J Coast Conserv (2011) 15:353368
DOI 10.1007/s11852-010-0090-7
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean
coastal zone due to storm surge events
Yannis N. Krestenitis & Yannis S. Androulidakis &
Yannis N. Kontos & George Georgakopoulos
Received: 24 August 2009 / Revised: 19 November 2009 / Accepted: 27 January 2010 / Published online: 23 February 2010
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Low-elevation coastal areas and their populations
are at risk during and after the appearance of a storm surge
event. Coastal flooding as a result of storm surge events is
investigated in this paper for a number of areas around the
north-eastern (NE) Mediterranean coastal zone (Adriatic,
Aegean and north Levantine seas). The sea level rise (SLR)
due to storm surge events is examined for the period 2000
2004. Wind data, atmospheric pressure and wave data for
this period as well as in situ sea elevation measurements
(from stations around the Mediterranean coasts) were used.
Potential inundation zones were then identified using a
90-m horizontal resolution digital elevation model (DEM).
At these zones, the sea surface elevations were calculated
for the study period, using the collected data and a 2D
storm surge simulation model (1/10o1/10o) output, exam-
ining the sea level alteration in specific coastal areas, where
in situ measurements are absent and are characterised as
risky in inundation areas, due to their topography. In
order to determine the level of storm track implication on
major SLR incidents, the trajectories of the respective storm
events were computed. The aim of this paper is to investigate
the major storm surge events that appeared during the study
period, identify the major risky costal regions along the
north-eastern Mediterranean coast and determine their hazard
level due to inundation caused by storm surge phenomena.
The combination of the risk level determination of an area
and the calculation of sea level alteration is an important tool
in terms of predicting and protecting the coastal area from
extreme meteorological incidents.
Y. N. Krestenitis (*) : Y. S. Androulidakis : Y. N. Kontos :
G. Georgakopoulos
Laboratory of Maritime Engineering & Maritime Works,
School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
e-mail: ynkrest@civil.auth.gr
Keywords Storm surge . Modelling . Inundation .
Sea level rise . Mediterranean Sea
Introduction
Storm surge is a rise of water associated with a moving low
pressure weather system (cyclone). Storm surges are a
result of low pressure meteorological systems creating
suction over the covered area of ocean and of the heavy
winds usually present in storms. Several processes are
important during a storm surge event: (1) the Ekman
transport by winds parallel to the coast may move water
towards the coast, depending on the coast-wind orientation,
causing a rise in sea level, (2) winds blowing toward the
coast push water directly toward the coast, (3) wave set-up
and other wave interactions transport water towards the
coast adding to the first two processes, (4) edge waves
generated by the wind travel along the coast, (5) the low
pressure inside the storm raises sea level by one centimetre
for each mbar decrease in pressure through the inverted-
barometer effect, and (6) the storm surge adds to the tides,
and high tides can change a relative weak surge into a much
more dangerous one. Low-elevation coastal areas and their
populations are at risk during and after the appearance of a
storm surge event. Any rise in sea level will have adverse
impacts (e.g. coastal erosion and flooding) which depend
on the time scale and the magnitude of the rise, as well as
the associated human response (Paskoff 1993). High sea
levels and the strong forces exerted by accompanying
waves, impact directly or by over-topping sea defences on
humans, property and habitats. They may even cause loss
of life, damage (through inundation and waves), loss of
habitat and useful land, property, infrastructure, services
and so forth.
354
Coastal flooding as a result of storm surge events is a
possible threat in Eastern Mediterranean coasts. Travelling
mid-latitude low pressure systems act to raise the sea level
directly below them, but this effect alone is quite weak in
semi enclosed basins such as the Mediterranean Sea
(Pirazzoli 2000), where the wind tends to be the dominant
force. Although, the Mediterranean Sea is not on the main
storm track of the European and North Atlantic area
(Rogers 1997), storm track events originated mainly from
Africa, with a direction from south-west (SW) to north-east
(NE) affect significantly local sea-surface elevation at
north-east Mediterranean coasts. In the 20002004 period
several storm surge events appeared in the Mediterranean,
where despite their birth area, they affected particularly the
east (E) and NE region due to their major trajectory to the
north-east.
The main objectives of this paper are (a) to determine
significant storm surge events that appeared during the
study period and examine their major tracks and magnitude,
(b) to correlate these meteorological events to the respective
sea level alterations along the NE Mediterranean coast, (c)
to determine the low elevation coastal areas and their risk
level to inundation due to storm surge events and (d) to
examine each storm surge process importance to the sea
level alterations in each sub-domain of the study area.
Methods and data
Atmospheric and sea elevation data
Sea level pressure (SLP), wind fields (POSEIDON fore-
casting system, http://www.poseidon.hcmr.gr) and wave
data (wave height, direction and wave period), based on
the wave model SWANSimulating Waves Nearshore
(Soukissian et al. 2007) on a 1/10 1/10 grid covering
the entire Mediterranean basin, were used for the period
20002004. In order to verify and calibrate the storm surge
model sea level height (SLH) data from gauge stations
around the Mediterranean were collected from the websites
of the Med-GLOSS program (Monitoring Network System
for Systematic Sea Level Measurements in the Mediterra-
nean and Black Sea, http://medgloss.ocean.org.il/), the
European Sea-level Service (http://www.eseas.org/) and
the Greek Hydrographic Service (http://www.hnhs.gr/
portal/page/portal/HNHS) (Fig. 1). Additional sea-level
data were collected by using satellite data concerning the
study period and area. The altimetry data were collected
from the French space agency (Aviso/Altimetry project,
http://www.jason.oceanobs.com/). These data derived
from the composition of various scans of different satellite
projects (Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1, ERS-1 and ERS-2,
EnviSat, and Doris). The satellite data were mostly used to
Y.N. Krestenitis et al.
evaluate the models performance at open sea, because the
accuracy of satellite data close to the coast is not high
enough.
The astronomical tide surge ranges in low levels (few
centimetres) in the Mediterranean region because it is
nearly landlocked, with the only major opening to open
seas being the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Pugh
(1996), basins of oceanic depths such as the Mediterranean
Sea, which connect to the oceans through narrow entrances,
have small tidal ranges. The same author (Pugh 1996),
claims that the dimensions of these basins are too restricting
for the direct tidal forces to have much effect and the areas
of the entrances are too small for sufficient oceanic tidal
energy to enter to compensate for the energy losses which
would be associated with large tidal amplitudes. Because
the connection with the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits
of Gibraltar is so restricted, the influence of direct
gravitational forcing within the Mediterranean is probably
of comparable importance to the external forcing. In spite
of this, in the storm surge modelling section, that is
described in chapter 2.3, the Atlantic tide contribution was
included in the simulations as a boundary condition in the
open boundary at the Gibraltar Straits. Therefore, the
astronomical tide was not removed from the in-situ data,
because it is believed that it does not severely bias the
analysis (Moron & Ullmann, 2005). The storm surge
contribution (meteorological tide) is the most important
factor to sea level height alteration measured at the above
East Mediterranean stations with the exception of the north
Adriatic region, where according to Pugh (1996), the
diurnal tides of the area are relatively large (in the vicinity
of Venice) because a natural oscillation is excited by the
Mediterranean tides at the southern Adriatic entrance. So,
especially in this area, the combination of tidal and storm
surge, as described in chapter 3.1, can produce significantly
high SLRs.
Storm surge detection and storm-track computation
A method for automated detection and tracking of storms or
cyclones was developed by the National Aeronautics and
Space AdministrationGoddard Institute for Space Studies
(NASA-GISS, http://data.giss.nasa.gov/stormtracks). A
version of the NASAs methodology is used in this study,
as described below. Storm tracks can be identified by
following low pressure centres on synoptic charts and
plotting their trajectories on maps, thereby producing
cyclone tracks in the pure sense. The major objectives of
this analysis are a) the identification of the major incidents
during the study period and b) the investigation of their
atmospheric characteristics such are their direction and
pressure magnitude in order to relate them with the
respective SLR incidents.
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone 355

