Offshore Sand Bar Field in the Western Baltic Sea, Southeastern Gelting Bay

Southeastern Gelting Bay, east of Flensburg in northern Germany, contains a field of up to 20 parallel offshore sand bars. The bars, formed by waves from northwesterly winds, have crests up to 1000 m long, wavelengths from 7 to 70 m, and heights from 5 to 70 cm. The dataset is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated on 2026-06-05.

Use Cases

• Modeling wave-driven sediment transport based on bar morphology described in the dataset.
• Analyzing the relationship between bar dimensions (wavelength, height) and distance from shore.
• Studying the formation and destruction cycles of sand bars during storm events as described.
• Mapping the spatial distribution of parallel sand bar fields in a sheltered bay environment.

Strengths

• Describes a specific geomorphic feature with up to 20 parallel sand bars.
• Provides concrete morphological measurements, including crest lengths up to 1000 m and wavelengths from 7 to 70 m.
• Includes a process-based explanation for bar formation and destruction.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, as the platform is Australian but the data location is German.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 06:50:43.769998; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southeastern Gelting Bay, east of Flensburg, northern Germany, western Baltic Sea.