Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9480589 | Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science | 2005 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
Ecological and geomorphological processes in the littoral zone are greatly influenced by waves. Despite its importance wave exposure is not often quantified as a spatial parameter in coastal research. We present three GIS-based approaches for openness and wave exposure assessment in archipelago environments. First, we studied openness by fetch measurements: a theme map of sea area openness showing average fetch lengths for 1Â km2 study cells over the SW-Finnish archipelago area of 16â900Â km2 was produced. Second, we calculated wave exposure based on average wave power values for shoreline points to create a shoreline exposure classification within the same study areas. Finally, we made temporal graphs to study the variation in shoreline wave power and work at selected sites during a four-year period. The fetch and wave power calculations using GIS provide interesting possibilities for spatial studies concerning shoreline exposure in fragmented archipelago environments. Different kinds of numerical information of the shoreline exposure are required for diverse purposes in coastal regions: the average fetch maps assess effectively the sea area openness, and shoreline exposure and the temporal graphs quantify parameters relevant to littoral processes.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geology
Authors
Harri Tolvanen, Tapio Suominen,