According to the Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas (Copernicus Interactive, 2024), produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, 2023 was the warmest year on record. The average global temperature in the first 11 months of the year reached its highest level – it was 1.46°C higher than the average for the period 1850–1900. Such drastic changes inevitably lead to climate change, which in turn leads to extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and forest fires (Sayarkhalaj et al., 2023; Labudová et al., 2024), as well as stormy winds, heavy rainfall and severe flooding (Pavlova et al., 2022; Fink et al., 2009). In 2023, similar natural disasters claimed the lives of thousands of people in many countries around the world. When storms occur in quick succession, the destructive impact increases. The largest number of extreme storm events in Europe occurred in the autumn-winter period of 2023–2024 (from September to February), when 25 storms of varying intensity crossed the continent (UK Storm Centre, 2024; Aeronautica Militare, 2024; Institut für Meteorologie, 2024; Hewson, 2024). All of them had different centers of formation, directions and degrees of intensity, but only a few reached the South-Eastern Baltic, and according to data analysis (Portal of..., 2024; Reliable, 2024) eight storm events impacted the coast during this time.
For the Russian part of the South-Eastern Baltic, storm situations are often destructive, causing sea level rise, coastal abrasion, and flooding (Stont et al., 2023a). Rising sea levels and increasing waves (Sokolov & Chubarenko, 2024) are destroying the coast. Areas of the sea coast of the Sambian Peninsula, the Curonian Spit and the Vistula Spit are the most vulnerable in this sector of the Baltic Sea (Dailidiene et al., 2006; Bobykina & Stont, 2015; Wolski & Wiśniewski, 2020), and those places that are not protected by bank protection structures are suffering (Domnin & Burnashov, 2022; Chubarenko et al., 2023). In addition, the storm winds cause a surge of seawater that intrudes into the waters of the Curonian and Vistula Lagoons and further into the estuaries of rivers, causing localised sea level rise, flooding and brackish water influx upstream of the rivers (Stashko & Aleksandrov, 2023; Chubarenko & Margoński, 2008; Stont et al., 2020; Idzelyte et al., 2023; Chubarenko et al., 2017; Dailidienė & Davulienė, 2008).
The intensity and severity of storm activity has increased in recent years (Dvoeglazova, 2019). Individual local objects, such as parts of settlements, river floodplains and water bodies, are particularly vulnerable. Thus, in January 2022, 5 storms in a row with breaks of 1–3 days affected to the territory of the Kaliningrad Oblast during 2 weeks (Stont et al., 2023b). Locally, this led to coastal collapse and erosion of the foredune on the Vistula Spit (Water is..., 2022), and several kilometres of road on the Curonian Spit were flooded (Tourists…, 2022). A series of storms flooded the Blue Flag beach on the west coast of the Sambian Peninsula, partially destroying the floating promenade and overflowing the coastal lagoon lakes (The storm…, 2022). As a result of the storm activity, a state of emergency was declared in the Kaliningrad Oblast. In 2023–2024, this section of the coast was again devastated by storms: the beach was partially washed away, recreational infrastructure was flooded (Baltberegozaschita..., 2024), the direction of the watercourse changed, causing local erosion of the shore (Complete washout..., 2024), and the dam of an amber quarry broke (In Kaliningrad..., 2023), resulting in its complete destruction.
It is clear that human activities are having a significant impact on coastal ecosystems. The pressures they exert interact and reinforce each other in complex ways under climate change, creating a mosaic of environmental impacts, what is has been noted in (Schoeman et al. 2023). The water bodies on the western coast of the Sambian Peninsula of the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, formed as a result of economic activity more than half a century ago, are currently experiencing significant impact from natural and anthropogenic factors. Changes in their hydrological and morphometric characteristics can occur in a very short time – from storm to storm.
This article analyses the storm events that occurred in the Russian part of the South-Eastern Baltic during the autumn-winter of 2023–2024. It also assesses the consequences of these extreme events on the coastal reservoirs of the western coast of the Sambian Peninsula of the Kaliningrad Oblast. Furthermore, during the analysis, the methodological component of the integrated use of field measurement data, recorder data of meteorological and hydrological information, re-analysis data, and satellite images was worked out.