PIMA Adapta Costas, a characterisation of flooding and erosion under different climate change scenarios along the Catalan coast

Abstract

Climate change, with sea level rise as one of its main consequences, will heavily change the dynamics of the coast in the next years. The assessment of the impacts that could cause is a key issue to anticipate measures and reduce risks, mainly flooding and erosion. PIMA Adapta Costas is a national project financed by “Ministerio de Transicion Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico” which aims to answer these unknowns along the Spanish coast. This work presents the evaluation of such impacts in 54 Catalan beaches located in 8 littoral cells. Erosion has been characterized by tracking the retreat of different datums whereas flooding has been defined as the sum of all inundated areas during more than 4 hours. The obtained results are integrated in a specific viewer developed by the ICGC. A complete description of the impacts will help identifying common response patterns that can be used to select optimal management strategies to reduce risks.