Monitoring changes in shoreline position adjacent to the Hadera power station, Israel

The paper focuses on the shoreline changes following the construction of a power station cooling harbor in Hadera, Israel, and uses a statistical analysis method capable of mitigating the effect of short-term changes on the measurement of long-term changes. The changes in shoreline position detected 25 years after the harbor's construction were compared with forecasts of the Central Lab for Hydraulics of France (LCHF) in 1976, which correctly predicted the effects of the construction on the nearby coast and with studies conducted a few years after the construction. A comparison between later studies and the study described herein shows a spatial effect of the harbor on shoreline position of 750 m north of the northern breakwater. No effect was found south of the harbor. The harbor's temporal effects extend over a few years from the beginning of the construction until the coast reaches a new sedimentary equilibrium. The statistical analysis method employed was found useful for the detection of long-term changes in shoreline position such as those caused by the construction of coastal structures; it will not be suitable for the detection of long-term changes resulting from a rise in sea-level.