The most massive design on the Baltic shore used geosynthetic materials, the landslide protection construction in Svetlogorsk (1300 m long, 90,000 m2 area, South-Eastern Baltic, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian Federation) comprises the geotextile and the erosion control geomat coating the open-air cliff slopes. Due to changes in elastic properties during long-term use in the open air, as well as due to its huge size, this structure can become a non-negligible source of microplastic pollution in the Baltic Sea. Weather conditions affected the functioning of the structure, so it was assessed that geosynthetic materials used in this outdoor (open-air) operation in coastal protection structures degraded over time. Samples taken at points with different ambient conditions (groundwater outlet; arid places; exposure to the direct sun; grass cover; under landslide) were tested on crystallinity and strain at break. Tests showed a 39–85% loss of elasticity of the polymer filaments after 3 years of use under natural conditions. Specimens exposed to sunlight are less elastic and more prone to fail, but not as much as samples taken from shaded areas in the grass and under the landslide, which were the most brittle.

The coastline of the Kaliningrad Oblast is an area of the South-East Baltic, which continues from the Vistula Spit to the Curonian Spit via Sambia Penisula. The coastline has been subject to severe erosion over the past years. The goal of the paper is to analyse whether the alongshore variations of the storm surge water level, field of waves and currents are the reason for the erosion alongshore variability. The numerical simulations were carried out using the quasi-stationary approach for the model wind. The offshore wave breaking distance and the non-linear dependence between wind surge and wind speed were estimated for four typical coastline sites. The alongshore velocity on most of the coastline was enough powerful to transport the fine, medium and coarse sands. West, northern-west and north winds were defined as the most dangerous for coastal erosion. The convergence and divergence of alongshore currents as well as the vortex zones were identified for each wind direction. The results were used to analyse the alongshore current velocity, wind surge, and significant wave height variability against the shore erosion characteristics. The hypothesis that the places of convergence and divergence of alongshore currents correspond to the accumulative and erosion zones wasn‘t confirmed with one exception on the western shore of the Sambia Peninsula. Three options were supposed to explain the absence of correlation between the monitoring results on coastal erosion and modelled hydrodynamic conditions: the studied shore has not had enough free sand to demonstrate the typical behaviour of dissipative shores; the erosion characteristics depend on the very local conditions which weren‘t resolved by numerical model; the main erosion has happened at the short term event basis when waves reach the shore at the background of a general Baltic Sea high-water level and isn‘t a result of the general alongshore distribution of waves, wave surge and current characteristics.

The results of the analysis of data on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of beach wrack emissions on the coast of the Baltic Sea within the Kaliningrad Oblast are presented. A technique for using beach wrack in agroforestry activities on the coast is proposed.

The paper provides information about the XXIX Coastal Conference, held in Kaliningrad in April 2022. The thematic directions of reports, round tables are reflected, statistical data are given on the number of speeches (232), on participating organizations (38) and cities (13). Additional events held within the framework of the conference (sessions, lectures, competitions, excursions) are described. The text is accompanied by illustrative materials – color photographs of participants taken directly during the conference. The decision of the conference notes that the practical development of new sections of the coasts, the construction of modern infrastructure facilities and the existing natural trends lead to increased coastal erosion in almost all coastal regions of Russia; that there is an urgent need to apply unified observation methods, division of work into research and monitoring and an interdisciplinary approach to jointly take into account physical, chemical and biological aspects (especially for coastal waters with limited or periodic connection with the marine area), that pollution by anthropogenic debris continues to grow, while the pollution pattern is extremely heterogeneous, and information on pollution by anthropogenic debris and microplastics of the marine environment and coasts of the Russian Federation is extremely fragmented. The conference recommends the introduction of amendments and additions to the federal and regional legislation on the regulation of the activities of nature users in the coastal zone, as well as the inventory of the natural resource potential of coastal territories and adjacent water areas with the compilation of a Coastal Registry for coastal ecosocio-economic systems of the Russian Federation. The participants highly appreciated the existing experience and results of coastal protection activities in the Kaliningrad Oblast, and also emphasized the lack of attention of the coastal community to the problems of inland waters (for example, the shores of Lake Baikal). Proposals on the venues of the conference in 2024 (Moscow) and 2026 (Lake Baikal) were announced.

A webcam was installed on the shore of the South-Eastern Baltic (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) to monitor the beach dynamics and beach-cast (BC) daily from November 1, 2019, to October 31, 2020. The beach was formed not the whole year (77%). The most frequent BC residence time was one day (1–21, 4.1 on average, and 1–19, 4.3 on average days to the west and east of the groin, respectively). The BC consisted primarily of algae. Fresh BC occupied smaller area, and its layer was thicker than that of long-discarded and trampled BC. The specific amount of material (per m²) in a fresh BC was 3.7 times higher in volume and 2.6 times higher in weight than in long-discarded and trampled BC. For fresh and old BC, the specific volumes were 63 and 17 l per m², respectively, and the specific masses were 48 and 18 kg per m², respectively.