Low Sea Level Occurrence of the Southern Baltic Sea Coast

The level of 440 cm is defined as the upper limit of low sea level. This value is also accepted as the warning level for navigation, according to the NAVTEX. The low sea levels along the southern Baltic Sea coast were analyzed in the years 1955 – 2005. Lowest values recorded ranged from 309 cm in Wismar to 370 cm in Kołobrzeg. The phenomenon was chiefly generated by hurricane like offshore winds. Extremely low levels were not frequent, their occurrence did not exceed more than 0,3% in Świnoujście and not more than 1% in Warnemünde. In summer months these phenomena occurred extremely seldom, they were more fre-quent in the western, than in the eastern part of the coast. Long-term variation and statistical analysis was pre-sented. Probability of low sea levels occurrence was calculated by Gumbel method and percentile distribution for 4 gauge stations was analyzed. The calculations revealed that, for instance, in Warnemünde once in 20 years the minimum sea level can be as low as 358 cm.