Beach changes related to storm surge effects in the NE littoral of Morocco

Abstract

The present work deals with the beach erosion risk related to storm surge effects in a coastal sector located in the northern coast of Morocco. The different factors involved in the storm surge generation, i.e. the decrease of the atmospheric pressure and the set up produced by wind and waves, have been analysed. In a second stage, predicted results have been compared with the data collected in the field, being the latter the beach elevation at which storm induced topographic changes were recorded. The vulnerability of the studied littoral depends on several morphological and human factors, being the most important beach slope and orientation, the presence of human structures and dune ridges and the bathymetric characteristics of the nearshore.