Identifying short-term pocket beach profile changes associated with winter storms at Ramla Bay, Gozo

Abstract

The Maltese islands are characterised by a relatively small number of pocket beaches that represent a high resource value due to their limited number, frequent utilization for both local and overseas touristic recreational purposes and as a consequence of their ecological significance. This study focuses on Ramla Bay, the largest beach on the island of Gozo. The importance of effective management of this sedimentary system is reflected by its relatively pristine nature, archaeological heritage, high popularity for recreational purposes, its support of the best preserved sand dune system on the Maltese islands and as a consequence, its legally protected status. The aim of this study was to identify short-term beach profile changes associated with winter gale storm events. Ramla beach undergoes a series of morphological changes due to the various natural geomorphological processes driven largely by aeolian and wave action. The Emery Board beach profiling method was used to monitor five cross shore transects identified by the author as providing an effective coverage of the entire beach length and depth. Pre-storm (baseline) and post-storm beach profiling was carried out for three gale storm events, one blowing from the predominant north-westerly wind direction and two from the less frequent but often stronger north-easterlies. From the results of this study (the first of its kind in the Maltese islands), it was concluded that following each gale storm, there was a significant drop in beach height and in some instances, a reduction in beach width. The greater loss in beach height (than beach width) suggests a considerable aeolian transport of beach sediment to the backshore and potentially beyond the dune system. Seaward beach aggradation at some transects suggested the additional influence of long-shore sediment transport within the embayment. The pattern of sand erosion and redistribution was found to be closely associated with the wind storm direction. For the two North Easterly gale storm events, sediment was transport along the length of the beach (east to west) whilst the North Westerly winds transported sand particles from the west to the east.