Fig. 1 Gauge stations in the NE Trieste

Mediterranean, providing SLH 45 Venice Zadar
timeseries for years 20002004 Rovinj
Split
(black) and coastal inundation Ancona
high risk areas (grey) Dubrovnik

Alexandroupolis
Otranto
40
Lefkada Chios

Antalya
Catania

35

Gauge Stations
Low Elevation Areas

10 15 20 25 30 35

The computation and plotting of storm tracks is
accomplished by using an algorithm that identifies and
tracks sea level pressure (SLP) minima (Pmin). The
algorithm searches for and identifies absolute minima from
the gridded field of every 12-hour period of the desired
year. The minimum for the ensuing 12-hour SLP grid is
searched and its position is located. Any Pmin within a
critical radius of 1440 km are joined by a segment,
representing the path of the low pressure center during that
12-hour period (a cyclone"s center can travel at a mean
speed of no more than 120 km/hr or 1440 km / 12 hr)
(NASA-GISS, http://data.giss.nasa.gov/stormtracks). Any
two associated minima identify one storm track segment,
as long as the storm lasts at least 36 h. If at any time two
segments on the same track are found to define an acute
angle of less than 85 (NASA-GISS, http://data.giss.nasa.
gov/stormtracks), the low pressure centers are considered to
represent separate storms (extra tropical cyclones are not
found to double back on themselves over 12 h). Finally,
throughout the full duration of a storm track, the low
pressure center of the track must be less than 1015 hPa.
In this way, storm tracks are computed and plotted for
the Mediterranean region. The use of absolute minimum
SLPs instead of local minima (like NASAs method)
produces the risk of not identifying some storm tracks
generated by the passage of secondary low pressure centers.
For that, but also for presentation reasons and visual
confirmation, a SLP contour map for every 12-hour period
is produced, creating a slideshow of 730 maps (732 for leap
years) for every year, presenting low pressure regions
(SLP<=1015mBars) and their development.
From the analysis of the whole series of storm events the
following resulted: a) The majority of the storm surges in
the Mediterranean region are directed from West to East
(Fig. 1. and b) the highest depression P (P=PRPmin,
where PR is the reference atmospheric pressure equals to
1015 hPa) varies mainly between 1020 hPa, (Fig. 2a). In
Fig. 2b, events from the whole study period (20002004)

Fig. 2 Maximum (a)
and Mean

(b) SLP difference P and
the direction of the storm surge
events that appeared in the
period 20002004
356 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

Table 1 The characteristics of the main applications of the storm

surge model @V @V @V @z
U V fU g
@t @x @y @y
CS Bathymetry CD  
1 @P t sy  t by 1 @Sxy @Syy
Expr1 Smith & Banke h 250 m Wang   2
r @y rH rH @x @y
Expr2 4.5 103 h 250 m Wang
Expr3 Smith & Banke Realistic Wang
Expr4 Amorocho & DeVries h 250 m Wang
Expr5 Smith & Banke h 250 m 5 103 @z @ HU @ HV
0 3
Expr6 Smith & Banke Realistic 5 103 @t @x @y

are presented, showing the mean P value of each event. where t is the time, x and y are the spatial coordinates,
The directions are the same presented in Fig. 2a as far as is the water level elevation above the mean sea level, U
the minimum pressure values are concerned, but the P and V are the xy components of the depth-mean current,
now is lower and it varies around 10 hPa. H=(h+) is the total water depth (h is the undisturbed
water depth and is the water level), g is the
Storm surge modelling acceleration of gravity, f is the Coriolis parameter, sx
and sy are the x and y components of the wind stress, bx
A 2-dimensional hydrodynamic model solving the depth- and by are the x and y components of sea bottom stress,
averaged shallow-water equations is used to provide the sea Sxx, Sxy and Syy are the wave radiation stresses, is the
level for entire Mediterranean basin on a 1/10o 1/10o density of the water and P is the atmospheric pressure at
spatial grid. The 2D model is an updated version of the sea level.
AUT storm surge model (DeVries et al. 1995), with The calculation of the wind stress is based on the wind
the following forms of the momentum Eqs. 1 and 2 and velocity data at 10 m, according to the formula of Eq. 4:
the continuity Eq. 3:
t sx rA CS jW jWx & t sy rA CS jW jWy 4
@U @U @V @z
U V  fV g
@t @x @y @x
  where is the air density, W=(Wx, Wy) is the wind
1 @P t sx  t bx 1 @Sxx @Sxy velocity and CS is the surface friction coefficient. Two
  1
r @x rH rH @x @y deferent formulas of the surface friction coefficient were

