Vulnerabilidad de las costas de Galicia a los temporales marinos en el contexto del cambio global

Abstract

The coast of Galicia has more than 2.100 km for length. It is characterized by the chaining of rocky and sandy coast and it’s located in a high energy context, subject to the passage of depressions and marine storms. In the context of global change, it is essential to know the dynamics that interact in the Galician coast to identify the most vulnerable sectors in the present and prevent potential negative consequences in the future. This study analyzes the vulnerability of coastal focusing on physical variables that affect at the first 100 meters of the coastal zone: slope, altitude, orientation, type of coast, lithology, change in the sea level, average wave height and the distance from de 20 meters bathymetric line. A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) is generated from the GIS tools with values between 1 and 5, from lower to higher vulnerability.

This index shows that 4.52% of the Galician coast territory presents values of high or very high vulnerability, mainly associated with sedimentary zones, while a majority of the coast (57,96%), frequently rocky coasts presented values of low vulnerability.