Abstract
Coastal area constitutes a vulnerable environment and requires special attention to preserve ecosystems and human activities therein. To this aim, many studies have been devoted both in past and recent years to analyzing the main factors affecting coastal vulnerability and susceptibility. Among the most used approaches, the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) accounts for all relevant variables that characterize the coastal environment dealing with: (i) forcing actions (waves, tidal range, sea-level rise, etc.), (ii) morphological characteristics (geomorphology, foreshore slope, dune features, etc.), (iii) socio-economic, ecological and cultural aspects (tourism activities, natural habitats, etc.). Each variable is evaluated at each portion of the investigated coast, and associated with a vulnerability level which usually ranges from 1 (very low vulnerability), to 5 (very high vulnerability). Following a susceptibility/vulnerability analysis of a coastal stretch, specific strategies must be chosen and implemented to favor coastal resilience and adaptation, spanning from hard solutions (e.g., groins, breakwaters, etc.) to soft solutions (e.g., beach and dune nourishment projects), to the relocation option and the establishment of accommodation strategies (e.g., emergency preparedness).
Highlights
Dunes’ system protects backing natural ecosystems and human activities/settlements against flooding and erosion processes and represents a beach sediment reservoir [61]. This protection function is strictly related to their height, width and, especially, longshore continuity that is often interrupted by washover fans that constitute hot spots sensible to coastal erosion [111]
Rangel-Buitrago and Anfuso [18] focused on the prediction of coastal sensitivity at a decadal time span, considering coastal sectors protected by structures being less sensible to erosion processes with respect to non-protected sectors, since structures—at decadal scale—should not need any maintenance works and protect backing structures and/or human activities in a reliable and effective way
McLaughlin and Cooper [20] assessed the potential for a multiscaled coastal vulnerability index based on a common methodological and theoretical framework that was applied at national, regional (Coleraine Borough Council using 25 × 25 m2 grid cells) and local (Portrush East Strand using 1 × 1 m2 grid cells) scales
Summary
Coastal vulnerability, defined as the susceptibility of a coastal area to be affected by either inundation or erosion processes, due to storms [1,2,3,4], post-tropical cyclones [5], hurricanes [6,7,8,9,10] and tsunamis [11,12,13,14], is a huge problem that affects the majority of coasts worldwide and can be reflected by the destruction of property and infrastructure [15]. Based on recent applications of the CVI approach all over the world (e.g., Sekovski et al [17] Koroglu et al [36], Díaz-Cuevas et al [38], Rangel-Buitrago et al [42], Narra et al [43], Hoque et al [44], Mohd et al [45]), three different groups are here used to cluster all variables considered in the susceptibility/vulnerability analysis, i.e., forcing-related aspects, coastal characteristics, and socio-economic activities Such groups and relevant variables are detailed in the following subsections
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