Sea climate analysis through the assessment of maritime erosion index for jonic-Lucanian coast

The assessment of the coastal erosion and the induced risk can be dealt by the use of concise indexes taking into account both morphological and human characteristics of the territorial system as well as energy intensity of the wave flow. A widely accepted formulation for risk assessment deals with the Unesco equation (1972) in which Risk, Hazard, Vulnerability and Exposed values are directly related (R=HxVxE). In the paper, the maritime erosion index has been proposed to be employed in the risk assessment induced by continuous nearshore wave modelling and storm events corresponding to different boundary conditions and/or return periods. The index sensitivity analysis has been performed referring to the case study of jonic-Lucanian coast (Southern Italy) and compared to the commonly used storm intensity and exposure index.