Abstract
Erosion is one of the major issues currently facing coastal areas. Some consequences of this process are beach loss and higher flood risk, which will likely be exacerbated given ongoing sea-level rise. With this in mind, those responsible for conservation and management decisions need appropriate tools with which to identify critical coastal areas, as well as to analyse, interpret, and visualise them with the appropriate geomorphological and environmental background. The aim of this work was to present a methodology for improving the analysis and interpretation of coastal erosion rates, as well as to guarantee wide access and dissemination of erosion data. To that end, an approach for the production, management, and dissemination of shoreline erosion data for the Andalusian coast in Southern Spain was developed. This approach enables the analysis and interpretation of the erosion rates in coasts by linking erosion rates with geomorphological and thematic information using a data model. Additionally, this methodology was proven to be a valid and appropriate tool for the design of a web-based viewer, being the best way to represent the erosion rates obtained every 50 m of shore for the entire Andalusian coast, being an exposed coastal front 917 km long. This is particularly useful for integrated coastal zone management schemes, enabling quick and easy access to valuable information.
Highlights
The human presence along the coast is a well-known and increasingly extensively studied phenomenon [1]
The methodology was based on three distinct phases (Figure 2): (1) Production phase, in which the data sources and the analysis periods were chosen, the data model designed and implemented, and the photo-interpretation and digitization of shorelines undertaken; (2) analysis phase, in which the erosion rates for the chosen periods associated with them were calculated; and (3) operation phase, in which all information derived from the analysis phase was linked to transects perpendicular to the shoreline
The erosion data model designed to fit this particular need provides a useful tool for improving the erosion rates analysis and interpretation
Summary
The human presence along the coast is a well-known and increasingly extensively studied phenomenon [1]. This situation has led to a continual increase in anthropogenic pressures on the coastal zone [2], with the consequent deterioration of environmental conditions. Beach erosion is the loss of sediment budgets, owing either to lower sediment inputs, higher outputs, or changes in their transit (longitudinal or transversal) [8]. Those sediments can be transported and redistributed alongshore by coastal
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