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Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Oceans and Coastal Zones".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 23193

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luca Martinelli

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Department ICEA, University of Padoa, Padua, Italy
Interests: wave–structure interaction, with particular focus on the impulsive loads applied by breaking waves; research and development of floating breakwaters and wave energy converters, including their mooring system; coastal flooding risk, coastal erosion, and the relative mitigation measures
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Prof. Dr. Piero Ruol

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ICEA Department, University of Padova, Via Ognissanti 39, 35129 Padova, Italy
Interests: coastal engineering; port engineering; coastal management and protection; floating breakwaters; physical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In low-lying, flood-prone areas, coastal flooding has caused conspicuous economic losses and several fatalities. Morphological and socio-economic vulnerabilities in the present changing climate and environment are expected to increase. Managers require reliable maps to plan sustainable urbanisation and tools to alert the population in case of danger. However, the evaluation of the magnitude and the impact of flood hazards, both in the long- and short-term, is very a challenging task, since sources of coastal flooding events are quite different, for instance, dune overflow and breaching, overtopping of river delta levees, and failure of sewage systems.

Researchers of many different disciplines, including coastal and hydraulic engineering, hydrology, meteorology, remote sensing, geography, and geotechnics, are invited to collaborate by analysing and integrating all the different sources of the hazard and improving knowledge in the field of flood vulnerability assessment and mitigation.

This Special Issue welcomes multidisciplinary studies dealing with innovation in the management of coastal areas and applied research, to predict the extent of flooding in a reliable and effective manner, from both short- and long-term perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Luca Martinelli
Prof. Dr. Piero Ruol
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

hazard
tide
surge
breaching
vulnerability maps
coastal flooding

Published Papers (6 papers)

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19 pages, 3105 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Possible Increases in Floodable Areas Due to Climate Change: The Case Study of Calabria (Italy)

by Giuseppe Barbaro, Giuseppe Bombino, Giandomenico Foti, Giuseppina Chiara Barillà, Pierfabrizio Puntorieri and Pierluigi Mancuso

Water 2022, 14(14), 2240; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14142240 - 16 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1877

Abstract

Coastal flooding is an important current issue due to climate change and due to significant increases in anthropogenic pressures observed in the second half of the last century. Indeed, climate change has been causing an increase in the frequency and the intensity of various natural events such as floods and sea storms; anthropogenic pressures have caused an increase in impermeable surfaces with negative consequences on the vulnerability of territories under the action of natural events. In this paper, we analyze the effects of climate change in terms of possible increases in floodable areas and in terms of population, infrastructure, coastal dunes, and sites of social, economic, and strategic interest exposed along the coasts of the region of Calabria in southern Italy. Calabria was chosen as a case study due to its geomorphological peculiarities and its considerable anthropogenic pressures. These peculiarities cause significant variability of weather and sea conditions among the different coastal areas, which influences the coastal dynamics and the characteristics of meteorological events. The main results show that, in the analyzed areas, the floodable areas double between current and future scenarios, involving both significant percentages of the population and railways, highways, industrial areas, and coastal dunes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding)

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23 pages, 6980 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Use of a Raspberry-Pi Video Camera for Coastal Flooding Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Riccione (Italy)

by Fabio Addona, Flavia Sistilli, Claudia Romagnoli, Luigi Cantelli, Tonino Liserra and Renata Archetti

Water 2022, 14(7), 999; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14070999 - 22 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1922

Abstract

Coastal monitoring is strategic for the correct assessment of nearshore morphodynamics, to verify the effects of anthropogenic interventions for the purpose of coastal protection and for the rapid assessment of flooding vulnerability due to severe events. Remote sensing and field surveys are among the main approaches that have been developed to meet these necessities. Key parameters in the assessment and prevision of coastal flooding extensions, beside meteomarine characteristics, are the topography and slope of beaches, which can be extremely dynamic. The use of continuous monitoring through orthorectified video images allows for the rapid detection of the intertidal bathymetry and flooding threshold during severe events. The aim of this work was to present a comparison of different monitoring strategies and methodologies that have been integrated into repeated surveys in order to evaluate the performance of a new camera system. We used a low-cost camera based on Raspberry Pi called VISTAE (Video monitoring Intelligent STAtion for Environmental applications) for long-term remote observations and GNSS-laser tools for field measurements. The case study was a coastal tract in Riccione, Italy (Northern Adriatic Sea), which is the seat of nourishment interventions and of different types of underwater protection structures to combat coastal erosion. We performed data acquisition and analysis of the emerged beach and of the swash zone in terms of the intertidal bathymetry and shoreline. The results show a generally good agreement between the field and remote measurements through image processing, with a small discrepancy of the order of ≈0.05 m in the vertical and ≈1.5 m in the horizontal in terms of the root mean square error (RMSE). These values are comparable with that of current video monitoring instruments, but the VISTAE has the advantages of its low-cost, programmability and automatized analyses. This result, together with the possibility of continuous monitoring during daylight hours, supports the advantages of a combined approach in coastal flooding vulnerability assessment through integrated and complementary techniques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding)

