Tătui, F., Vespremeanu-Stroe, A, Preoteasa, L., 2014. Alongshore variations in beach-dune system response to major storm events on the Danube Delta coast. In: Green, A.N. and Cooper, J.A.G. (eds.), Proceedings 13th International Coastal Symposium (Durban, South Africa), Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 70, pp. 693–699, ISSN 0749-0208.
Deltaic beach-dune systems are extremely dynamic, responding to processes operating on scales from short-term variations related to storm and floods to long-term evolution driven by large-scale sediment dynamics (including lobe switching). On Danube Delta beaches, coastal storms and associated processes lead to a wide range of morphological impacts from moderate deposition to significant erosion. Coastal processes develop with marked temporal differences as a result of variations in storminess related to changes in climatic systems (North Atlantic Oscillation). In order to assess the variations in vulnerability to extreme storms, different sectors along the study site were examined using two storm impact indexes: Storm Impact Categories of Sallenger, 2000 and Dune Stability Factor of Armaroli et al., 2012, based on specific storm thresholds. There is a very good correspondence between the effects of the December 1997 – January 1998 extreme storm cluster and the vulnerability of the beach-dune system predicted with both indicators, with significant alongshore variations of storm impact. The driving factors imposing this variability at different time scales are also discussed, ranging from nearshore slope (which imposes different wave heights and storm induced water level increase) and sediment availability (in direct connection with the evolution of different deltaic lobes, position into the littoral cell and the distance to the Sf. Gheorghe arm mouth, river discharge variability and human interventions) to beach-dune morphology (accommodation space and pre-existing coastal morphology).
