Flooding of Sandy Beaches in a Changing Climate. The Case of the Balearic Islands (NW Mediterranean)

被引:14
作者
Agulles, Miguel [1 ,2 ]
Jorda, Gabriel [1 ,3 ]
Lionello, Piero [4 ,5 ]
机构
[1] Inst Espanol Oceanog IEO CSIC, Ctr Oceanog Balear, Palma De Mallorca, Spain
[2] Inst Mediterraneo Estudios Avanzados IMEDEA, Esporles, Spain
[3] Univ Illes Baleares UIB, Dept Phys, Palma De Mallorca, Spain
[4] Univ Salento, Dipartimento Sci & Tecnol Biol Ambientali, Lecce, Italy
[5] Euromediterranean Ctr Climate Change, Ctr Euromediterraneo Cambiamenti Climat, Lecce, Italy
基金
欧盟地平线“2020”;
关键词
beaches; flooding; sea level rise (SLR); hybrid downscaling; sea state; SEA-LEVEL VARIABILITY; EROSION; WAVES; PROPAGATION; MANAGEMENT; SHORELINE; HINDCAST; IMPACT; RISE;
D O I
10.3389/fmars.2021.760725
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
The fate of the beaches around the world has paramount importance as they are one of the main assets for touristic activities and act as a natural barrier for coastal protection in front of marine storms. Climate change could put them at risk as sea levels rise and changes in the wave characteristics may dramatically modify their shape. In this work, a new methodology has been developed to determine the flooding of sandy beaches due to changes in sea level and waves. The methodology allows a cost-effective and yet accurate estimation of the wave runup for a wide range of beach equilibrium profiles and for different seagrass coverage. This, combined with regional projections of sea level and wave evolution, has allowed a quantification of the future total water level and coastline retreat for 869 beaches across the Balearic Islands for the next decades as a function of greenhouse gases emission scenario. The most pessimistic scenario (RCP8.5) at the end of the century yields an averaged percentage of flooded area of 66% under mean conditions which increases up to 86% under extreme conditions. Moreover, 72 of the 869 beaches of the region would permanently disappear while 314 would be completely flooded during storm episodes. Under a moderate scenario of emissions (RCP4.5), 37 beaches would permanently disappear while 254 would disappear only during storm episodes. In both cases, the average permanent loss of beach surface at the end of the century would be larger than 50%, rising over 80% during storm conditions. The results obtained for the Balearic Islands can be extrapolated to the rest of the Mediterranean as the beaches in all the regions have similar characteristics and will be affected by similar changes in sea level and wave climate. These projections indicate that adaptation plans for beach areas should be put in place as soon as possible.
引用
收藏
页数:15
相关论文
共 55 条
[1]  
alvarez E., 2015, ATLAS PRADERAS MARIN, P179
[2]   Storm surges in the Mediterranean Sea: Variability and trends under future climatic conditions [J].
Androulidakis, Yannis S. ;
Kombiadou, Katerina D. ;
Makris, Christos V. ;
Baltikas, Vassilis N. ;
Krestenitis, Yannis N. .
DYNAMICS OF ATMOSPHERES AND OCEANS, 2015, 71 :56-82
[3]   New methodology for describing the equilibrium beach profile applied to the Valencia's beaches [J].
Aragones, L. ;
Serra, J. C. ;
Villacampa, Y. ;
Saval, J. M. ;
Tinoco, H. .
GEOMORPHOLOGY, 2016, 259 :1-11
[4]   Global distribution of nearshore slopes with implications for coastal retreat [J].
Athanasiou, Panagiotis ;
van Dongeren, Ap ;
Giardino, Alessio ;
Vousdoukas, Michalis ;
Gaytan-Aguilar, Sandra ;
Ranasinghe, Roshanka .
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA, 2019, 11 (04) :1515-1529
[5]   Erosion consequences on beach functions along the Maresme coast (NW Mediterranean, Spain) [J].
Ballesteros, Caridad ;
Jimenez, Jose A. ;
Valdemoro, Herminia I. ;
Bosom, Eva .
NATURAL HAZARDS, 2018, 90 (01) :173-195
[6]   Dynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change [J].
Barnard, Patrick L. ;
Erikson, Li H. ;
Foxgrover, Amy C. ;
Hart, Juliette A. Finzi ;
Limber, Patrick ;
O'Neill, Andrea C. ;
van Ormondt, Maarten ;
Vitousek, Sean ;
Wood, Nathan ;
Hayden, Maya K. ;
Jones, Jeanne M. .
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 2019, 9 (1)
[7]   The global flood protection savings provided by coral reefs [J].
Beck, Michael W. ;
Losada, Inigo J. ;
Menendez, Pelayo ;
Reguero, Borja G. ;
Diaz-Simal, Pedro ;
Fernandez, Felipe .
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 2018, 9
[8]  
Bernabeu A., 2001, Rev Soc Geol de Espana, V14, P227
[9]  
Bernabeu Tello A., 2001, Revista de la Sociedad Geolgica de Espaa, V14, P227
[10]   Grain-size and textural classification of coarse sedimentary particles [J].
Blair, TC ;
McPherson, JG .
JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH, 1999, 69 (01) :6-19