A decision support framework for the management of lagoon ecosystems was tested using four European Lagoons: Ria de Aveiro (Portugal), Mar Menor (Spain), Tyligulskyi Liman (Ukraine) and Vistula Lagoon (Poland/Russia). Our aim was to formulate integrated management recommendations for European lagoons. To achieve this we followed a DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State Change-Impacts-Responses) approach, with focus on integrating aspects of human wellbeing, welfare and ecosystem sustainability. The most important drivers in each lagoon were identified, based on information gathered from the lagoons’ stakeholders, complemented by scientific knowledge on each lagoon as seen from a land-sea perspective. The DPSIR cycles for each driver were combined into a mosaic-DPSIR conceptual model to examine the interdependency between the multiple and interacting uses of the lagoon. This framework emphasizes the common links, but also the specificities of responses to drivers and the ecosystem services provided. The information collected was used to formulate recommendations for the sustainable management of lagoons within a Pan-European context. Several common management recommendations were proposed, but specificities were also identified. The study synthesizes the present conditions for the management of lagoons, thus analysing and examining the activities that might be developed in different scenarios, scenarios which facilitate ecosystem protection without compromising future generations.

The paper studies variations in the water level and surface temperature of coastal lagoons along the southern and south-eastern shores of the Baltic Sea: the Curonian Lagoon, Vistula Lagoon, and Darss-Zingst Bodden Chain. Linear regressions for annual mean water level variations showed a positive trend in water level, but at different rates. The highest rate during the period between 1961–2008 was recorded for the Curonian and Vistula lagoons (~ 4mm year−1), the lowest for the DarssZingst Bodden Chain (approximately ~ 1mm year−1). The warming trend of the mean surface water temperature in the lagoons was 0.03°C year−1 in the period 1961–2008. Moreover, the variability in annual water temperature and sea level as well as their extreme values have increased most dramatically since the 1980s

This paper presents an overview of the sub-mesoscale eddies observed in the coastal zone of the south-eastern Baltic near the shores of the Sambian Peninsula and the Curonian Spit based on CODAR (high-frequency coast-based radar) measurements and analysis of MODIS and ASAR satellite images for the period 30 March 2000–31 December 2011. It was found that when winds are predominantly SW, S or W, a wake eddy of varying size (up to 25km in diameter) forms off Cape Taran and can cover the area between the shoreline and the 65m isobath. Its longest lifetime, observed using MODIS images, was 6days. Another location where coastal sub-mesoscale eddies (up to 10–15km in diameter) of varying form regularly appear is the coastal slope near the southern and central part of the Curonian Spit

Geosynthetic materials are applied in measures for coastal protection. Weathering or any damage of constructions, as shown by a field study in Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), could lead to the littering of the beach or the sea (marine littering) and the discharge of possibly harmful additives into the marine environment. The ageing behavior of a widely used geotextile made of polypropylene was studied by artificial accelerated ageing in water-filled autoclaves at temperatures of 30 to 80 °C and pressures of 10 to 50 bar. Tensile strength tests were used to evaluate the progress of ageing, concluding that temperature rather than pressure was the main factor influencing the ageing of geotextiles. Using a modified Arrhenius equation, it was possible to calculate the half-life for the loss of 50% of the strain, which corresponds to approximately 330 years. Dynamic surface leaching and ecotoxicological tests were performed to determine the possible release of contaminants. No harmful effects on the test organisms were observed.