Spatial Approach to Medium-term Coastal Evolution in South Sicily (Italy): Implications for Coastal Erosion Management

Spatial Approach to Medium-term Coastal Evolution in South Sicily (Italy): Implications for Coastal Erosion Management

Four sets of maps and aerial photographs have been integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) project to investigate coastal changes along a 60-km-long littoral sector in south Sicily, Italy. The beaches studied recorded significant morphological changes essentially related to the presenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of coastal research Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 33 - 42
Main Authors: Martínez del Pozo, JoséÁngel, Anfuso, Giorgio
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Fort Lauderdale Coastal Education and Research Foundation (CERF) 01-01-2008
Allen Press Inc
Subjects:
Aerial photography
Beaches
Breakwaters
Coastal erosion
Coastal zone management
Coasts
Construction
Dunes
Erosion
Geographic information systems
Harbors
human impacts
Littoral drift
Littoral transport
Local planning
management
Mean square errors
Multivariate analysis
Ports
Remote sensing
RESEARCH PAPERS
Sediments
Shoreline trend
Shorelines
MED, Italy, Sicilia
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Summary:Four sets of maps and aerial photographs have been integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) project to investigate coastal changes along a 60-km-long littoral sector in south Sicily, Italy. The beaches studied recorded significant morphological changes essentially related to the presence of human structures that interrupted littoral drift. Most of the investigated beaches experienced progressive erosion because of sediments being trapped by human structures resulting in the formation of wide beaches on the updrift side and erosion downdrift. The latter has often been counteracted by the construction of breakwaters. However, local planning authorities did not carry out an assessment of the impacts related to the construction of harbours and ports and their successive enlargement. This article proposes alternative actions concerning the possible future erosion management of the studied littoral.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0749-0208
1551-5036
DOI:10.2112/05-0598.1