Table 2 The RMSE and

r values between measured and Model application Chios Alexandroupolis Dubrovnik
computed SLH timeseries
RMSE r RMSE r RMSE r

expt1 0.103 0.47 0.183 0.31 0.127 0.42

expt2 0.131 0.46 0.184 0.33 0.128 0.44
expt3 0.098 0.49 0.186 0.34 0.130 0.45
expt4 0.103 0.47 0.182 0.32 0.130 0.42
expt5 0.102 0.47 0.183 0.31 0.127 0.42
expt6 0.098 0.49 0.186 0.34 0.130 0.41
Lefkada Otranto Split
RMSE r RMSE r RMSE r
expt1 0.098 0.49 0.111 0.47 0.135 0.43
expt2 0.096 0.47 0.118 0.46 0.138 0.45
expt3 0.100 0.52 0.110 0.49 0.136 0.45
expt4 0.098 0.49 0.111 0.47 0.135 0.43
expt5 0.098 0.49 0.111 0.47 0.135 0.43
expt6 0.100 0.51 0.110 0.49 0.136 0.45
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone 357

Fig. 3 Model-insitu SLH 0.5 0.5

scatter diagrams for Dubrovnic
(Adriatic Sea) and
Alexandroupolis (Aegean Sea) 0.3 0.3
Alexandroupolis Alexandroupolis
2002 2004

0.1 0.1

in-situ (m)

in-situ (m)
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5
-0.1 -0.1

-0.3 -0.3

a b
-0.5 -0.5
model (m) model (m)

0.5 0.5

Dubrovnik 0.3 Dubrovnik 0.3

2002 2004

0.1 0.1

in-situ (m)
insitu (m)

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5
-0.1 -0.1

-0.3 -0.3

d c
-0.5 -0.5
model (m) model (m)

used in the present model, i.e. the Eq. 5 (Smith and Banke, The bottom stress is related to the water velocity by the
1975) and Eq. 6 (Amorocho and DeVries, 1980): following expression:
 p p
Cs 0:63 0:066W 103 t bx rCD U U 2 V 2 & t by rCD V U 2 V 2 7
Cs 1:04 103 for W7:0m=s; Cs 2:54 103 for W20:0m=s where CD is the bottom drag coefficient and using the law
5 of the wall in the bottom logarithmic layer (Wang, 2002),
and it is computed according the following equation:
(   2 )
and 103 Cs 0:115 W 0:235; 7:0m=s  W 1 H
CD max ln  1 ; 0:0025 8
k zo
 20:0 m=s 6

Table 3 Potential inundation areas in km2 and the respective coastline length (km) and density population of each area (persons / km2)

Potential inundation area (km2) Front length (km) Population density n (persons / km2)

Venice Lagoon 6300 288 n>500

Neretva Delta 200 16 100>n>25
Gulf of Manfredonia 200 63 100>n>50
Albanian coasts 1600 236 250>n>100
Alexandroupolis 300 24 20>n>10
Kavala 300 113 200>n>25
Patraikos Gulf (North) 200 118 200>n>25
Patraikos Gulf (South) 500 149 200>n>25
Thessaloniki 700 69 n>250
Seyhan-Tarsus 800 153 100>n>25
358 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

Fig. 4 North-east Aegean map

of coastal vulnerability

where is the Von Karman constant and zo is the sea- where Aj is the amplitude, j the frequency and j the
bottom roughness here set equal to 0.001. phase of the j tidal constituent respectively.
The wave radiation stresses used in the momentum Several applications of the storm surge model have been
equations were calculated from the wave height and carried out in order to test and calibrate the model. Some of
direction, according to the following equations: these applications are indicated in Table 1.
The calibration procedure was based on the calculation
Sxx E 2n  1 Encos2 a of the root mean square error (RMSE) and the Pearson
Sxy Syx E2 n sin2a 9 product-moment correlation coefficient (r) between the
Syy E2n  1 En sin2 a measured and the computed SLH timeseries, for a number
of stations in Adriatic and Aegean Sea. In Table 2, the
where E is the wave energy density and is the wave RMSE and r values for the six model applications
propagation direction. (indicated in Table 1) and for 6 stations, are presented for
The 2D storm surge model has been implemented in the the model run with the 2004 year forcing. Also, the scatter
entire Mediterranean basin on a 1/10o1/10o grid. The model diagrams for two stations (one in N. Aegean and the other
forced with the data assimilated atmospheric forecast fields, in Adriatic) are presented in Fig. 3, for two different yearly
provided by the POSEIDON system, based on the atmo- forcing, i.e. years 2002 and 2004, showing an acceptable
spheric SKIRON Limited Area Model (LAM) (Papadopoulos performance of the model for the scope of this article,
et al., 2002) and with wave data for the period 20002004. especially for high SLH values, which in any case are the
Tidal boundary conditions where imposed in the Gibraltar most important in a SLR investigation. Overestimation of
open boundary by using specific tidal components measured the low (below mean sea level) values is observed, where
in the areas station (Ceuta) and the tidal harmonic analysis the model results show differences with the respective
Eq. 10. measured ones. After the calibration procedure, the expe-
X riment chosen, as the best one was the 3 rd experiment, with


zt Aj cos wj t  x 10 the higher values of the correlation coefficient and lower
j values of RMSE for most of the testing cases.

Table 4 Studied extreme storm

surges for the period 20002004 Case Starting date Duration Most affected area Lowest pressure (hPa)

