Suursaar, Ü., Alari, V., Tõnisson, H., 2014. Multi-scale analysis of wave conditions and coastal changes in the northeastern Baltic Sea. In: Green, A.N. and Cooper, J.A.G. (eds.), Proceedings 13th International Coastal Symposium (Durban, South Africa), Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 70, pp. 223–228, ISSN 0749-0208. Temporal variations of shoreline changes have been analyzed and interpreted in three differently exposed Estonian coastal sections. Using coastline contours that have been recorded frequently over the last twelve years, as well as recently digitized aerial photographs, orthophotos and old topographic maps (some of them dating back to 1900), all overlaid in the Mapinfo software, areal changes over different sub-periods were calculated. To explain the shoreline changes, two different wave modelling approaches were used and mutually compared. Both the BaltAn65+ reanalysis (an ERA-40 refinement) forced SWAN model hindcast (1965–2005) and the point model runs (1966–2012), lo...

Tõnisson, H., Suursaar, Ü., Rivis, R., Kont, A. and Orviku, K., 2013. Observation and analysis of coastal changes in the West Estonian Archipelago caused by storm Ulli (Emil) in January 2012. The study analyzes the meteorological parameters, hydrodynamic conditions and coastal changes at three practically tideless locations on Saaremaa Island caused by storm Ulli (sustained wind speed 20 m/s, gusts 28 m/s) which struck the Estonian coast on 4 January 2012. It was the last and the most influential storm of a series of storms which began on November 2011. Wind and sea-level data from nearby meteorological and hydrological stations were used to provide the forcing data for hydrodynamic study. Wave hindcast was performed using a semi-empirical SMB-type wave model. Shorelines, scarp positions and beach profiles were measured in August 2011, and again during each of storm Berit (in November) and storm Ulli (in January). Local storm surge height reached 1 m, significant wave height (Hs) was up to 2.8 m,...

Orviku, K., Tõnisson, H., Kont, A., Suuroja, S. and Anderson, A., 2013. Retreat rate of cliffs and scarps with different geological properties in various locations along the Estonian coast. Recently reported increased water depths and greater wave heights, perhaps associated with increased storminess, are likely to lead to more active changes, such as increased beach erosion, faster shoreline migration and sediment redistribution. A coastal environment particularly sensitive to the impact of sea-level rise is that of highly erodible cliffs and scarps. As structures are often built close to such formations, it is important to determine the retreat rate of cliffs and scarps. Among other things, knowing the retreat rate can help regulators plan coastal protection measures and can help property owners decide where to place their structures to avoid damage. The principal objective of the current study is to find and analyze the retreat rate of cliffs and scarps in several locations along the Estonian ...

Buried or elevated coastal ridges may serve as archives of past variations in sea level and climate conditions. Sometimes such ridges or coastal scarps appear in patterns, particularly on uplifting coasts with adequate sediment supply. Along the seacoasts of Estonia, where relative-to-geoid postglacial uplift can vary between 1.7 and 3.4 mm/yr, at least 27 areas with rhythmic geomorphic patterns have been identified from LiDAR images and elevation data. Such patterns were mainly found on faster emerging and well-exposed, tideless coasts. These are mostly located at heights between 1 and 21 m above sea level, the formation of which corresponds to a period of up to 7500 years. Up to approximately 150 individual ridges were counted on some cross-shore sections. Ten of these ridge patterns that formed less than 4500 years ago were chosen for detailed characterization and analysis in search of possible forcing mechanisms. Among these more closely studied cases, the mean ridge spacing varied between 19 and 28 m. Using land uplift rates from the late Holocene period, the timespans of the corresponding cross sections were calculated. The average temporal periodicity of the ridges was between 23 and 39 years with a gross mean value of 31 years. Considering the regular nature of the ridges, they mostly do not reflect single extreme events, but rather a decadal-scale periodicity in storminess in the region of the Baltic Sea. Although a contribution from some kind of self-organization process is possible, the rhythmicity in ancient coastal ridge patterns is likely linked to quasi-periodic 25−40-year variability, which can be traced to Estonian long-term sea level records and wave hindcasts, as well as in regional storminess data and the North Atlantic Oscillation index.

Relying on the results of multivariate analysis of the re-analysis case studies from the BaltCoast project, specific features of integrated coastal management (ICM) approaches in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation are highlighted in this paper. Eleven Eastern Baltic ICM case studies have been re-analyzed in-depth, which was the main focus of the present paper, covering a wide range of coastal landscapes, themes, policy issues, and ICM approaches. Five principal components explaining 84.86% of the total variance of ICM factor scores have been elicited by calculating rotation sums of squared loadings: (1) Stakeholder Involvement; (2) Research Base; (3) Planning Consistency; (4) Policy Environment, and (5) Development of Plans/Strategies. A truly dedicated involvement of a wide range of stakeholders throughout all process stages showed to be critical for further successful advance of ICM processes and principles based on the systems approach in the Baltic States and the Russian Federation.