Skip to main navigation Skip to main content
The University of Southampton
Engineering

The impacts of sea-level rise on the recreational use of Catalan beaches: Application in the Costa Brava Seminar

Time:
16:00 - 17:00
Date:
20 April 2017
Venue:
Lanchester (07/3031 (L/R F2))

For more information regarding this seminar, please email Abiy Kebede at A.S.Kebede@soton.ac.uk .

Event details

The Catalan coast is a traditional tourist destination, where tourism represents 11% of the GDP and beaches are the main resource. Due to this, any significant change in coastal stability, such as shoreline retreat induced by sea-level rise (SLR), will affect not only to the natural system, but also the economic development of the region. Impact assessments of SLR on the recreational use of Catalan beaches under different SLR scenarios would therefore help decision-makers in long-term planning. To do this, a simple regional beach use model has been developed, relating the beach carrying capacity with a set of variables such as beach morphology, beach type (urban, semiurban, rural), density of use (intense, moderate, low) and location (area supplying potential visitors). Moreover, the model is also used to predict future carrying capacities under different SLR scenarios assuming given coastal planning. Obtained results show that climate change will be a serious threat to beach recreation function since the expected enhanced shoreline retreat will severely decrease the recreational carrying capacity in the near future under tested scenarios.

Speaker information

Uxía López-Dóriga Sandoval , Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech, Spain. is undertaking her PhD, “The influence of climate change on the risk landscape of the Catalan coast”, under the supervision of Prof. José A. Jiménez at UPC-Barcelona. She is currently at the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment working with Prof. Robert Nicholls to develop adaptation measures for Catalan beaches with special emphasis on the tourism sector. Her background is in coastal processes and management, with a BSc in Marine Sciences and a MSc in Oceanography.

Privacy Settings