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Assessing the vulnerability of changing coasts, Hainan Island, China

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Abstract

Knowledge of coastline changes and vulnerability is of great importance to local government departments that are responsible for the management and development of coastal zones. To study the nature of change and vulnerability along the coasts of the Hainan Island, we collected a large number of sediment samples through the last few years, and reconstructed the changes of the coastline by combining the data of sediment grain-size analysis and the nautical charts/TM RS imaginary. Contrary to being almost free from erosion (as expected from the findings that the coastlines are in a relatively stable state), four major cities in Hainan (i.e., Haikou, Wenchang, Sanya and Changjiang) turned out to be suffered from a moderate coastal vulnerability primarily because of the large populations that impose considerable pressure on the coastlines. Thus, the assessment methodology utilized in this study, including both anthropogenic and natural factors, serves as a useful tool to obtain a comprehensive understanding of coastline vulnerability for local government, in terms of coastal management and adaptation.

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Acknowledgments

Li Jin (Nanjing University) is greatly thanked for her comments on the text. The authors also thank Gao Shu (Nanjing University) and Li Yan (Xiamen University) for helpful suggestions during the preparation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Yaping Wang, Liang Zhou, Rui Yu, Yang Yang & Jianhua Gao

  2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Yaping Wang, Benwei Shi, Liang Zhou, Rui Yu, Yang Yang & Jianhua Gao

  3. Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou, 510760, China

    Liang Zhang

  4. State Key Laboratory for Estuarine and Coastal Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200046, China

    Jianjun Jia

  5. Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Xiaomin Xia

Authors
  1. Yaping Wang
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  2. Benwei Shi
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  3. Liang Zhang
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  4. Jianjun Jia
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  5. Xiaomin Xia
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  6. Liang Zhou
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  7. Rui Yu
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  8. Yang Yang
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  9. Jianhua Gao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaping Wang.

Additional information

Foundation item: The Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean under contract No. 201105001-2; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41625021; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under contract No. 2015M580409.

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Wang, Y., Shi, B., Zhang, L. et al. Assessing the vulnerability of changing coasts, Hainan Island, China. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 114–120 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-0972-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-0972-8

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