Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Coastal Transport Systems in the Greater Thessaloniki Area

摘要

Long-term planning and operation of transport systems should more than ever consider climate change and extreme weather conditions. There are multiple risks such as coastal and urban floods, sea level rise, very high and extremely low temperatures, drought and wind. The aim of this article is to assess the impacts of sea level rise so as to identify the transport infrastructure vulnerabilities in the Greater Thessaloniki area, in a coastal zone of 60 km long and 2 km wide from the seashore, which is located within five different municipalities. Based on cartographic data obtained from Climate Central's Surging Seas Risk Zone Map, land use data from Corine Land Cover and population data from Hellenic Statistical Authority, two sea level rise scenarios of 0.5 and 1 m were simulated using GIS. According to the most likely scenario introduced by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations, that is 0.5 m rise, until 2100 1.87% of the total length of the coastal road network will be covered by the sea, while in the worst-case scenario of the 1 m, the percentage will be 3.07%. At the same time, the interruption of the road access to the airport in both scenarios, the vulnerability of some parts of the port, and their potential inability to operate are highlighted. The research findings indicate the need to plan and construct resilient transport systems as well as to coordinate and implement specific climate change adaptation measures for transport infrastructures in Thessaloniki coastline.