Beach profile change analysis at Ramla Bay

Abstract

Ramla Bay in Gozo is one of Malta’s most pristine pocket beaches. It also enjoys Malta’s best example of sand dune formation. Due to its status, it lies in the best of interest to maintain and conserve it in the best way possible. Being a beach, Ramla Bay undergoes a series of changes that are driven by the various forces of nature. Data collection of such matter is vital to understand the seasonal trends that these forces generate. Beach profiling has long been proven as the ideal method to easily identify these trends. Muscat’s (2014) baseline study at Ramla Bay showed that the winter beach profile was wider than the summer profile. The winter profile also experienced a larger volume of sediment. These findings revealed the contrary to the norm perceived by coastal scientists and managers. One of the aims of this dissertation was to build on Muscat’s baseline study in order to add on to the studies of the area. Such studies permit a better interpretation on the unusual phenomena happening in the region. During this study the Emery Board technique was used to measure the beach profile at Ramla during summer and winter. During the research and analysis, it was observed that the beach at Ramla behaved the same way as observed by Muscat (2014), however not as extreme. When the weather trends for both studies were analysed, it was noted that the beach morphology at Ramla was greatly influenced by the storm events that hit the bay during the year. The results obtained from this study were then compared to those of Muscat (2014). The results showed that the beach at Ramla had accreted over a twoyear time span. Due to the fact that results backing up this data are minimal, a firm conclusion cannot be drawn unless similar data is collected during future studies.