Coastal Flooding on Gravel-Dominated Beaches Under
Global Warming

Rafael J Bergillos; Cristobal Rodriguez-Delgado; Gregorio Iglesias

Research Article

Coastal Flooding on Gravel-Dominated Beaches Under Global Warming

Rafael J Bergillos^1,2*, Cristobal Rodriguez-Delgado³ and Gregorio Iglesias^4,3

¹Hydraulic Engineering Area, Department of Agronomy, University of Córdoba, Rabanales Campus, Leonardo Da Vinci Building, 14071 Córdoba, Spain

²Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research, University of Granada, Avda. del Mediterráneo, s/n, 18006 Granada, Spain

³School of Engineering, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK

⁴MaREI, Environmental Research Institute & School of Engineering, University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland

Corresponding Author

Received Date: December 23, 2018; Published Date: January 17, 2019

Abstract

This work analyses the effects of sea-level rise on flooding events for 3 different scenarios: present situation (S0), optimistic projection (RCP4.5) and pessimistic projection (RCP8.5). The study area is a gravel-dominated beach in southern Spain (Playa Granada), where the SWAN and XBeach-G models are applied to assess wave propagation patterns, total run-up and flooded dry beach area. The results indicate that sea-level rise modifies wave propagation patterns, with alongshore-averaged increases in breaking wave height equal to 1.2% (1.9%) un-der westerly (easterly) storms in the optimistic scenario and 2.6% (2.4%) in the pessimistic scenario. These increments lead to maximum increases in total run-up greater than 13% (14%) for westerly (easterly) storms in the optimistic scenario and 16% (20%) in the pessimistic scenario. Finally, the increases in flooded dry beach area induced by sea-level rise under westerly (easterly) storms are equal to 1.6% (5.9%) and 1.8% (7.7%) in scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively, and the maximum increments in flooded cross-shore distances exceed 8% in all cases. The methodology proposed in the present work can be extended to other coasts worldwide for assessing the in fluence of sea-level rise on coastal flooding events.

Keywords:Global warming; Sea-level rise; Coastal flooding; Gravel beach

Article Details

Citation

Rafael J Bergillos, Cristobal Rodriguez-Delgado, Gregorio Iglesias. Coastal Flooding on Gravel-Dominated Beaches Under Global Warming. Glob J Eng Sci. 1(3): 2019. GJES.MS.ID.000513.