Storm Induced Morphological Changes in Carcavelos Beach, Portugal: Contribution for Coastal Management

Abstract

Evidence-based information for coastal managers taking decisions for increasing coastal resilience, namely through re-profiling the beach for restoring the sediment balance and providing space for coastal processes, is a relevant issue since in the context of climate changes coastal storms are likely to increase in frequency and intensity. The study exposes the morphological changes in an Atlantic urban sandy beach under extreme wave energy and sea level conditions. The erosion of the foreshore and backshore of this particular beach was characterised as function of the intensity and duration of the hydrodynamic forcing parameters (waves and sea level). This 24-hour duration storm event which delivered to the beach a total energy of 10.6x109 J caused the seaward displacement by the undertow current of approximately 3x103 m3 of median well sorted sand from the beach foreshore and backshore.