1 1/03/2001 3 days North Adriatic 981.415

2 30/11/2002 5 days Adriatic 999.104
3 03/02/2003 4 days Aegean Sea 985.242
4 15/12/2003 6 days Levantine Sea 996.502
5 21/01/2004 4 days Aegean Sea & Seyhan-Tarsus Delta 980.585
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone
Fig. 5 Storm track trajectories of the 5 studied cases.
Digital elevation model
Potential inundation zones were calculated from the 90-m
resolution shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) digital
elevation model (DEM) (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org). SRTM-
DEM has spatial horizontal resolution of 90 m and absolute
vertical accuracy of 15 m in the mainland and less than 1 m
over the coastal zone (Sun et al. 2003). According to it,
high risk areas in NE Mediterranean are located at the
northern coast of Adriatic Sea, at Dalmatian coast, at
Albanian coast, at central-eastern Italian coast, at western
Greek coast, at the North East Aegean coastal zone, and at
south-east Turkey (Fig. 1). The potential inundation area
and the coastline length of each detected region is presented
in Table 3. All these areas are characterized for their wide
coastal zone with a surface elevation less than 1.0 m.
Low elevation risky areas in the Adriatic and in the
Ionian seas are the Venice lagoon (Italy), Neretva Delta
(Croatia), the Albanian coasts, the gulf of Manfredonia
(southern Adriatic Sea, Italy) and Patraikos gulf (Greece).
a b
1040
1035
1030
1025
mean SLP (hPa)
1020
1015
1010
1005
1000
995
990
45 50 55 60 65
Time (days)
Fig. 6 Measured and modeled SLP (a) and satellite SLH (b) in 28 of February 2001
359
The Venice Lagoon and its city Venice is characterised by
significantly high population (Table 3) and is very sensitive
to water level variations, given that the city of Venice is
only about 1 m above mean sea level and the average depth
of the lagoon is 1.5 m. Especially, according to Bondesan et
al. (1995) south of Venice city e.g. around the Po delta,
areas with more than 2 m below sea level widespread exist.
According to the same authors the total coastal area below
sea level between the main river courses in NE Italy is
about 2375,48 km2. In this study, the calculated potential
inundation area that extends inland even more than 50 km
is conclusively 6300 km2. Venice has long been famous for
being the city that is partially under water where 1 m of
extra water above the expected astronomical high tide
results in significant flooding (aqua alta); the severest flood
which occurred in November 1966 was caused by an extra
190 cm (Robinson et al. 1973). Water levels significantly
higher than the expected astronomical tide level are
reported several times a year, especially between October
and January (Bargagli et al., 2002).
in-situ
SKiron
70 75
360 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

0.8
the major SW to NE trajectory of the storms coming from
in-situ
0.6 the central Mediterranean and Africa (Laskaratos et al.,
model
1991). According to (Vries et al., 1995) these north Aegean
0.4
areas (Thessaloniki, Kavala, Alexandroupolis) are expected
SLH (m)

0.2 to be dominated by atmospheric pressure, while in the N.

0
-0.2
-0.4
45 50 55 60 65
Time (days)
Fig. 7 Model and in-situ SLH variance in Venice during case 1
Neretva is the largest river in the eastern part of the
Adriatic basin. Even if the length of the front of the
problematic area to the sea is only 16 km, the area of
the delta and the surrounding territories that could reveal
flooding problems is about 200 km2. Although the
population density is not high, Neretva delta importance
is recognized due to its natural beauty, diversity of its
landscape and visual attractiveness. Additionally, the basin
is situated between major regional rivers and contains the
most significant portion of fresh drinking water. The
Albanian coastal zone is characterised by its low land
elevation that extends in long length. Major urban centres
are situated at this coastal area, such as Vlora, Durres and
Shengjin. Possible sea level rise up to 1 m could cause
significant problems in economic life of this area based
mainly in agriculture. The Gulf of Manfredonia is situated
on the Apulian coast, just south of the Gargano Promon-
tory (east Italy). The coastal area in risk is about
200 km2, and the coastline is 63 km long. In Western
Greece two neighboring geographical regions, one in
Peloponnesus (Patra area) and one in Sterea Ellada can
be characterised as in danger areas, both situated around
Patraikos Gulf. The total area of these regions is
approximately 500 km2 and 200 km2 respectively and
the length of their coastlines are 149 km and 118 km
likewise.
The most dangerous areas due to storm surge inundation
are situated in the northern region of the Aegean Sea, below
Adriatic, storm surges are wind-dominated, as was analysed
in the previous section. Two major areas in danger can be
spotted, one west of Kavala city as far as the lagoon of
Porto Lagos, covering an area of 300 km2, with 113 km
coastline, and one along Evros Delta, situated exactly in the
70 75
Greek-Turkish borders, east of the Alexandroupolis city,
cover an area of 300 km2, with 24 km width of the delta
front (Fig. 4). Especially, the first area is extensively
populated and covered with tourist, urban, and industrial
structures, while in both areas significant ecosystems exist.
In the NW Aegean, the gulf of Thessaloniki is a coastal
ecosystem of major importance not only environmentally,
but also due to the various socioeconomic activities
associated to the heavy populated area of Thessaloniki.
Three delta rivers constitute a protected ecosystem, impor-
tant intermediate stop-point of various emigration birds.
The region that may reveal flooding phenomena due to
storm surge events covers an area of about 700 km2 and the
length of the coastline in front of this area is about 69 km.
In south-east Turkey, east of Mersin, an area of 800 km2
has been noticed as possible inundation coastal area, where
the Seyhan-Tarsus delta is situated. The front coastline of
this area has length of 153 km.
Results
Several significant storm surge events were examined for the
study period and the area. Five extreme cases in NE
Mediterranean region throughout the 5 year period of study
are presented in Table 4. These storm surge events affected
significantly extended coastal regions. The influence of each
case is examined on each one of the three major NE
Mediterranean regions (Adriatic, Aegean and North Levan-
tine Seas). The selection of these particular cases is based
on a combination of several factors. The most important
are a) the maximum SLH that occurred during study

Table 5 Storm track implication in SLH rise for case 1

Gauge Station Date (Model Day) insitu SLH(m) SLP (hPa) R (annual) r (6days) low pressure-station distance (km)

