Knowledge of the beach wrack residence time on the seashore is an important aspect when it comes to understanding its role in coastal ecosystems and the potential of its prosperous utilization. The research team of the Institute of Oceanology RAS carry out the periodical expeditions at the seashore of Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). In doing so, it has been found out that there is a great lability of beach wrack residence time. Beach wrack could appear or vice versa disappear within a few days or even hours.

Therefore, a webcam was designed and installed for monitoring purposes in the northern coast of the Sambian Peninsula. The webcam takes pictures and passes them on via mobile internet to a stationary server three times a day. The image covers a part of the seaside with a length of 40 m. To refine the images of the webcam, field measurements took place.The source of energy for the camera is solar panels. It has been successfully working for more than six months, starting in November 2019. Over 500 images have been obtained during this time allowing to analyze the time of beach wrack residence and correlate them with meteorological and hydrological conditions. These studies are part of Work Package 3 “Sustainability and ecological assessment” of the CONTRA project.