Estimate of Storm Induced Beach Erosion Through the ETS Approach

In the present paper the risk of beach erosion is evaluated by applying the Equivalent Triangular Storm (ETS). The selected case study is ‘La Plaja’ beach located in the South of Catania, Sicily. The proposed approach has shown that when the ETS model is applied, a shoreline retreat has been found which on average overestimates the one obtained by means of actual storm data of about 35%. The model has been applied for the determination of the return period of shoreline recession due to beach erosion during extreme events in order to recover risk maps, which can provide useful information in the planning of coastal interventions. Finally the model has been applied to predict the shoreline retreat in the presence of a submerged breakwater, confirming that the introduction of such coastal protection work strongly limits the risk of coastal erosion.