Modelling the impact on coastal morphology of the water management in transboundary river basins: The case of River Nestos

Abstract

Purpose

To study the impact of River Nestos (North Greece) dams construction on coastal morphology.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to study the evolution of the coastal morphology in the area, an “one‐line shoreline change model” was developed (PELNCON). The model's input comprises the field characteristics, the wave characteristics at the breaker line and a “source” term for the sediment supply rate by River Nestos. The model calculates the shoreline change over a given period of time. The annually transported sediment quantity by the river is estimated using filed measurements and other models' results for various sites along the Greek part of the hydrologic basin of Nestos (Nestos is a transboundary river extending along Greece and Bulgaria).

Findings

The “PELNCON” results demonstrate a serious erosion threat for the coastal area due to the sediment budget deficit of about 1.8 × 10⁶m³/year.

Research limitations/implications

The developed model is subject to common structural weaknesses of computational modelling based on the one‐line shoreline change theory.

Practical implications

The developed model is user‐friendly and can be applied to any coastal area of known characteristics, providing realistic results.

Originality/value

This paper is an attempt to model the correlation between two large‐scale phenomena, namely coastal erosion and water/sediment management in river basins, setting at the same time the basis for further study on this particular scientific field.

Citation

Samaras, A.G. and Koutitas, C.G. (2008), "Modelling the impact on coastal morphology of the water management in transboundary river basins: The case of River Nestos", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 455-466. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777830810878641