An extensive offshore sand bar field in the western Baltic Sea

Updated: 2026-07-23

In the breaker zone in southeastern Gelting Bay, east of Flensburg in north Germany, a field of up to 20 parallel relatively small-scale offshore sand bars has developed. The bars, ~lhich consist of fine to medium grained sand derived from till, are flat and asymmetrical and their steeper sides generally face the shore. Crests are as much as 1000 m long; Vlavelengths vary from 7 m inshore to 70 offshore, and heights correspondingly from 5 to 70 cm. The bars are fonned by waves driven by northwesterly tvinds, and are probably destroyed during severe storms and rebuilt as they wane.