Climate Change Research

Climate Change Research

Vulnerability assessment of coastal areas to sea level rise under the influence of climate change scenarios (case study: Pars Special Economic Energy)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Environment, Persian Gulf Research Institute, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran,
2 Department of Environment, Persian Gulf Research Institute, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran
Abstract
Coastal areas are the most important and sensitive areas to the effects of climate change, especially rising sea levels, which experience dangers and damage with a higher degree of confidence. The purpose of this study is to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas of Pars Energy Special Economic Zone (Asaluyeh and Kangan) located to increase the water level of the Persian Gulf. The data used in this research include tidal data of Kangan, Bushehr and Imam Hassan stations, digital elevation model, aerial photographs of the region and Sentinel 2 satellite images related to MSI sensor in the range. Visible and infrared is close to the electromagnetic spectrum to make a true color combination with a spatial resolution of 10 meters. The results showed that, the highest risk is related to petrochemical complexes with infrastructure near the coast. The southern region of Pars One, in the area of ​​establishment of related and downstream industries and Bidkhoon mangrove forests with an expansion of more than 100 hectares, are at the highest risk even with a half meter rise in sea level. Failure to pay attention to the risk of rising sea levels could cause significant economic damage to petrochemical companies and related industries in the future, as well as to fragile and fragile coastal ecosystems. Therefore, a regional management strategy is essential to reduce this risk. One way to deal with this risk is to build ridge hills and use underwater breakwaters with T-head groin on beaches at risk of flooding.
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