Management strategy for the Ebro delta in the context of flooding and climate change

Abstract

The Ebro delta is located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast about 200 km southward of Barcelona. It has an approximate subaerial surface of 325 km2 with about the 50 % lying below the height +0.5 m above MWL. This deltaic plain is protected by a sandy coast with a coastline length of about 50 km, in figure 1 a location and situation map from Ebro delta is shown. Human action on the river basin (about the 97 % of the basin is regulated by dams) has led to a drastic decrease of solid river discharges and, as a consequence of this, the delta has become more influenced by wave action and it has been subjected to an intense reshaping process, especially since the 60’s, Jiménez (1996). In practical terms, this has resulted in coastal areas with large erosion rates supplying sediment for the net longshore sediment transport to fed deposition areas such as the spits.