Ancona 0203 p.m. (61) 0.44 995.894 0.43 0.59 1344

Trieste 0303a.m (62) 0.32 1002.164 0.43 0.51 1283
Rovinj 0203 a.m. (60.5) 0.37 1003.059 0.41 0.27 1666
Zadar 0303 a.m. (61.5) 0.43 1000.622 0.40 0.27 968
Split 0303p.m (62) 0.38 1007.009 0.38 0.11 1578
Dubrovnik 0203 p.m. (61) 0.27 1007.628 0.36 0.12 1726
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone
Fig. 8 N. Adriatic (Zadar14o 52 , 43 44 ) SKIRON wind time-
series March 2001 (simulation days 5990, case 1)
period, especially in the risky areas b) the existence of
a storm event when a maximum SLH occurs, c) the
sufficient available data, such are in-situ sea level data
and satellite images and d) inclusion of storms with
different trajectories for each sub-region in order to
investigate each areas different SLH behaviour in
relation to the storms origination and spatial evolution.
The minimum duration of these cases is 3 days and their
centers lowest pressure is lower than 1000 hPa. Some of
these events altered the SLH in distant coastal areas
away from the major track due to the relative winds.
The track of each selected case was computed and
plotted (Fig. 5) according to the method presented in
chapter 2.2. In most cases each storm is represented by a
single trajectory (Cases 1,3,5 highlighted in black, blue
and green line respectively). Exceptions are case 2 and 4
(highlighted in red and purple, respectively), where for
each storm two successive trajectories are needed in order
to represent a more complex form of storms, due to the
appearance of secondary low pressure systems.
a b
0.3
Lefkada
0.25
0.2
0.15
SLH (m)
0.1
0.05
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
330 335 340 345 350
Time (days)
Fig. 9 (a) Model and in-situ SLH for Lefkada and (b) satellite sea level altimetry (cm) on the 4th of December, 2002 (day 337)
361
Adriatic and Ionian Seas
In the Adriatic Sea, the sea level alteration due to storm
surges is highly related to the tides amplitude, which is
usually higher than in the rest of the Mediterranean
(Tsimplis et al. 1995), especially in the northern Adriatic.
Astronomical forcing produces an almost complete co-
oscillation with the Mediterranean, where the continuous
driving from the southern inlet is much more important
than the negligible local direct forcing from the moon and
sun (Bondesan et al. 1995). Additionally, the southeast
winds (Sirocco) raise the sea level, especially in the North
Adriatic, where a long-lasting Sirocco and low air pressure
can also raise the water level up to 1 m (Vilibic et al.
2005). Wind influence is less important in the South
Adriatic, where the air pressure influence is dominant
giving rise to sea level changes of up to 30 cm (Leder
1988). Specifically, in Venice lagoon, several numerical
modelling approaches to predict the sea level alteration
due to storm surge events have been applied in the past
(Lionello et al., 2006; Bajo et al., 2007). Bajo et al. (2007)
examined a low pressure system that appeared during May
2004 above Northern Adriatic and simulated the produced
storm surge in Venice (Bajo et al., 2007their chapter 4.2).
This storm surge event is also detected in the simulations
of this study (not shown). The calculated SLH in Venice
is one of the highest of the year ranging around 0.4 m,
10 cm lower than the simulated values by Bajo et al.
(2007).
Case 1 corresponds to a storm that occurred firstly over
Atlantic ocean, moved to the East and occupied the north-
central Mediterranean (Fig. 5) between the 1st and 3nd of
March, 2001, affecting the sensitive lagoon of Venice. This
is an Atlantic originated storm and a classic example of a
in-situ
model
355
362 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

0.4
In Table 5 the highest sea elevations during case 1
Venice Albania Patraikos Gulf
0.3
(second phase) period for several stations are presented
with the respective system-station distance and stations
0.2 SLP in the time of the sea level maximum appearance.
Although the systems lowest pressure is approximately
SLH (m)

0.1 981 hPa (Table 5) the highest sea elevations in Adriatic

0
330 340 330
330 340
-0.1
-0.2 Time (days)
Fig. 10 Venice,Albania, and Patraikos Gulf model SLH during 4th of
December 2002 event (day 337)
NW storm, sweeping the North Adriatic Sea for a couple of
days or so. This storm is the stronger second phase of a
system that appeared on 27th of February, again originated
in the Atlantic and moved to the east, adding up an extra
SLH rise in the N.Adriatic Sea. Fig. 6a demonstrates the
simulated SLP (Papadopoulos et al. 2002) and the
measured respective one (ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/
gsod) for a period of 30 days starting at 15 of February
2001. The SKIRON simulated SLP that is used as a forcing
input in the storm surge simulations occurs significantly
high performance. The measured SLH in the Venice gauge
station for 2001 is presented in Fig. 7. Another higher SLR
occurs a few days later (day 69), connected with another
SLP drop as it is observed in the SLP diagram. Therefore,
in the SLH simulation (Fig. 7) the higher rises appear
during the days of the case 1 storm. This two phase
pressure driven surge is also presented in the mathematical
simulations where a high SLR was calculated at day 59.5
of 2001 during the first storm phase and another higher
SLR was calculated almost one day and a half later (day
61 of 2001). Even if the model determines the SLH
extremes in the same dates (day 59.5 and 61) and time
with the measured ones, it seems that in the case of
Venice, the model overestimates the high values by about
30%. Significant sea level rise at the open N. Adriatic
during the first storm phase (28/02/01) was recorded in
satellite measurements (Fig. 6b), too.
occurred under much higher SLP. Additionally, the SLP-
340
SLH correlation for each station was computed for a 6-day
window, starting 6 days before the date that the maximum
SLH was recorded. The highest sea level rises are observed
in the north end of the region, while in southern areas (e.g.
Dubrovnic) the measured SLH is low and the distance of
the low pressure center to the gauge station is big. The
storm affected mostly the sea level pressure of the western
coast (Ancona), where the highest SLHs were measured
and the highest 6 day correlation was computed (r=0.59).
One day later the storm moves more to the east and affects the
east coast, where e.g. in Zadar SLH of 0.43 m was measured.
The 6-day correlation in Zadar is low (lower than the
respective annual correlation R) indicating the possible
wind-driven surge in Zadar in a contrary to the west (Ancona)
and north (Trieste) areas, where the SLR is mainly affected by
SLP drops. Strong south winds during the first 5 days of
March are obvious in Fig. 8, where the wind time-series of
March 2001 in the area of Zadar is presented.
In 2002, a very important incident that spread all over
Eastern Mediterranean and was affecting not only the Adriatic
Sea but also the North Aegean, coasts of Asia Minor and
southern Turkey (Case 2, Fig. 5). From the storm track
analysis, it is obvious that this is not an Atlantic originated or
an extra-tropical cyclone, but a Mediterranean-basin re-
strained one, generated in it and affecting its interior alone.
Furthermore its anti-clockwise rotation around south Italy,
follows the typical anti-clockwise spin a cyclone has in the
North Hemisphere. Additionally, from the storm track
analysis, it is safe to assume that the two storms making up
case 2 are, in fact, two phases of the same cyclone system.
The duration of the entire event was five days and the centre
of the system was located mainly above Italy and Adriatic,
where the greatest SLH values were detected (minSLP=
999 hPa), affecting though the rest of Mediterranean Sea.
Altimetry remote sensing produced maps (Fig. 9b) show

