Long-Term Shoreline Displacements and Coastal Morphodynamic Pattern of North Rhodes Island, Greece

Abstract

Shoreline evolution and seabed morphology changes depend on coastal geomorphology as well as hydrodynamics of the nearshore region. This study investigates the morphological evolution of the northernmost headland of Rhodes Island, Greece, using a method that combines historical shoreline evolution analysis and numerical modelling of coastal processes. The satellite and aerial imagery analysis under a GIS platform reveals that, since 1982, the overall surface area of the backshore has slightly increased, though in shorter period times, large variations have been identified. The part of the beach that is most prone to extreme changes is the spit-like formation at the tip of the headland. Wind-generated waves and induced currents are the main forcing factors that affect the shape and orientation of the spit-like beach. This spit-like morphology changes seasonally due to variations in the dominant wave regime. West sector waves cause sediment deposition at the eastern sector of the spit-like formation, whereas strong southeast wave events during the winter favor accretion at the west sector, inducing an asymmetrical shape. Thus, the analysis results indicate an annual balance in sediment transport.

Assessment of the Coastal Vulnerability to the Ongoing Sea Level Rise for the Exquisite Rhodes Island (SE Aegean Sea, Greece)

“…In addition, despite the fact that the sediment transport trends are complicated and seasonally and locally differentiated, a permanent longshore drift occurs on either side of the island, progressively removing sediment to the north [43,45]. Besides, during extreme storm surge/wave events, cross-shore sediment transport processes shift beach material deeper than the closure depth, which eventually cannot return to the shore in due course during the beach recovery phases [36,112]. Therefore, the majority of the beaches in Rhodes suffer from gradual erosion due to long-term sediment loss, which subsequently configures shoreline retreat conditions.…”

“…The analysis of the evolution of Rhodes shoreline for the period 2000-2018 reveals mean erosion/accretion rates ranging from -1 to +1 m y -1 , thus indicating moderate vulnerability for almost the whole coastline length (Table 1, Figure 8a). However, sporadic beaches of high to very high vulnerability are identified in low-inclination (<4%) coastal segments, such as the southern Apolakkia-Prasonisi area, the northwestern Ialysos-Fanes area and the Rodos City-Kalathos area [112] (Figure 8a). Concerning the beautiful and greatly popular northeastern beaches of Faliraki, Afantou and Archangelos, seasonal shoreline variations are a usual phenomenon over the years [110], with the sediment budget, however, being in balance until now.…”

Modeling Hydro-Dynamics in a Harbor Area in the Daishan Island, China

“…In addition, in future work, global sensitivity analysis or robust sensitivity analysis should be applied to identify critical model input parameters and quantify the impact of uncertainty on model outputs, due to global sensitivity analysis can provide reliable diagnostic insights that are robust to highly uncertain future conditions [44][45][46]. Besides, wave motion will be considered in next paper [47][48][49].…”

Assessment of Wave Storm-Induced Flood Vulnerability in Rhodes Island, Greece

“…The beaches of Rhodes have a 7-8% slope in the northern part, and they are gentler (a slope of about 4%) in northwest part of the island [27]. The beaches in northeastern part have a mean slope of about 6%, which is steeper in the eastern, southeastern, and southwestern (about 7%) regions.…”