Abstract
The small island areas oriented to coastal tourism are highly vulnerable to marine storms, given the fluctuation of this economic sector and the increase in its exposure due to the increasing anthropogenic presence on the coastline. In this context, the storms between 1958 and 2017 are studied here in the most important tourist enclaves of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, located in the municipalities of Arona and Adeje (SW of Tenerife) and in San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán (S-SW of Gran Canaria). In order to perform the analysis, wave data from State Ports (Spain) (SIMAR-44 nodes, Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of Spain) are used. A statistical study of the phenomena can help establish a threshold for the identification of a marine storm based on a significant wave height (Hs) of 2.7 m in Arona and Adeje and 1.7 m in San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán. The application of this threshold identified 144 episodes in the SW of Tenerife and 154 in the S-SW of Gran Canaria. Their behavior is examined from, on the one hand, the duration, seasonality, type of waves and degree of severity that characterizes them; and, on the other, from the state of the atmosphere that concurs in its genesis by means of the Wetterzentrale synoptic maps. Finally, a first assessment of the effects of these stormy phenomena is made using local press reports on drowning, damage to urban furniture and port infrastructures and loss of sand on the beaches.
Highlights
The increasing and continued social use of the coast may convert the sea into a risk factor
Social concern about marine storms is, on the one hand, a response to the threat they pose to tourist infrastructures located on the coast; and, on the other, a reaction to the fact they are phenomena that occur in a context of climate change, with the transformations that this could bring about in sea level and in the intensity and frequency of adverse meteorological manifestations (IPCC 2013, 2014)
There are, certain distinctive nuances, as the waves reach higher values in the tourist enclaves of the SW of Tenerife. This is the case of an Hs registering 1–2 m of annual mean height (58.3%), an Hmax 2–4 m (35.2%), while an L is 100–200 m (41.3%) and a Tp of 10–14 s (38.7%). This is due to the higher incidence of non-local waves, on an island that is located further to the north and to the west than Gran Canaria in the context of the archipelago and, more exposed to Atlantic storms
Summary
The increasing and continued social use of the coast may convert the sea into a risk factor. It is an accepted fact that this change will accentuate the vulnerability of small islands, even though the scientific literature regarding the impacts on them is limited, due to the difficulty of making statistical projections with the scales of current global models (IPCC 2014) Despite such difficulties, the assessment of disasters due to storms at sea requires an examination of their behavior, evolution and consequences. This is necessary in order to assess their danger and the population’s ability to adapt and mitigate their effects, especially when it comes to small, highly exposed spaces with a tourist economy (UNISDR 2009; Tsai and Chen 2011) In this respect, the relevance of a risk analysis based on its estimation, identification and understanding is undoubted (Van Western 2013). The most frequently applied methods in the risk study at a local scale are centered on determining the danger and its relationship with exposure and vulnerability, in order to estimate its possible harmful effects (Carreño et al 2002)
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