EASTMOC: Environmental Alert System for Timely Maintenance of the Coastal Zone

Abstract

Healthy beaches are essential for managing the coastal zone, including growing coastal tourism, maintaining seaside property values, developing infrastructure, and sustaining coastal ecosystems and communities. Beaches worldwide face problems such as erosion and shoreline recession caused by both natural factors and anthropogenic pressures. Beach erosion is caused by short-term fluctuations such as storms or by longer-term processes related to sediment budget deficits, rising sea levels, and wave regime changes. Responsible beach management requires precise knowledge of the short-term fluctuations and long-term processes involved in coastal evolution in order to assess the risks to infrastructure and to identify acceptable weaknesses in future development or in coastal management. Knowledge of short- and long-term shoreline changes could also contribute to the design of beach nourishment plans so that human activities can be conducted consistent with natural processes rather than in conflict with them.