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Assessing the Coastal Vulnerability by Combining Field Surveys and the Analytical Potential of CoastSat in a Highly Impacted Tourist Destination

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  • Luis Valderrama-Landeros

    (Subcoordinación de Percepción Remota, Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), 4903 Liga Periférico-Insurgentes Sur, Tlalpan, Mexico City 14010, Mexico)

  • Francisco Flores-Verdugo

    (Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Av. Joel Montes Camarena s/n, Mazatlán 82040, Mexico)

  • Francisco Flores-de-Santiago

    (Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Procesos Oceánicos y Costeros, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-305, Av. Universidad 3000, CU, Mexico City 04510, Mexico)

Abstract

Tropical sandy beaches provide essential ecosystem services and support many local economies. In recent times, however, there has been a massive infrastructure expansion in popular tourist destinations worldwide. To investigate the shoreline variability at a popular tourist destination in Mexico, we used the novel semi-automatic CoastSat program (1980 to 2020) and the climate dataset ERA5 (wave energy and direction). We also measured the beach cross-shore distance and the foredune height with topographic surveys. The results indicate that the section of real estate seafront infrastructure in the study site presents a considerable shoreline erosion due to the fragmentation between the foredune ridge and the beach berm, based on the in situ transects. Moreover, foredune corridors with cross-shore distances of up to 70 to 90 m and dune heights of 8 m, can be seen in the short unobstructed passages between buildings. In the south section we found the coastline in a much more stable condition because this area has not had coastal infrastructures, as of yet. For the most part, the remote sensing analysis indicates constant erosion since 1990 in the real estate section (mainly seafront hotels) and an overall accretion pattern at the unobstructed beach-dune locations. This study demonstrates the catastrophic consequences of beach fragmentation due to unplanned real estate developments, by combining in situ surveys and a freely available big-data approach (CoastSat).

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Valderrama-Landeros & Francisco Flores-Verdugo & Francisco Flores-de-Santiago, 2022. "Assessing the Coastal Vulnerability by Combining Field Surveys and the Analytical Potential of CoastSat in a Highly Impacted Tourist Destination," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jgeogr:v:2:y:2022:i:4:p:39-656:d:949250
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    1. Chao Xu & Weibo Liu, 2021. "The Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Dynamic Changes of Tidal Flats in Florida from 1984 to 2020," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-23, November.
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