Are artificial reefs an appropriate solution to protect the Danube Delta coast?
- 1National Institute for Marine Geology and Geoecology GeoEcoMar, Interdisciplinary Research and Coastal Management, Bucharest, Romania (irinadinu@geoecomar.ro)
- 2Laboratory of Maritime Engineering, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (LIM-UPC), Campus Diagonal Nord, Building D1, 1-3 Jordi Girona St., 08034 Barcelona
- 3International Centre for Research of Coastal Resources (CIIRC), 1-3 Jordi Girona St., Mòdul D1, Campus Nord, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
The Danube Delta coast is part of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, thus being aimed to preserve its typical natural habitats. Over the last decades, human interventions along the Danube River, as well as coastal navigation and harbour protection works on the Romanian coast have determined the reduction of sediment supply along the Danube Delta coast, which is nowadays affected by erosion on its widest part.
Sustainable management plans for the Danube Delta coast include the use of working-with-nature solutions.
In this work, the effect of artificial reefs on the wave heights along the Danube Delta coast is studied. The results of a previous wave climate study and a wave model have been used for this purpose. Simulations have been performed for different setup of artificial reefs and for extreme storms with various return periods. The effect of sea level rise has also been taken into account.
Our results show that artificial reefs are significantly effective in reducing the wave heights along the Danube Delta coast. However, further detailed analysis concerning the impact of such a coastal protection solution is still needed.
How to cite: Dinu, I., Gràcia, V., García-León, M., and Stanica, A.: Are artificial reefs an appropriate solution to protect the Danube Delta coast?, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-246, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-246, 2019
