Abstract:
Coastalfloodingduetostormsurgescombinedwithhightidescausesagrowingconcern,andrecent
legislationrequiresthatEuropeanUnioncountriesdevelopinundationmapsfortheareasatrisk.This
paper describesthemethodologytogenerateinundationmapsanditsapplicationtotheRiadeAveiro,
a coastallagoonexposedtoAtlanticstormsurgesthatcanexceed1m.Themapsarebasedonthe
applicationoftheshallowwatermodelSELFE,fordifferentreturnperiodsandscenariosofsealevel
rise. Anewapproachtodefinethemodelboundaryconditionsfordifferentreturnperiodsisdeveloped
based onthestatisticalanalysisoftimeseriesfromtidalgauges.Thisapproachconsiderstheeffectof
storm surgesaswellastidesandtheir18.6yearcycle.Theextremelevelsobtainedwiththismethod
convergeforthe20yearsofavailabledataandaremoreaccuratethantheonesobtainedwith
traditionalapproachesforthislimiteddataset.Inaddition,thenewmethodprovidesnotonlythe
extremelevels,butalsothetimeseriesthatincludethem,whichareneededtoforcethehydrodynamic
model. TheresultsshowthatthestormsurgesaffectstheentirelengthoftheRiadeAveiro