Over the past 40 years, Cyprus is experiencing a drastic urbanization of the coastline accompanied with increasing erosion rates. Historical analysis performed though the utilization of satellite data revealed ambient change rates ranging from 0.2m/yr up to 2.4m/yr along Limassol’s sandy shoreline. Considering that since the late 1990s multiple breakwaters and groins were constructed in a coastal stretch of 12km to battle erosion, reduce inundation risks and safeguard the area’s amenity value, and yet, arguably, protection and stabilisation of the coastline has only been achieved against undesired short-term events. As a result, more than 45% of Limassol’s shoreline is trapped between urban infrastructure and sea defenses, a condition often referred to as beach squeeze.
ACE will aim to investigate shoreline evolution in the vicinity of climate change and sea level rise shifts using the case study of Limassol, in southern Cyprus, thereby, simultaneously assessing the performance of hard engineering structures such as breakwaters and groins in protecting the shoreline. In doing so, ACE will:
- Utilize past shoreline positioning data extracted from satellite sources combined with structural events and environmental conditions in providing the first ever historic evaluation of the impacts of coastal structures and their ability in stabilizing and protecting the sandy coastline of Limassol.
- Adapt and expand a 1-line model in combination with a shoreface translation tool in better representing the unique environmental setting of the area of interest, thereby forecasting the responses of squeezed beaches to predicted climate and sea level rise shifts.
- Estimate the socioeconomic and environmental implications arising from the forecasted scenarios by utilizing a multi-hazard framework.
Extending beyond the end of the proposed project and as future collaborative work between the MER and research communities is to translate ACE results into impactful policies and in the improvement of the overall performance of hard engineering defences by integrating nature-based solutions safeguarding environmental and biological features on the site while promoting sustainable economic development in the area.
Map: Area of study