Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Baltic coastline stretches from the Lübecker Bucht in the west to the Polish border, encompassing Germany's largest Baltic islands (Rügen, Usedom, Hiddensee) and the shallow Bodden lagoon system behind them. The Baltic is effectively non-tidal — gravitational tidal range is under 0.2 metres — meaning it is one of the few coasts in Europe where the astronomical tide plays essentially no role in planning. Water levels are driven instead by wind: sustained westerlies and northwesterlies raise the level (Windstau); easterlies deplete it. The 1872 Baltic flood remains the reference catastrophe, raising sea level by 3 metres above mean at some points. Warnemünde, the beach district of Rostock at the mouth of the Warnow river, is the primary gauge station and the main summer beach destination by domestic tourist volumes. Rügen's Jasmund National Park, with its chalk cliffs of Königsstuhl, holds UNESCO World Heritage status as part of the European primeval beech forests designation. The Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula to the west of Warnemünde is a narrow spit of dune and pine forest with restricted development and excellent kiteboarding at Zingst and Prerow. For authoritative German tide data, consult BSH (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie).