A Model of Shoreline Retreat Due to Sea Level Rise

Abstract A model was developed to calculate shoreline retreat due to sea level rise applicable for coastal areas with complex topography, varying wave and sediment conditions, and limited material supply. As a test case, the model was employed to the south Swedish coast to demonstrate the possibility to investigate large geographical areas using readily available input data. Equilibrium profiles of different shapes, either theoretical or derived from data, may be used to estimate erosion associated with profile translation. An iterative approach is used in this translation to handle arbitrary topographies. A gradual increase in sea level, where the translated profile at the previous time step is used as input to the next step, induces more erosion than an instantaneous shift over the total sea level rise, since more material is deposited in the offshore during this translation.