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Transboundary Lagoons of the Baltic Sea

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The Diversity of Russian Estuaries and Lagoons Exposed to Human Influence

Part of the book series: Estuaries of the World ((EOTW))

Abstract

The Curonian and Vistula Lagoons should be considered to be a part of one natural hydraulic system, as they are connected via two branches of the Prgolya River (the Pregolya River proper and the Deyma branch). The catchment upstream of the point of bifurcation of the Pregolya River into these two branches belongs to both lagoons and comprises 14 % and 57 % of the entire catchments of the Curonian and Vistula Lagoons, respectively. Approximately 36–40 % and 60–64 % of the run-off of the Pregolya River discharges into the Curonian and Vistula Lagoons, respectively.

While the Curonian Lagoon has maintained the same environmental conditions over the ages, the Vistula Lagoon experienced considerable anthropogenic modification at the end of the nineteenth century, evolving from a freshwater running coastal lake to an estuarine lagoon with predominant marine influence.

Nowadays, changes in the physical characteristics of both lagoons are mostly expressed in water level and temperature rise. Details of the annual hydraulic cycle and the spatial patterns of salinity, temperature and bottom sediment variability are discussed for the Vistula Lagoon.

Both lagoons are transboundary, belonging to countries with different water management systems (Russia is a non-EU country, Lithuania and Poland are EU countries). Both lagoons are most intensively used for fishing, but the Vistula Lagoon has many other significant purposes as well, especially navigation. As a consequence, there exist numerous potential conflicts between environmental and anthropogenic use, as well as other types of use, of the lagoon area.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All geographical names mentioned in this chapter are given in order from South to North or from West to East. The names of rivers, in case they have different ones in different national areas, are given in order from upstream to downstream. The country names will be given in alphabetic order.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atlantic Branch of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences (AB IO RAS), Kaliningrad, Russia

    Boris Chubarenko, Dmitriy Domnin, Svetlana Navrotskaya, Zhanna Stont, Vladimir Chechko, Valentina Bobykina, Vasiliy Pilipchuk, Konstantin Karmanov, Anastasea Domnina, Tatiana Bukanova, Victoria Topchaya & Alexander Kileso

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  1. Boris Chubarenko
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Correspondence to Boris Chubarenko .

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    Ruben Kosyan

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Chubarenko, B. et al. (2017). Transboundary Lagoons of the Baltic Sea. In: Kosyan, R. (eds) The Diversity of Russian Estuaries and Lagoons Exposed to Human Influence. Estuaries of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43392-9_6

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