Port of Gdańsk and Port of Gdynia’s exposure to threats resulting from storm extremes

This study is intended to make a first estimate of the exposure of the two Polish largest ports – Gdańsk and Gdynia, localized in the Gulf of Gdańsk – to threats from storm extremes. These ports are elements of the Polish critical infrastructure and presented analysis is one of the tasks related to critical infrastructure protection. Hypothetical extreme meteorological conditions have been defined based on 138-year NOAA data and assumed wave fields for those conditions have been generated. Using HIPOCAS project database the 21 extreme historical storms over the period 1958–2001 were selected to simulate realistic conditions in the vicinity of the ports. The highest significant wave height was found to be nearly 4 m in the vicinity of Port of Gdańsk and nearly 2 m in the vicinity of Port of Gdynia. A future intensification of these wave conditions should be considered due to the climate change and sea level rise.