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Mapping coastal vulnerability against erosion along the Alicante coastline, Spain

  • José Ignacio Pagán
  • Pablo Ortíz
  • Isabel López

The assessment of coastal vulnerability helps prioritize investments to increase coastal resilience. This work aims to map the vulnerability of a 12 km coastal stretch of the province of Alicante, Spain. It is an area where natural spaces with wetlands and important dune ridges alternate with highly urbanized spots. The method calculates a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) through three main indicators: geomorphology (geology, coastal slope, erosion rate, beach width and dune width), hydrodynamics (significant wave height, mean tide range and flood level indicator) and vegetation variables (state of seagrass meadows, depth and width of these meadows and backshore area covered by vegetation). The coastal strip studied was divided into sections of 200 m, obtaining the CVI on each one. The vulnerability of each variable was evaluated from 1 (Very low) to 5 (Very high) and the overall CVI was obtained. The higher values of CVI were detected in the urbanized areas (41% of the sections). Dune ridges serve as barriers to flooding and reduce erosion. A sufficient beach width and slope are crucial to preventing flooding during extreme weather events.

  • Keywords:
  • CVI,
  • Coastal vulnerability index,
  • Coastal erosion,
  • Shoreline,
  • Coastal management,
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José Ignacio Pagán

University of Alicante, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-2906-5604

Pablo Ortíz

University of Alicante, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-4406-0924

Isabel López

University of Alicante, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-5723-3046

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  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Pages: 784-793

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  • Publication Year: 2024

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Mapping coastal vulnerability against erosion along the Alicante coastline, Spain

Authors

José Ignacio Pagán, Pablo Ortíz, Isabel López

Language

Italian

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.68

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Tenth International Symposium Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques

Book Subtitle

Livorno (Italy) 11th-13th June 2024

Editors

Laura Bonora, Marcantonio Catelani, Matteo De Vincenzi, Giorgio Matteucci

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0556-6

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-0557-3

Series Title

Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques

Series E-ISSN

2975-0288

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