Effects of Large-Scale Coastal Construction on Storm Surge Height in Shallow Coastal Zones of the Yellow Sea, South Korea

Abstract

Lee, H.-Y.; Jeong, Y.-H.; Kim, D.-H.; Kim, D.-S.; Cho, W.-H., and Hong, S.-J., 2020. Effects of large-scale coastal construction in shallow coastal zones of the Yellow sea on changes in storm surge height. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 252–256. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Fifty-three percent of the South Korean coastline has been artificially modified due to large-scale land reclamation and dike construction. In particular, 40% of tidal flats have disappeared from the shallow coastal zones on the west coast. The construction of such large-scale coastal developments has caused the typhoon-induced maximum storm surge height to increase by 24% on average. This can primarily be ascribed to the decreased surface area of the tidal flats caused by large-scale coastal construction, given that storm surge energy is significantly dissipated over the extensive tidal flats with high depth-dependent bottom friction coefficients. Additionally, complex interactions between multiple factors, including decreased water volume and simplified coastline, caused, for example, by semi-closed bay reclamation are considered responsible for increased storm surge height.