Table 6 Storm track implication in SLH rise for Case 2

Gauge Station Date (Model Day) Insitu SLH (m) SLP (hPa) R (annual) r (6days) Storm distance (km)

Ancona 0312 p.m.(337) 0.6 1001 0.61 0.63 344

Rovinj 0312 p.m. (337) 0.53 1005 0.55 0.46 511
Zadar 0312 p.m. (337) 0.50 1002 0.58 0.46 427
Split 0312 p.m. (337) 0.52 1002 0.52 0.47 414
Dubrovnikj 0312 p.m. (337) 0.39 1002 0.52 0.72 451
Lefkada 0312 p.m. (337) 0.27 1005 0.43 0.84 658
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone 363

Fig. 11 Model SLH (m) during 0.6

case 3 event in several areas of the
0.5
Aegean Sea (Thessaloniki-NW,
Alexandroupolis-NE, Irakleio-S, 0.4
Chios-Central, Kavala-NE) 0.3

SLH (m)
0.2

0.1

0
25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40 25 30 35 40
-0.1

-0.2 Time (days)

-0.3 Thessaloniki Alexand. Irakleio Chios Kavala

high sea level elevations near several low land elevation areas,
such as the coastal area of Venice (Italy), the Dalmatian Coast
(Croatia), the Albanian coasts (Albania) and the gulf of Patra
(Greece, Ionion Sea). In Fig. 9a, the modelled and the
observed SLH are presented for Lefkada (Ioanian Sea)
showing both a high rise during the storms appearance,
which decreases gradually from day 340 and thereafter. The
simulation SLH output can be used to investigate the sea
level alteration in areas or stations where observation data
are not available or dont exist for the specific event. So,
these observations were confirmed by the mathematical
simulation experiments for several Adriatic and Ionian areas
where the simulated sea level elevation for the same date
(day 337) showed a significantly high value (Fig 10).
The south and central Adriatic (Lefkada and Dubrovnik)
show high 6-day SLP-SLH correlation even if they show
the lowest SLH rise during the case 2 storm. On the
contrary, NE Adriatic (Rovinj, Zadar and Split), shows high
sea elevations and lower correlation coefficients indicating
the low SLP influence to the sea level elevation alteration
(Table 6). Propagating SE winds are propably the main
factor of the N. Adriatic SLH rise.
Aegean Sea
A significant storm surge incident affecting the Aegean
Sea, with low pressure around 985 hPa (Table 1, case 3)
occurred between 3 of February 2003 until 6 of February
2003 and its low pressure trajectory passed above the
Adriatic and Aegean Seas (Fig. 5). The direction of the
storm is first W-E, like the majority of the events observed
in this study period and above the Balkans it turns to the
south and it enters the Aegean Sea where it almost
disappears above the central area. The gauge station of
Chios has lots of data missing during year 2003 and
Alexandroupolis station also. So, the use of mathematical
simulations is crucial in cases like this one, where in situ
sea level measurements are absent during significant
meteorological events. The modeling output (day 35)
confirms a significant sea level rise during this storm surge
in the Aegean Sea (Fig. 11). This SLR exceeds the level of
0.5 m in the northern areas while lower levels are observed
in southern areas. This north to south decrease agrees with
the north to south direction of the storm, due to the
pressure-driven surge that occurs just below the low
pressure system. For the entire Aegean the highest SLR
due to meteorological conditions of the entire year (2003)
occurred. This spatial distribution of sea level alteration
during case 3 is observed in almost all the study period,
where the highest values are observed just below the low
pressure systems. The wind-driven water pilling up towards to
the coasts is limited in comparison to the Adriatic, due to
Aegeans morphological complexity with numerous channels
and islands.

Fig. 12 Skiron SLP(a) and in-

situ and model SLH (b) variance a 1040 b 0.4
during Case 5 (Chios)
1030
0.3
in-situ
1020 model
0.2
SLP (hPa)

SLH (m)

1010
0.1
1000
0
990

980 -0.1

970 -0.2
15 18 21 24 27 30 15 18 21 24 27 30
Time (days) Time (days)
364 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

Table 7 Chios 2004 max SLH and storm track implication analysis

Chios Incidents in 2004 Date (model day) In-situ SLH (m) SLP(hPa) R=0.62 r (6days) storm distance storm direction

1 (Case 5) 21/01 (21) 0.31 983 0.91 305 WE

2 29/01 (29.5) 0.30 1010 0.56 787 NWSE
3 16/11 (319) 0.25 1009 0.57 802 SWNE
4 06/05 (127) 0.26 1009 0.71 1511 WE

Another storm incident that affected the whole Aegean
region appeared in January of 2004 (Case 5), where a low
pressure system was generated above Greece and moved
from NW to SE and then to NE as presented on Fig. 5.
Especially, in the evening of 22nd and in the morning of
23 rd the amplitudes of pressure are extremely low
(Fig. 12a), mainly above the coasts of Asia Minor where
SLP is about 980 hPA, where one of the lowest pressure
values of the entire study period appears. The nearest gauge
stations to the high sea level rise areas are Alexandroupolis,
Antalya and Chios (central Aegean). Unfortunately, the
nearest of all, Antalya, seems to have missing SLH data
during those days, but all the others have been able to
record this storm surge event. The gauge stations analysis
for Chios is presented in Table 7, where the most important
incidents that influenced Chios sea elevation are indicated.
On the 21st of January of 2004 theres no major SLH rise
incident recorded in the gauge station of Alexandroupolis
but it had a greater impact in the area of Chios, which was
recorded by the Chios gauge station and simulated by the
model as shown on Fig. 12b. Additionally, an important
point is that Chios is situated close to the case 5 storm
trajectory. The r=0.91 correlation (Table 7) indicates a
strong relationship between SLP and SLH when the
recorded SLP value on that day was the all-year minimum
one, and in fact, far minor than any other recorded value
(SLP=983 hPa). Additionally, the SLH recorded on that
day, is also the yearly maximum (SLH=0.31 m), which is
actually the most important SLH-rise incident for Chios
during 2004. Additionally the case 5 (incident 1, Table 7)
r correlation is the highest of all the other 2004 storm surge
events, and it is also greater than that of the annual correlation
for Chios (R=0.62). Investigating several other storm surge
events for Chios during 2004, it is observed that the west to
east tracks show the highest 6-day SLP-SLH correlation, on
the contrary to the north-south tracks. The distance between
the low pressure system and the gauge station for case 5 was
about 305 km, which is the closest than any other incident
appeared during 2004. Therefore, this case shows higher
correlation (r=0.91) than the other 2004 incidents and
maximum annual SLH value. So, it is obvious that for
Aegean Sea the areas situated below or close to the low
pressure systems are affected directly by the lower pressure,
while winds play a less important role in the sea level
alteration during a storm surge event.
South Turkey coastal region
West originated storms influence significantly the sea level
alteration of the Levantine Sea and especially its north coast
(South Turkey) and the coasts of Cyprus. According to a
6-year analysis by Cazenave et al. (2002), the sea level is
rising at a rate of 2530 mm/year in the Levantine Basin,
while in the Ionian Sea it is falling by 1520 mm/year, but
for the whole Mediterranean Sea the mean rate of level rise
is 7 1.5 mm/year. The drop of the Adriatic Sea was
studied also by Tsimplis and Baker (2000), who relate it to
the general drop of the west Mediterranean region. This
renders any extreme sea level rise more dangerous to the
the east Mediterranean coastal areas year by year.

