Assessing storm-related geomorphic shoreline changes based on GPS surveys, old maps and aerial photographs

Digital shorelines obtained from old maps and photographs as well as more recent GPS surveys are used to study the developments in coastal geomorphic processes in relation to variations in climatic and oceanographic forcing factors in the Baltic Sea area. By the end of the 20th century, the postglacial isostatic land uplift is nearly balanced out by the sea level rise and storminess-related shore changes have become crucial. The current rate of shoreline change in western Estonia is 5 times higher than it was in the 1900s-1950s; the intensity of shore processes has increased at westerly exposed study sites and slightly decreased at northerly exposed sites, which is in accordance with the long-term variations in regional storminess.