Observations of Multidecadal Gravel Beach Dynamics from Space
摘要
Gravel barrier systems are ubiquitous on mid- and high-latitude coasts and provide vital protection from coastal flooding and coastal erosion. They are highly dynamic systems that exhibit complex responses to hydrodynamic forcing over a range of timescales (hourly-monthly-decadal-centennial). Their dynamics differ greatly from those of sandy beaches yet have received considerably less attention in the literature, particularly at interannual to decadal scales. We use over four decades of satellite-derived shoreline (SDS) data to explore the long-term dynamic of 45 selected gravel systems around the United Kingdom and Ireland. Unlike most large-scale studies, we apply an SDS extraction methodology specifically tailored to gravel beaches to derive the long-term shoreline trends along 1554 shore-normal transects across our sites. Our findings indicate a great variability in shoreline trends, ranging from -4.73 m/year to + 10.5 m/year with the majority of transects (62%) remaining stable over the study period (1984 – 2023). Overall, 22% of transects showed statistically significant positive trends and 14% negative trends, resulting in an overall + 0.36 m/year mean shoreline trend. Large scale climatic forcing seems to have a stronger control on the evolution of gravel nesses with 29% and 26% of transects having an average correlation of -0.36 and -0.34 with North Atlantic Oscillation and Atlantic Oscillation respectively, while open beaches showed the weakest relationship with climate forcing. Importantly, climate forcing did not seem to be a key driver of change in the regions with the highest rates of progradation.