Geographical information dataset “geosynthetics in coastal protection of the South-East Baltic”

The database provides information on coastal protection structures (containing geosynthetic materials) located on the coast of the South-East Baltic, in the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) and the Pomeranian Voivodeship (Poland). The fragments of geosynthetics may enter the environment due to partial destruction and operational losses and become a new type of coastal pollution. The database contains the following sections: the tabular data about coastal protecting structures [ProtectingStructures_tab.xlsx]; the point vector geodata about these structures [ProtectingStructures_pnt.kmz] and used geosynthetic materials; the satellite images and photos [ProtectingStructures_images.pdf] demonstrated the general and close-up location of the coastal protecting structures in the satellite image, as well as their seeming. Information was collected during the ERANET-RUS_Plus joint project EI-GEO, ID 212 (RFBR 18-55-76002 ERA_a, BMBF 01DJ18005).


a b s t r a c t
The database provides information on coastal protection structures (containing geosynthetic materials) located on the coast of the South-East Baltic, in the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) and the Pomeranian Voivodeship (Poland). The fragments of geosynthetics may enter the environment due to partial destruction and operational losses and become a new type of coastal pollution. The database contains the follow-

Value of the Data
• Geosynthetic materials are widely used in various structures, including coastal protection, anti-landslide and anti-erosion structures. In case of damage or prolonged operation, geosynthetics debris can pollute the marine environment. • A dataset presents the information on coastal protection structures containing geosynthetic materials. These structures could be the potential sources for geosynthetic debris emission into the marine environment of the South-East Baltic. • Researchers, beach managers and practitioners may use these data.
• The data can be used further as reference data to estimate the progress in beach cleaning for this part of the Baltic shores or comparison with other shores. The data should be used to identify the sources of geosynthetic contamination related to the destruction of coastal protection structures and construction activities at the shore, which helps engineers avoid it in the future.

Data Description
The data is collected in some separate data files, which have open access with the article and to repository: -tabular data: spreadsheets ( * .xlsx) (to repository [1] ); -vector geodata: imtaractive map data ( * .kmz) (to repository [1] ), -images: satellite images and photos embedded in the PDF document ( * .pdf) (to repository [1] ).
Spreadsheets (named "ProtectingStructures_tab.xlsx") contain the coastal protection structures located on the sea coast of the South-East Baltic. Sheet 1 (named "ProtectingStruc-turesSEB") shows a list of coastal protection structures in the South-Eastern Baltic that contain geosynthetics and their characteristics. It has 10 columns ( Table 1 ): the number (the conventional two-level number assigned to the structure); the type (type of structure); the location (closest settlement to which the structure is located); the country (country where the structure is located); Building_Reconstruction_year (the year of building or last reconstruction of the structure); Geosyntetic_type (type of geosynthetic material used in the structure); Length_m (length of the structure in m); Width_beach_m (width of the beach in front of the structure, range, m); Lat (latitude, °); Lon (longitude, °). Sheet 2 (named "Legend") shows the legend described above.
Intaractive map data [ProtectingStructures_pnt.kmz] is the point vector layer that contains the information about coastal protection structures located on the sea coast of the South-East Baltic. Projected Coordinate System is WGS 1984, UTM Zone 34N, Projection is Transverse Mercator. The attribute table has the columns ( Table 2 ): the number (the conventional two-level number assigned to the structure); the type (type of structure); the location (closest settlement to which the structure is located); the country (country where the structure is located); Build-ing_Reconstruction_year (year of building or last reconstruction of the structure); each type of geosynthetics has a separate column (Geotextile, Gabion_coating, Geocontainers, Geocells, Geomat, PVC_sheet_pile), the absence of geosynthetics is designated as "0", the presence of the geosynthetics is designated as "1"; Length_m (length of the structure in m); Width_beach_m (width of the beach in front of the structure, range, m); Lat (latitude, °); Lon (longitude, °).
The satellite images and photos are embedded in the PDF document [ProtectingStruc-tures_images.pdf]. They demonstrate the general location (scale 1 : 50 0 0 0) of the coastal protection structures in the satellite image ( Fig. 1 ) and their appearance in the photos ( Fig. 2 ).

Experimental Design, Materials and Methods
Information-Prediction Automatic System (IPAS) was developed for the Baltic Sea shore within the Kaliningrad Oblast in 20 05-20 06 years and implemented in the State Organization of the Kaliningrad Oblast "Baltberegozaschita'' (coastal management authority) in 2007. It is used as database for shore protection engineering and a tool for analyses and forecasting of coastal processes. IPAS is regularly used for processing and analysis of data, preparation of analytical notes for the Government of Kaliningrad Oblast and for municipal authorities [2 , 3] .
Modern geosynthetic materials are widely used in various structures, including coastal protection, anti-landslide and anti-erosion structures. In damage or prolonged use, geosynthetics during contact with seawater can break off and enter the Baltic Sea, polluting it [4 , 5] . The fragments of geosynthetics are transported along the shore and episodically washed out onshore by the same physical mechanisms which form the bach casts [6] .
All new structures, including those with geosynthetic material, have been added to the IPAS. According to archival data, it was found that 16 coastal and anti-landslide structures, in which geosynthetic materials were used, are located on the sea coast of the Kaliningrad Oblast. Similar objects (17 ones) were identified on the Polish sea coasts.
Tabular data and vector geodata contained the main characteristics of coastal protection structures (type of structure, year of construction or reconstruction, length of the structure, type of geosynthetics) were obtained from the data of archival materials "Baltbergozaschita" including IPAS's data [3] , as well as from open published sources [7][8][9][10][11][12] .
Spatial data (geographic coordinates, location, width of the beach) were obtained from satellite images fron the GoogleEarth and the YandexMaps via the service SAS.Planet [13] .
According to Esiukova et al. [4] geosynthetic materials are made from polypropylene (PP), polyester (PET), polyethylene (PE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyamide (nylon), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and fibreglass. PP and PET are the most widely used materials. The most frequent found debris of geosynthetic materials are related to five types: geotextile, geomat, degraded gabion coating, geocontainers and geocells. Geotextile, geomat and geocells are inside protecting structures, i.e. its serve as an underlying or reinforcing material. Geocontainers and gabion mesh are outside the structure and perform the function of a shell. The width of the beach in front of the coastal protection structure is an important parameter shows how far the structure is, on average, from the shoreline. Depending on the season, it may vary from complete absence to several tens of meters [14] . In the dataset, the values of beach width were rounded to the nearest 5 m. A value of "0" characterises structures that are entirely submerged or are at the shoreline.
Satellite images demonstrate the general location and close-up location of the coastal protection structures in the satellite image ( Fig. 1 ). Figures were obtained from GoogleEarth and YandexMaps via the SAS.Planet service [13] . Photos of structures were made by the authors or obtained from stock materials ( Fig. 2 ).
On the sea coast of the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), 16 coastal protection structures contain geosynthetic materials. The total length is about 8 km ( Fig. 3 ). On the eastern coast of Poland, Pomeranian Voivodeship, from the port of Ustka to the Polish-Russian border on the Vistula Spit, there are 17 coastal protection structures with a total length of about 12 km. Almost all identified coastal protection structures were built or reconstructed in the last 20 years.
All these constructions could be a potential source of geosynthetic materials entering the Baltic Sea. The potential primary contaminants can be the remains of gabion braids and scraps of geotextiles used as cushioning material.

Ethics Statement
It is not relevant to this study.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have or could be perceived to have influenced the work reported in this article.