Vulnerability of Catalan (NW Mediterranean) ports to wave overtopping due to different scenarios of sea level rise

Sierra, Joan Pau; Casanovas, Ignacio; Mösso, C.; Mestres, Marc; Sánchez‐Arcilla, Agustín

doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0879-x

Cited by 32 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…107 Sea level rise, which may well exceed recent IPCC estimates and reach more than 1 m in 2100 19 , will have considerable impact. High risk for wave overtopping in Northern Mediterranean ports is manifest, 108,109 however such coastal risks may be even higher along the Southern and Eastern shores, where adaptive capacity is generally limited by weaker economic and institutional conditions. Mediterranean port cities with more than million inhabitants each are considered at increasing risk from severe storm-surge flooding, rising sea and local land subsidence.…”

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confidence: 99%

Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean

et al. 2018

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In the Mediterranean Basin, recent accelerated changes in the environment (climate, land use, pollution, biodiversity loss) have caused loss of life and damages to infrastructure and ecosystems. The future presents unprecedented risks for human well-being, socioeconomic development, ecosystems and biodiversity. Policies for sustainable development need to aim for the mitigation of these risks but lack adequate information about the rates of environmental change and the combined risk they present to human society. For five interconnected impact domains (water, ecosystems, food, health and security), trends and scenarios point to significant risks during coming decades. More observations and better impact models exist for the Northern Mediterranean shores than for the South. This important bias is exacerbated by the large difference in financial resources available for adaptation and the development of resilience between north and south. A dedicated effort to synthesize existing scientific knowledge from all relevant disciplines is now underway to provide better understanding of the risks posed. In the Mediterranean Basin, human society and the natural environment have co-evolved over several millennia with significant climatic variations, laying the ground for diverse and culturally rich communities. The region lies in a transition zone between mid-latitude and subtropical circulation regimes. It is characterized by a complex morphology of mountain chains and strong land-sea contrasts, dense and growing human population and various environmental pressures. Observed rates of climate change in the Mediterranean Basin exceed global trends for most variables. Annual mean temperatures are now 1.4 °C above late nineteenth century levels (Figure 1), notably during the summer months. Heat waves occur more frequently, and the frequency and intensity of droughts have increased since 1950. 1,2,3 For each of the most recent decades, the surface of the Mediterranean Sea has warmed by around 0.4 °C. 4 During the period 1945-2000, sea-level has risen at a rate of 0.7±0.2 mm yr-1 , 5 accelerating to 1.1 mm yr-1 for the period 1970-2006. 6 During the last two decades, sea-level has been estimated to rise by about 3 cm decade-1 , 7 in part due to

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confidence: 99%

Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean

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“…Nicholls and Hoozemans, 1996;Jeftic et al 1996), at the regional scale (e.g. Snoussi et al 2008;Torresan et al 2012;Sierra et al 2016), at local scale (e.g. Sánchez-Arcilla et al 2011) and at the geomorphic unit scale (e.g.…”

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Impacts of sea-level rise-induced erosion on the Catalan coast

et al. 2016

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The Catalan coast as most of the developed Mediterranean coastal zone is characterized by the coincidence of stresses and pressures on the natural system with a high exposure and low adaptive capacity. Due to this, Climate Change-induced effects will increase natural hazards and aggravate their associated impacts and, in consequence, it is necessary to assess their effects for proper long-term management. In this work, we assess the impact of sea-level rise (SLR) induced shoreline retreat on the Catalan coast for three scenarios ranging from 0.53 m to 1.75 m by the year 2100. Implications are analyzed in terms of affectation of two main functions provided by beaches, i.e. recreation and protection. Obtained results show that CC will be a serious threat to analyzed functions since the expected enhanced shoreline retreat will severely decrease the recreational carrying capacity and, the capacity of protection in the near future under tested scenarios. The actual level of development along the coastal zone reduces the natural resilient capacity of beaches to SLR in such a way that, the lack of accommodation space can be identified as a main factor for the estimated impacts.

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“…Wave data have been clustered in 16 directional sectors and have been propagated from the buoys to each harbor using linear theory to obtain wave features at the port breakwater location. For more details about the data used, the hypothesis assumed and the advantages and limitations of using linear theory, see Sierra et al [29].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Detailed studies using numerical models for each individual port have not been possible due to the large number of ports analyzed. For more details about the expressions used, see Sierra et al [29].…”

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confidence: 99%

Economic Impact of Overtopping and Adaptation Measures in Catalan Ports Due to Sea Level Rise

Sierra

2019

Water

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In this paper, the impact of sea level rise (SLR) throughout the 21st century in the overtopping of port breakwaters is analyzed at a regional scale, focusing on the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean). The study is made considering three scenarios of SLR and two levels of storminess, computing the overtopping discharges in 47 ports to assess those exceeding a tolerable threshold and to roughly estimate the monetary value of the consequences of such discharges. Possible adaptation measures are examined, selecting the most cost-effective and assessing the cost of its implementation for the different scenarios and two damage levels. Results show that, as it could be expected, the number of ports affected by overtopping will increase with SLR, as well as the economic impact. Another remarkable finding of this paper is the significant savings in adaptation measures achieved allowing a minimum level of damage in contrast to the zero-damage option.

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Vulnerability of Catalan (NW Mediterranean) ports to wave overtopping due to different scenarios of sea level rise

Cited by 32 publications

References 35 publications

Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean

Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean

Impacts of sea-level rise-induced erosion on the Catalan coast

Economic Impact of Overtopping and Adaptation Measures in Catalan Ports Due to Sea Level Rise

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