5 
1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STORM SURGES 
This monograph on the most important storm surges in the western and central parts of the 
southern Baltic Sea coast in the period from 1976 to 2000 was prepared in co-operation 
between the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für 
Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, Rostock - Hamburg) and the Institute of Meteorology and 
Water Management (Instytut Meteorologii i Gospodarki Wodnej - Oddziat Morski, Gdynia) 
following the conclusion of the Polish/German treaty on water management in the boundary 
waters. On the basis of this treaty, the forecasting and warning services of the two countries 
co-operate closely within the framework of a Polish/German working group W-1 for hydrology 
and hydrogeology in the boundary waters. This includes the exchange of hydrological data, 
information about coastal defence measures, sea-ice service, and joint scientific studies. 
Because of the separation of meteorological and hydrological competences in Germany, the 
main work on the preparation of this monograph was carried out by the maritime branch of 
IMGW. 
1.1 Brief review of scientific contributions 
The catalogue of storm surges on the Polish coasts in the years 1951-1975 (Majewski ed., 
Dziadziuszko and Wisniewska 1983) occupies an important position in the oceanographic 
literature of Poland. It describes sea level variations at three Polish gauges - Kotobrzeg, 
Ustka and Wtadystawowo - during 75 of the most interesting surges and also provides 
descriptions of the atmospheric conditions, e.g. pressure pattern, wind speeds and directions 
(this monograph is a continuation of the study published in 1983). A comparable paper 
discussing storm surges on the German Baltic Sea coast does not exist. The only similar 
publication is „Untersuchungen über Sturmflutwetterlagen an der deutschen Ostseeküste“ 
(Investigation of weather conditions causing storm surges on the German Baltic coast) by 
Erich Kohlmetz (1964), which covers the events from 1872 to 1961. 
Among other German and Polish contributions, Wielbihska (1966) gave some examples of 
the dominant influence of strong onshore wind on coastal surges. The atmospheric 
circulation patterns accompanying storm surges on the Polish coast were also investigated 
by Wisniewska (1978). 
Both the Polish and German bibliographies of the second half of the 20th century contain a 
series of studies on storm surges, which were published in various journals, as conference 
papers, or at relevant institutions. Relevant papers were published, e.g., by Kostrzewa et al. 
(1983), Majewski (1989), Malicki and Wielbihska (1992), Baerens et al. (1994), Hupfer et al. 
(1994), Neemann (1994), Dziadziuszko and Malicki (1995), Sztobryn et al. (1995), MBLU 
(1996), Beckmann (1997), Meinke (1998), Sztobryn (2000), Kowalska (2001), Stanistawczyk 
(2001,2002) and Hupfer et al. (2003). Many of these papers focus on physics and statistics 
without, however, providing detailed descriptions of individual storm surges. Adequate 
documentation is only available on a few exceptional events. This ongoing loss of information 
has not been markedly reduced until the end of the 20th century, following the introduction of 
electronic archiving of meteorological and hydrological records. In this respect, the present 
study closes a gap in the available descriptions of Baltic storm surges. 
1.2 Definition of a storm surge 
A storm surge (after Hydrological Aspects of Combined Effects of Storm Surges and Heavy 
Rainfall on River Flow, WMO - No. 704, Geneva 1988) has been defined as a rapid change 
of sea level above the level that would be observed at the same time and place without the 
impact of stormy winds. In the International Glossary of Hydrology (WMO - Geneva 1992), a 
storm surge has been defined as an elevation of the sea level caused by the passage of a 
low pressure centre. 
The exact definition of storm surges is a function of probability, but on the German Baltic 
coast a more common definition of a storm surge is the occurrence of a water level at least 
1m above the generalized mean sea level. In terms of tide gauge data, this means at least