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14 pages, 7612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Spatial Structure Variable Approach to Characterize Storm Events for Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment

by Chiara Favaretto, Luca Martinelli and Piero Ruol

Water 2021, 13(18), 2556; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13182556 - 17 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2234 | Correction

Abstract

Over the last decades, the evaluation of hazards and risks associated with coastal flooding has become increasingly more important in order to protect population and assets. The general purpose of this research was to assess reliable coastal flooding hazard maps due to overflow and wave overtopping. This paper addresses the problem of defining credible joint statistics of significant wave heights Hs and water levels ζ, focusing on the selection of the sample pair that characterizes each sea storm, to evaluate the occurrence probability of extreme events. The pair is selected maximizing a spatial structure variable, i.e., a linear combination of Hs and ζ, specific to each point of the area at risk. The structure variable is defined by the sensitivity of the flooding process to Hs and ζ, as found by analyzing a set of inundation maps produced through a Simplified Shallow-Water numerical model (SSW). The proposed methodology is applied to a coastal stretch in the Venetian littoral (Italy), by means of a 30 year-long time series recorded at the “Acqua Alta” oceanographic research tower, located in the Northern Adriatic Sea in front of the Venetian lagoon. The critical combination of Hs and ζ forming the structure variable is presented in a map, and it can be related to the topography and the presence of mitigation measures. The return period associated with the two recent large storms that occurred in this area in 2018 and 2019 is also investigated. The proposed procedure gives credible occurrence probabilities for these events, whereas other approaches would consider them extremely unlikely. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding)

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22 pages, 5742 KiB

Open AccessArticle

City Resilience towards Coastal Hazards: An Integrated Bottom-Up and Top-Down Assessment

by Rina Suryani Oktari, Syamsidik, Rinaldi Idroes, Hizir Sofyan and Khairul Munadi

Water 2020, 12(10), 2823; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w12102823 - 11 Oct 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4725

Abstract

Community resilience is increasingly required to adapt to the effects of the frequency and severity of the ever-increasing number of coastal hazards. This paper uses the case study of the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, which was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, with the aim of investigating the city’s level of resilience towards coastal hazards. This paper aims to: (i) assess the preparedness of coastal communities; (ii) evaluate the level of resilience of the city to coastal hazards; and (iii) formulate strategic steps in an effort to mitigate coastal hazards in Banda Aceh. The evaluation was conducted using mixed methods (both quantitative and qualitative) through data triangulation. Data collection involved 311 household surveys, two focus group discussions with 30 participants, and interviews with seven representatives from government and non-government organisations. Regarding the survey, the preparedness level of Banda Aceh’s residents is categorised as “low“. The results of overall city resilience assessments are also classified as “low”. This finding indicates that more planned, systematic, and sustainable efforts are needed. Hence, this study also recommends strategies to enhance resilience in dealing with coastal hazards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding)

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25 pages, 17945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Due to Sea Level Rise: The Case Study of the Atlantic Coast of Mainland Portugal

by Carolina Rocha, Carlos Antunes and Cristina Catita

Water 2020, 12(2), 360; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w12020360 - 28 Jan 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 11013

Abstract

Sea level rise, a consequence of climate change, is one of the biggest challenges that countries and regions with coastal lowlands will face in the medium term. This study proposes a methodology for assessing the vulnerability to sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of mainland Portugal. Some scenarios of extreme sea levels for different return periods and extreme flooding events were estimated for 2050 and 2100, as proposed by the European Directive 2007/60/EC. A set of physical parameters are considered for the multi-attribute analysis based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, in order to define a Physical Vulnerability Index fundamental to assess coastal vulnerability. For each sea-level rise scenario, coastal vulnerability maps, with a spatial resolution of 20 m, are produced at a national scale to identify areas more vulnerable to sea-level rise, which are key elements for triggering adaptation plans for such vulnerable regions. For 2050 and 2100, it is estimated that there will be 903 and 1146 km² of vulnerable areas, respectively; the Lisbon district being identified as the most vulnerable in both scenarios. Results are available as a Web Map Service for the Portuguese public entities, and through a web map viewer for the public and communities in general. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Current and Future Vulnerability of Coastal Flooding)

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