Title: COASTAL VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE FRENCH MEDITERRANEAN COASTS TO STORMS FLOODING AND EROSION PHENOMENA, AND MORPHODYNAMIC MODELING UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECTIONS
Abstract: Storm events on sandy coastal environments already weakened by a sediment deficit can generate a strong erosion of the beach-dune system, accentuating the phenomena of marine flooding and damage to infrastructures. In order to assess this risk of coastal flooding under stormy conditions and taking into account climate change and the new IPCC projection (IPCC, 2021), modeling approaches nowadays provide a robust tool. In this study, a modeling chain is used to simulate present-day and future coastal hazards on the Mediterranean French coastline, taking into account the complex interaction of hydrodynamic and morphodynamic phenomena. In order to build a regional strategy for the evaluation of the coastal hazards under storm events, a methodology is proposed to evaluate the reality of a potential increase of coastal flooding following dune/beach erosion and to identify the concerned coastal regions for prioritizing regional coastal zone management actions.