METHODS FOR ASSESSING CURRENT AND FUTURE COASTAL VULNERABILITY TO SEA LEVEL RISE. A REVIEW FOR A CASE-STUDY IN EUROPE

Abstract

Sea level rise is on of the main hazards caused by climate change. Although there is a strong scientific consesous regarding the occurrence of ths topic, there is still an important uncertainty about the local effects on the coasts all over the world. The aim of this paper is to review different data sources and methodologies to assess coastal vulnerability to sea level rise for an exceptionally complex and large area such as Europe. The lack of high resolution data for the whole area is one of the key issues, needing to use spatial data covering all the territory. The reviewed techniques include relative indexes, focusing in the Coastal Vulnerability Index, and different models, from very simple approaches like bathtub models, to other approaches like SLAMM, DIVA or SimCLIM. The discussion made should be helpful for those interested in assessing coastal vulnerability to sea level rise in large areas o in countries with poor spatial
data.