Coastal Flooding and Erosion under a Changing Climate: Implications at a Low-Lying Coast (Ebro Delta)

Grases, Albert; Gràcia, Vicente; Garcı́a-León, Manuel; Lin-Ye, Jue; Sierra, Joan Pau

doi:10.3390/w12020346

Cited by 60 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…For instance, extreme coastal flooding of 3 km inland and overwashing of the sand barrier in the Ebro Delta were reported [34] during the January 2020 storm, which is highlighted in the distribution map of inundation (Figure 6). Such coastal responses have also been identified for past extreme storm events in the area [35,36].…”

Section: Inferred Damage and Storm Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 83%

The Use of News Information Published in Newspapers to Estimate the Impact of Coastal Storms at a Regional Scale

Sancho-García

Guillén

Gràcia

et al. 2021

JMSE

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The evaluation of coastal damage caused by storms is not straightforward and different approaches can be applied. In this study, damage caused by extreme storms is evaluated at a regional scale based on news information published in regional newspapers. The data derived from the news are compared with hydrodynamic parameters to check the reliability of this methodology as a preliminary” fast approach” to evaluate storm damage and to identify hotspots along the coast. This methodology was applied to the two most extreme storms ever recorded along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, which occurred in January 2017 and January 2020, severely impacting the coast and causing significant community concerns. The news information from different media sources was processed and weighted to describe the resulting erosion, inundation, sand accumulation, and destruction of infrastructures. Moreover, an accuracy index for scoring the quality of the information was proposed. In spite of some limitations of the method, the resulting regional coastal hazard landscape of damage provides a rapid overview of the intensity and distribution of the damage and enables one to identify the location of potential hotspots for the analyzed extreme storm events. The results show that estimated damage intensity is better related to maximum wave energy than cumulative wave energy during a storm, and that beach characteristics should also be included for understanding the distribution of coastal damage.

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Section: Inferred Damage and Storm Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 83%

The Use of News Information Published in Newspapers to Estimate the Impact of Coastal Storms at a Regional Scale

Sancho-García

Guillén

Gràcia

et al. 2021

JMSE

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“…Such preventive approaches can aid to mitigate devastating effects and, eventually, strengthen the community resilience at multiple scales (Klein et al, 2003;Linnenluecke et al, 2012;Summers et al, 2018). Moreover, there is an emerging question about the triggering role of both anthropogenic pressures and global warming on the frequency, duration, spatial extent, and intensity of present and future extreme sea states (Konisky et al, 2015;Sánchez-Arcilla et al, 2016;Grases et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although both images do not discriminate between storm surge (i.e., salty water) and rain-induced (i.e., fresh water) flooding, it has been largely acknowledged that marine water fluxes rushed as far as 3 km inland. Hectares of rice fields were thus inundated with seawater, damaging soil fertility, and seaside promenades (Grases et al, 2020). The storm also resulted in degraded habitats and detriment of the adequate life cycle of local fauna (Mascort et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Performance of High Frequency Radar in the Western Mediterranean During the Record-Breaking Storm Gloria

et al. 2021

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Storm Gloria (January 19–24, 2020) hit the NW Mediterranean Sea with heavy rainfall, strong easterly winds, and very high waves, causing structural damages and 13 fatalities. The low-lying Ebro Delta (ED) region was severely inundated, ruining rice fields and seaside promenades. A variety of Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) modeling and observational products were jointly used to examine the fingerprint of Gloria and the response of the upper oceanic layer. According to the results, Gloria can be interpreted as a high-impact once-in-a-decade metocean event where various historical records were beaten. The 99th percentile of several parameters (wind speed, significant wave height, wave period, and surface current velocity), derived from long-term observational time series, was persistently exceeded. The atmospheric surge, albeit not negligible, exerted a secondary role in ED. The ability of a high-frequency radar deployed in this region (HFR-ED) to characterize the striking features of the storm was quantified from both waves and circulation aspects. Consistent radar current observations were subsequently compared against the 5-day-ahead forecast of CMEMS Iberia-Biscay-Ireland (IBI) regional ocean model to determine, from an Eulerian perspective, the strengths and shortcomings in its predictive capabilities. Time-averaged maps of surface circulation, superimposed with fields of Instantaneous Rate of Separation (IROS), were derived to resolve flow features and identify areas of elevated particles dispersion, respectively. The mean and P99 values of IROS almost doubled the historical statistics in the vicinity of the northern Ebro hemidelta. Although IBI predicted moderately well basic features of the storm-induced circulation, results suggests that coastal transport processes, likely modulated by wave-current interactions, were not fully captured. Furthermore, current estimations from other two radar systems, overlooking immediate choke points like the Ibiza Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar, evidenced Gloria’s remote-effect in the anomalous circulation patterns observed, that altered the usual water exchanges between adjacent sub-basins. Finally, three-dimensional outcomes from IBI were used to elucidate the impact of this moving storm at different depth levels. Data analyses illustrated that Gloria caused a large increase in kinetic energy and a significant deepening of the mixed layer depth.

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“…Low-lying coasts are highly vulnerable areas, in which surges not only drive flooding, but also erosion [6,7]. Extreme surge events are thus an essential driver to be considered in early warning systems and coastal defense planning [8][9][10]. A proper characterization of the extreme surge events can lead to an efficient planning of coastal areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of Future Extreme Storm Surges at the NW Mediterranean Coast (Spain)

Lin-Ye

Garcı́a-León

Gràcia³

et al. 2020

Water

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Storm surges are one of the main drivers for extreme flooding at the coastal areas. Such events can be characterized with the maximum level in an extreme storm surge event (surge peak), as well as the duration of the event. Surge projections come from a barotropic model for the 1950-2100 period, under a severe climate change scenario (RCP 8.5) at the northeastern Spanish coast. The relationship of extreme storm surges to three large-scale climate patterns was assessed: North Atlantic Oscillation (N AO), East Atlantic Pattern (EAWR), and Scandinavian Pattern (SC). The statistical model was built using two different strategies. In Strategy #1, the joint probability density was characterized by a moving-average series of stationary Archimedean copula, whereas in Strategy #2, the joint probability density was characterized by a non-stationary probit copula. The parameters of the marginal distribution and the copula were defined with generalized additive models. The analysis showed that the mean values of surge peak and event duration were constant and were independent of the proposed climate patterns. However, the values of N AO and SC influenced the threshold and the storminess of extreme events. According to Strategy #1, the variance of the surge peak and event duration increased with a fast shift of negative SC and a positive N AO, respectively. Alternatively, Strategy #2 showed that the variance of the surge peak increased with a positive EAWR. Both strategies coincided in that the joint dependence of the maximum surge level and the duration of extreme surges ranged from low to medium degree. Its mean value was stationary, and its variability was linked to the geographical location. Finally, Strategy #2 helped determine that this dependence increased with negative N AO.

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Coastal Flooding and Erosion under a Changing Climate: Implications at a Low-Lying Coast (Ebro Delta)

Cited by 60 publications

References 65 publications

The Use of News Information Published in Newspapers to Estimate the Impact of Coastal Storms at a Regional Scale

The Use of News Information Published in Newspapers to Estimate the Impact of Coastal Storms at a Regional Scale

On the Performance of High Frequency Radar in the Western Mediterranean During the Record-Breaking Storm Gloria

Modeling of Future Extreme Storm Surges at the NW Mediterranean Coast (Spain)

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