‘Resilience’ describes specific system attributes concerning (i) the amount of disturbance a system can absorb and still remain within the same state and (ii) the degree to which the system is capable of self-organisation. EVREST main goal is the development of indexes and a conceptual scheme that describes barrier environments resilience. By enhancing the knowledge on coastal systems resilience mechanisms and timescales, this project results are important for the international scientific community while they can be used as well to promote a sustainable coastal management, specifically to improve risk reduction measures and coastal interventions.
EVREST study of resilience entails (1) the identification of natural mechanisms of negative feedback that promote barrier environments resilience, both in oceanfront and backbarrier environments; (2) the quantification of evolutionary rates in response to several coastal change drivers; and (3) the evaluation of scenarios of barrier system evolution based in numerical modelling simulations. The timeframe for this study is the medium- to long-term, comprehending coastal evolution in periods of years to decades, and the study will be undertaken in a multi-inlet barrier island system located in the south of Portugal. Four main geomorphological environments will be chosen: a) barrier islands, b) dunes, c) salt marshes, and d) pristine stable zones unaffected directly by tidal inlets.
Project Duration: 36 months
Budget: 157.188,00€
Funding: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Scientific Domain: Marine Sciences and Earth Sciences - Estuarine Coastal and Littoral Systems
Project reference: PTDC/MAREST/1031/2014
