Morphodynamics of the tagus estuary mouth: contributions from a citizen-science project

Abstract

Due to their exposure to various forcings such as tides and waves, estuary mouths constitute dynamic coastal environments where sediment transport can result in abrupt and significant morphological changes. They concentrate relevant socio-economic and ecological values, which will become even more challenging in the climate change context. Despite their importance worldwide, the dynamics of these environments remains partly understood only and fosters many studies from the scientific community. This work is part of a citizen-science project (named Nouveaux Commanditaires Sciences) which aims at studying the hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the Tagus estuary mouth (bordered by a metropolitan area of 2 million inhabitants), especially during storms, by combining in-situ field observations, remote sensing data and numerical modelling. This research program has been set up following the request for a better understanding of the coastal erosion and marine flooding during storms expressed by severely affected inhabitants from an informal neighbourhood, Segundo Torrão (Southern margin of the inlet). In addition, local populations provide support for instrumental deployments and data acquisitions. In return, new knowledge derived from scientific studies will be used to improve coastal management over these threatened areas. In this presentation, we will present the main actions that are being carried out in the scope of this project.