Assessing Coastal Flood Risk in the Context of Climate Change with Public Data and Simple Tools: The Geomorphological Coastal Flood Index Applied to the Western Mediterranean

The Mediterranean coast is known for its great tourist attractions, concentration of popu-lation, and economic activities. Specifically, in the autonomous regions like Catalonia and Valencia, more than half of the population lives in coastal counties, population during the summer months increases due to the influx of tourists. Furthermore, in this stretch of coast, there are some areas of natural interest such as the Delta del Ebro or the Albufera, which are two of the most important wetland areas in the Mediterranean. However, ac-cording to studies by Day Today, the retreat of the coastline has increased in recent years, and this influences management of coastal territory both directly and indirectly, mostly harming all sectors with low levels, creating spaces with significant problems. It is for this reason that reporting on climate change and the impact on the coasts is assuming an im-portant role in society, because they are essential tools for planning and management costs. In this thesis, the ground that would be affected by a +1 m, +2 m, and +3 m increase in average sea level, as simulated by the existing flood simulator, has been quantified. And, it has developed a methodology for determining the vulnerability of the land based on flooding provided by terrain elevations, and each area studied was evaluated with dif-ferent degrees of vulnerability: very high, high, moderate, or low. Finally, it has made a first estimate of economic loss that could involve a meter rise in the average sea level for Catalan beaches and has identified major damage to natural parks, urban areas, and ma-jor infrastructure. This study shows that there are 9 areas with high vulnerability due to the low heights of their territory, and half the land that would be affected corresponds to the Ebro Delta and Albufera.