Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on the Coasts of Turkey

Abstract

The reasons like global warming and climate change cause changes in sea and lake levels in addition to natural and human factors, on the other hand, they induce major changes in coastal region. The spatial and temporal tracing, monitoring and evaluation of these changes taking place in the coastal areas are of great importance in terms of presenting the environmental, economic and social issues that may arise in the future. Changes in sea levels in the coasts of Turkey were examined in this study. The risky areas that would be flooded due to sea level change were identified by using spatial analysis at Geographic Information Systems (CBS). About 3% of Turkey’s coasts consist of low-altitude coastal areas. It can be noticed by looking at the sea level rise scenarios that the coastal cities are under threat. According to the sea level change scenarios in coastal cities in Turkey, the ratio of the area affected by the water level changes in Adana (13844 km²), Izmir (11891km²), Samsun (9725 km²), and Edirne (6145 km²)  provinces that have low-elevation terrain and large delta areas seems to be more than other cities. Considering the fact that the high proportion of the population density in Turkey is in coastal areas such as the Mediterranean, the Marmara, the Aegean and Black Sea regions; in the face of a possible sea level rise, it is necessary to determine the factors that will be exposed to physical dangers in the cities and the areas vulnerable to these kinds of dangers by identifying the current situation of the coastal cities.

Keywords: Sea Level Rise, Coasts of Turkey, Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-5-04

Publication date:May 31^st 2020