Fig. 13 Seyhan-Tarsus simulated

sea level alteration during case 4 a 1.4 b 1.4
(a) and case 5 (b) storms 1.2 1.2
Case_4_model Case_5_model
1 1
0.8 0.8
SLH (m)

SLH (m)

0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
-0.2 -0.2
-0.4 -0.4
-0.6 -0.6
335 345 355 365 1 11 21 31
time (days) time (days)
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone
Fig. 14 Seyhan-Tarsus simulated
wind time-series for (a) December
2003 (simulation days 335365,
case 4) and (b) January 2004
(simulation days 131, case 5)
During case 4, significant sea level heights were
observed along the south coast of Turkey. Generally, this
low pressure system swept across eastern Mediterranean
and resulted in the SLH-rise incident in the coastal area SE
of Antalya. A closer analysis reveals that there are actually
two different storms that intersect right above the Aegean
(Fig. 5). The first storm, with a 48-hour head-on, is
sweeping the African coasts starting from Tunisia and
heading East (SW-NE), while the other one comes from the
North (N-SE). The two intersect on the afternoon of
December 15 of 2003 (model day: 349) above the Aegean
and then a stronger storm front heads to the Black Sea,
whereas a secondary low pressure system moves towards
Southern Turkey and to the inlands of Asia and on
the 350.5 day it is located right above the south coast.
The storm surge of December 15, 2003 and its impact in the
Seyhan-Tarsus Delta areas sea elevation is presented in
Fig. 13a. It is obvious that there is a SLH-rise on 15-12-2003
(day 349.5) but it reaches its maximum value during day
350.5. Similar results arise during case 5, where this storm
over the Aegean and Asia Minor storm affected the sea level
of the south Turkey coast (Fig. 13b).
The difference between the two storms is that in case 5,
the trajectory started from Aegean and ended above Asia
Minor, without passing near the studied Seyhan Tarsus
delta. In both cases though, the strongest winds in NE
Levantine Sea of each year, occurred during these storms
appearance (Fig. 14a, b). The winds in both cases blow
Fig. 15 skenderun measured
SLP series for (a) December a 1035
2003 (case 4) and (b) January 1030
2004 (case 5) 1025
mean SLP (hPA)
1020
1015
1010
1005
1000
995
335
365
from the open sea towards the coastal area (SW winds), pile
up the water to shallow depths and increase the sea level
along the Seyhan-Tarsus delta. From the meteorological
station of skenderun (Turkey) situated near to the delta
(ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/gsod) the sea level atmo-
spheric pressure was collected for the period of each case.
Significant SLP decrease is observed during the period of
each storm surge case (Fig. 15a, b.). The lowest SLP of the
area is higher than the low SLP pressure of the storm
system centre (Table 4), but the combination of the decrease
in the SLP over the study delta area with the strong SW
winds resulted these significant sea level rise, for both
storm cases.
Discussion and conclusions
The SLH model output for different coastal areas can be
used to estimate the inundation period for low altitude
areas. This procedure requires the use of either the
measured sea surface elevation (for the coastal areas close
to the gauge station and the period of available data), or the
SLH values computed by the storm surge model (for any
part of the coastal zone). The mean yearly inundation
frequency (%) is listed in Table 8, estimated by the model
for two specific storm surge events: (a) the sea level rise is
greater than 0.30 m (above the mean sea level), and (b) the
sea level rise is 0.60 m above the mean. The results indicate
b 1035
1030
1025
mean SLP (hPa)
1020
1015
1010
1005
1000
995
345 355 365 1 11 21 31
Time (days) Time (days)
366 Y.N. Krestenitis et al.

Table 8 Max SLH and

overtopping frequencies (%) for Coastal Area maxSLH (m) date %>30cm %>60cm
several areas in 20002004
Adriatic & Ionian Sea
Rovinj (HR) 0.575 26-12-2004 1.41 0.00
Dubrovnik (HR) 0.646 05-02-2003 0.55 0.01
Lefkas (GR) 0.442 03-02-2001 0.10 0.00
Split (HR) 0.634 05-02-2003 0.90 0.02
Trieste (IT) 0.625 26-12-2004 1.91 0.01
Ancona (IT) 0.594 05-02-2003 1.29 0.00
Otranto (IT) 0.520 05-02-2003 0.16 0.00
Zadar (HR) 0.580 04-02-2003 0.90 0.00
Patraikos Gulf(GR) 0.398 05-02-2003 0.10 0.00
Venice (IT) 0.671 07-11-2000 1.49 0.03
Manfredonia Gulf (IT) 0.563 05-02-2003 0.52 0.00
Neretva Delta (HR) 0.674 05-02-2003 0.82 0.03
Albanian coasts (AL) 0.532 05-02-2003 0.14 0.00
Aegean Sea
Alexandroupoli (GR) 0.578 06-02-2003 1.21 0.00
Chios (GR) 0.476 02-02-2003 1.09 0.00
Kavala (GR) 0.536 06-02-2003 0.67 0.00
Herakleio (GR) 0.437 23-01-2004 0.50 0.00
Thessaloniki (GR) 0.535 06-02-2003 0.89 0.00
N. Levantine region
Antalya (TR) 1.171 23-01-2004 3.22 0.21
Seyhan-Tarsus (TR) 1.256 23-01-2004 4.43 0.41

