Modelling Coastal Vulnerabilities: Tool for Decision Support System at Inter-municipality Level

Abstract

The northwest Portuguese coastal zone has been established as a very dynamic area in regards to coastal erosion by several studies and scientific papers. The present work develops a decision support system using GIS, which employs the methodology of vulnerability classification according to sea energetic actions for the area of Aveiro’s Lagoon Municipalities Association. The methodology presented uses nine weighted vulnerability parameters to build a map that illustrates the municipal-wide vulnerability to the energetic actions of the sea in this part of the coast. This project has been developed to provide scientific modelling substantiation for the coastal erosion vulnerability spatial classification based on existing theoretical findings. The model provides concrete representation of the observed vulnerability phenomenon which is easy to understand and less susceptible to criticism. It is therefore a useful tool for coastal management. The proposed methodology provides an improved version of the Coastal Zone Risk Map because the map developed in 1998 does not represent risk variations in inland areas.