DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK AND METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDY OF SEDIMENTARY AND MORPHO-DYNAMICS PROCESSES OF MICROTIDAL WAVE DOMINATED MEDITERRANEAN BEACHES (SARDINIA)

The monitoring network, set up in 2005 for the Project Interreg IIIA GERER “Gestion intègrée de l’environnement à haute risque d’èrosion”, which was initially based on 4 beaches in Corsica and Sardinia, extended to 34 beaches over a 6 year-period. Study methodology was carried out regarding sedimentary processes and the morpho-dynamics of microtidal wave dominated beaches in a Mediterranean environment. A database was created through the use of the monitoring network and study methodology, conducted by the “Coastal and Marine Geology Group”; data from aerial photographs, satellite images, cartography, bathymetry-topography (DTM), sedimentology, wind, wave and hydrodynamics models of the relative beach systems was collected, catalogued, archived and analyzed. The data flow is gathered by “Centro Transfrontaliero per lo studio della dinamica dei litorali”, realized together with the P.O. Marittimo Res.Mar “Rete per l'ambiente nello spazio marittimo” – Subproject B, sited at the “Osservatorio Coste E Ambiente Naturale Sottomarino” (O.C.E.A.N.S.). The results are available in scientific publications, popular publications and on a webgis (www.osservatoriocostesardegna.eu).