Coastal Flooding on Gravel-Dominated Beaches Under Global Warming

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.