Guido Benassai

Estimating Coastal Vulnerability in a Meso-Tidal Beach by Means of Quantitative and Semi-Quantitative Methodologies

ABSTRACT DI PAOLA, G., IGLESIAS, J., RODRÍGUEZ, G., BENASSAI, G., AUCELLI, P and PAPPONE, G., 2011. Estimating Coastal Vulnerability in a Meso-Tidal Beach by Means of Quantitative and Semi-Quantitative Methodologies. In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3-2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 303–308. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749-0208. The main goal of this study is to estimate the coastal vulnerability on a stretch of coastline by using two different methodologies and to check if both methodologies give rise to similar results or if notably dissimilar assessments are obtained. To reach the above mentioned objective, a new experimental methodology (Benassai et al, 2009) based on inundation of the inshore land and the well known USGS methodology (Gornitz et al, 1994) are applied and compared. In the first approach, a new parameter, named as impact index, is calculated by using wave climate and geomorphologic data. In general, impact index depends on run-up height, seasonal and long term erosion index and the efficiency of existing structures for coastal defence. The relative value of this parameter is contrasted with that of the often used coastal vulnerability index, CVI, which includes geological and physical variables. The application of these methods gives rise to significantly different levels of vulnerability for the same zone. This situation must be attributed mainly to the distinctive nature of the used methods. Thus, taking into account the results, it is remarked that the procedure to choose a methodology for assessing the vulnerability of a given coastal zone must be based on the available information and on the characteristics of the zone. Furthermore, the use of the same method to do risk and vulnerability comparisons is recommended.

Coastal vulnerability to wave storms of Sele littoral plain (southern Italy)

This paper presents a new method for coastal vulnerability assessment (CVA), which relies upon three indicators: run-up distance (as a measurement of coastal inundation), beach retreat (as a measurement of potential erosion), and beach erosion rate (obtained through the shoreline positions in different periods). The coastal vulnerability analysis of Sele Coastal Plain to storm impacts is examined along a number of beach profiles realized between 2008 and 2009. This particular study area has been selected due to its low-lying topography and high erosion propensity. Results are given in terms of an impact index, performed by combining the response due to coastal inundation, storm erosion, and beach erosion rate. This analysis is implemented on the basis of morphosedimentary characteristics of the beach, wave climate evaluation, and examination of multitemporal aerial photographs and topographic maps. The analysis of the final results evidences different coastal responses as a function of the beach width and slope, which in turn depend on the local anthropization level. The comparison of this method with a Coastal Vulnerability Index method evidences the better attitude of CVA index to take into account the different beach features to explain the experienced damages in specific stretches of the coastline considered.

Dual-Polarimetric C- and X-Band SAR Data for Coastline Extraction

This study proposes a new metric to process dual-polarimetric coherent and incoherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for coastline extraction purposes. The metric, based on the correlation between co- and cross-polarized channels, allows discriminating land from sea in an unsupervised way. Then, simple image processing is adopted to extract continuous coastline from the binary image. Experiments, undertaken on multipolarization C- (RadarSAT-2 and Sentinel-1) and X-band (Cosmo-SkyMed) SAR data collected in South of Italy together with Global Positioning System ground truth, confirm the soundness of the method which is shown to be both effective (a whole SAR scene is processed in seconds) and accurate (the mean error is less than

Implementation and Validation of Wave Watch III Model Offshore the Coastlines of Southern Italy

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Sea wave numerical simulations with COSMO-SkyMed © SAR data

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A sustainability index for offshore wind farms and open water aquaculture

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Optimization of Mooring Systems for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines

pixels for RadarSAT-2 and CosmoSkyMed, respectively).

Implementation of WWIII wave model for the study of risk inundation on the coastlines of Campania, Italy

The spectral third-generation ocean wind-wave model WAVEWATCH III (WW3), operational since January 2005 at the Department of Applied Sciences of the University “Parthenope” (Italy), was adopted for simulating wave propagation in the Gulf of Naples. The model was coupled with PSU/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5), which gives wind forcing at 1-h intervals. The model was implemented using a four-nested grid configuration covering the Mediterranean Sea until the Gulf of Naples, the inner mesh with higher resolution (1 km × 1 km). The simulated directional spectral waves were compared with APAT storm wave data recorded in winter 2000 offshore the Gulf of Naples and with wind and wave data collected by Servizio Idrografico e Mareografico offshore the mouth of river Sele in the Gulf of Salerno. The implementation of the wave model with reference to the December 2004 storm on the coastlines of the Gulf of Naples gives evidence of the need of a regional wind-wave model for this orographically complex area.Copyright

A prediction technique for the transverse vortex-induced oscillations of tensioned risers

ABSTRACT Benassai G, Migliaccio M., Montuori A., 2013. Sea wave numerical simulations with Cosmo-SkyMed SAR data. In this paper, X-band COSMO-SkyMed© Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data are first experimented as wind field forcing of coastal wind-wave oceanographic modeling for sea-wave numerical simulation. The SWAN wave numerical simulations run with Cosmo-SkyMed SAR wind data were performed with respect to some relevant wave storms in the Southern Thyrrenian Sea area during the winter season of 2010. The wind forcing is provided by X-band COSMO-SkyMed© SAR-based wind field estimations which are properly blended with both buoys wave data and ECMWF model winds to retrieve meaningful wave parameters (e.g. significant wave height, wave directions and periods) as physical descriptors of storm events. Experimental results accomplished with X-band COSMO-SkyMed© SAR-based wind field forcing are successfully compared with the ones gathered by using both buoys wave field data and ECMWF model winds, only. The results obtained with the use of blended COSMO-SkyMed©-ECMWF data are satisfactory in terms of sea storm reconstruction, so this source of data can be used also for coastal management purposes.

An Inter-Comparison of Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Methods

One of the possible multi uses of marine space is offshore wind farms and open water aquaculture plans. Unlike coastal installations, offshore wind farms allow for increased availability of wind power and wind persistence, as well as lower visual impact of the turbines. Existing offshore wind farms offer important advantages for aquaculture plans especially in terms of lack of major physical constrains, e.g., navigation routes, submarine cables, marine protected areas. Moreover, enhanced current velocity due to the presence of the piles and to the air fluxes of the turbines may increase the environmental suitability of aquaculture plans in these areas. In addition, the transmission of localized depleted water masses or waste material towards near-shore zones can be avoided, excluding potential impact close to the coast. On the other hand, other environmental constrains (e.g. temperature and salinity variability, dissolved oxygen concentrations, phytoplankton dynamics) need also to be considered when planning aquaculture activities. In this context, the present paper gives a contribution towards the definition of a sustainability index for the large scale localization of marine areas as offshore wind farms and aquaculture plans. This index is developed on the basis of a Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) technique, already used in open water aquaculture localization: raw data were converted to suitability scores, which were combined using additive models, in order to define the overall suitability. A detailed analysis of the environmental suitability is performed for few specific test cases at offshore wind farms located in the Denmark coastal zone, for which some projects of offshore aquaculture plans have been proposed.