, deep low-pressure systems.
