Management of the Mediterranean Coast in Climate Change Scenarios

Abstract:

Model projections can provide a rich information on the hazards posed by marine storminess on coastal areas and their evolution in climate change scenarios. When addressing coastal protection issues is however necessary to consider simultaneously different factors, that are usually separately computed, such as sea level rise, storm surges and ocean waves and adopt an approach accounting for their superposition. Further, this information need to be combined with that on the vulnerability of the coastal areas, their morphology and the location of harbors and defenses. This study shows how to use multi-factor projections and geographical information to identify critical parts of the coastline and to suggest to policymaker where to invest resources at country and regional scale. Results are applied to the Mediterranean coastline. Impacts on beaches (e.g. erosion), harbors (e.g. overtopping), human settlements (e.g., flood damage) and their management through enhanced coastal defenses are discussed. This study is part of the RISES-AM project (FP7-EU-603396).