that coastal flooding occurs with a frequency which in not
neglible. The highest frequencies in both cases are observed
in north Adriatic and in south Turkey, where also the
highest sea level rises were calculated.
The 30 cm overtopping frequency decreases from
north to south, in the Adriatic Sea. This shows the higher
risk level of the north closed coast of each region (dead
end), where the wind dominated surge in combination to
the channel shape of the sea piles up the water
northwards during storms (solid line, Fig. 16) (Bondesan
et al. 1995). In the Aegean sea, the trend is different (dash
line, Fig. 16); the values in the central area are higher than
in the northern and southern areas due to the sea level
alteration that usually occurs right below the low pressure
systems. This trend points to a stronger relation between
the storm surge and the atmospheric pressure than with the
north-ends of the two closed basins and although more
pressure-driven surges occur in the Aegean, north to south
frequency overtopping reduction, seen in the Adriatic, is
not observed there.
The sea level fluctuation increases during the study
period, in many areas of the NE Mediterranean region.
During the last simulation year (2004) the maximum
SLH in the Adriatic Sea and especially along the SE
Turkish and Cyprus coasts approaches, and in many
cases exceeds, the 1 m level (Fig. 18). High overtopping
frequencies also occur in the same areas. In the majority of
the Greek coasts the sea level rise ranges between
2.5
30 cm overtopping (%)

relative winds. Additionally, the maximum sea level

1.5
values during the study period followed a similar
distribution, i.e. the highest values occurring in the N. 1
Adriatic (Fig. 17). The complex morphology of the Adriatic Sea
Aegean, with narrow passes and numerous islands is 0.5 Aegean Sea

considered to be an important restraining factor in the 0

wind driven surge events. Generally, the sea level rises, 47 45 43 41 39 37
due to storm surges in the Aegean, are significantly lower Latitude

in magnitude than in the Adriatic (Table 5). In other Fig. 16 Frequencies of SLH>0.3 cm in various areas of the Adriatic
words, the wind driven storm surges influence more the and Aegean Sea in the years 20002004 (model hindcasting)
Coastal inundation in the north-eastern mediterranean coastal zone
0.7
0.65
Max sealLevel rise (m)
0.6
0.55
0.5
0.45
Adriatic Sea
0.4 Aegean Sea
0.35
0.3
47 45 43 41
Latitude
Fig. 17 Maximum SLH in various areas of the Adriatic and Aegean
Sea in the years 20002004 (model hindcasting)
00.5 m. An exception is the south east region, at the
Levantine-Aegean passage, where maxima higher than
0.5 m appear.
Good yearly correlation between sea level pressure and
sea level height exists mostly in the Aegean Sea and less in
the Adriatic and North Levantine Seas. In the latter areas
the winds and especially those of southern direction are the
dominant factor causing the sea level to reach maximum
heights. So, wind driven surges appear more frequent in the
NE Mediterranean region, following the general rule for the
entire Mediterranean Sea, where, in such enclosed regions,
the inverted-barometer effect is quite weak. The combina-
tion of the morphological complexity with the storm track
directions in the Aegean Sea induces a deviation from this
rule. That is, in many cases the sea level pressure factor
tends to be dominant. Storm surge events in the Aegean Sea
exhibit lower magnitudes and overtopping frequencies than
in the other studied areas.
The dominant storm surge direction is from West to East.
Due to the complexity of the coastal morphology and the
high population of coastal areas in the largest part of the
study area, storm surge events can be extremely dangerous
for the human coastal economy and infrastructure. Areas
Fig. 18 Frequencies of SLH>40 m (model hindcasting) along the East Mediterranean region in 20002004 (a) and maximum heights for the
same area in 2004 (b)
367
with high risk of inundation, due to their low altitude and
mild slope, exist in all Mediterranean countries. In situ
measurements are absent in many such areas, so the use of
alternative tools, like mathematical simulations and satellite
images, is imperative. A useful tool, in terms of generating
reasonably based scenarios of forecoming flooding events
in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, can arise by
combining a method of storm tracks identification and
39 37 observation of their dominant characteristics together with
the identification of coastal areas in risk of inundation.
Warning systems of coastal flooding improve authorities
preparedness and help coastal human society to take proper
actions in cases of imminent extreme meteorological
incidents. In sustainable and integrated development of
the coastal zone, a storm surge event is a crucial factor,
affecting significantly the quality of life. Additionally,
hindcasting storm surge events and studying previous
inundation cases can offer to stakeholders a better view of
possible changes and measures that need to be taken in
already developed, risky coastal areas. This is more crucial
for E.U. countries because the members states should adopt
the European Directive 2007/60/C about the assessment
and management of flood risks, while by 2011, they should
undertake a preliminary flood risk assessment of the river
basins and the associated coastal zones, in order to identify
areas where potential significant flood risk exists. Further-
more, by 2013 they have to develop flood hazard maps and
flood risk maps for such areas and by 2015 flood risk
management plans must be drawn up for these zones.
Combining atmospheric forecast with storm surge
forecast is a next step in this study in order to produce a
common prediction method of SLH-rise incidents in the
Mediterranean. Thus, the combination of atmospheric
forecasting modelling with a storm surge hydrodynamic
model may estimate with good accuracy near-future storm
surge events and their accompanied sea level rise.
368
Acknowledgments This study was carried out with the financial
contribution of the E.U. project CORI: Prevention and management
of sea originated risks to the coastal zone, INTERREG IIIB/
ARCHIMED. We thank Gerasimos Korres and the POSEIDON team
(Hellenic Center for Marine Research) for providing the POSEIDON-
SKIRON atmospheric and wave fields. The satellite images were
downloaded from the AVISO website: www.aviso.oceanobs.com. We
also thank the anonymous reviewer for his helpful suggestions and
acknowledge ICPSM of the Municipality of Venice for the kind
concession of the ISMAR-CNR data for year 2001.
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