Unveiling the role of storm surges as a driver of flooding on the western Mediterranean: a case study of the Ebro Delta
Rut Romero-Martín (),
Marc Sanuy and
José A. Jiménez
Additional contact information
Rut Romero-Martín: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech
Marc Sanuy: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech
José A. Jiménez: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech
Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2025, vol. 121, issue 4, No 48, 4984 pages
Abstract:
Abstract Storm surges in the Western Mediterranean are generally low in magnitude, making their contribution to coastal flooding less significant compared to wave overtopping. Nonetheless, low-lying, sheltered coasts such as deltas and wetlands, which are frequent along the Mediterranean basin are particularly vulnerable to storm surges. This study, focusing on the Ebro Delta as representative of this type of coastal environment, investigates the flooding caused by storm surge alone and in conjunction with other non-wave related factors like astronomical tides and sea level rise (SLR), using the LISFLOOD-FP model. The findings highlight the significant flooding potential of storm surges on passive, and unprotected coasts, while also indicate that astronomical tides have a minor effect on flood extent under prevalent microtidal conditions. SLR greatly increases the impact of storm surges, amplifying temporary inundation in the short term and becoming the dominant factor over time. The study underscores the importance of accurately representing surge duration and small topographic features in flood models to ensure robust coastal inundation assessments in low-lying areas.
Keywords: Storm surge; Coastal plain; Sheltered coasts; SLR; Inundation; Flood modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-024-06984-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:121:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11069-024-06984-5
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069
DOI: 10.1007/s11069-024-06984-5
Access Statistics for this article
Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk
More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().