Analysis of 50-year wind data of the southern Baltic Sea for modelling coastal morphological evolution – a case study from the Darss-Zingst Peninsula

High-resolution wind series in the southern Baltic Sea for the period of 1958–2007 are analysed to generate representative climate input conditions for a multi-scale morphodynamic model to simulate decadal-to-centennial coastline change. Four seasonal wind classes, each characterized by a predominant distribution of wind direction and speed, are derived from statistical analysis. Further calibration of this statistical description is done by sensitivity studies of the model to generate similar coastline changes of the Darss-Zingst peninsula as the measured data for the last century. The coastline change of this area is then projected for the next 300 years based on four different climate scenarios, through which impacts of accelerated sea level rise and storm frequency on the long-term coastline change are quantified.