MEDFLOOD project: MEDiterranean sea-level change and projection for future FLOODing

The main aim of the MEDFLOOD project, sponsored by INQUA for 2012 and of anticipated duration of four years (2012 – 2015), is to create a comprehensive, coherent, spatially explicit and updatable database containing Holocene and MIS 5.5 RSL data available in literature for the Mediterranean basin. The database, coupled with considerations on vertical land movements due to tectonics, volcanic and isostatic effects, will create an enhanced platform for evidence-supported projections of future sea level which can in turn be used to supplement coastal-flooding models and maps. The database will be freely accessible and downloadable. Three subordinate objectives have been identified: • Conduct a review of observational RSL evidence across the Mediterranean for MIS 5.5 (132-116 ka) and Post-LGM (18 ka) and compare known field data with model predictions (Lambeck et al., 2011) coupling them with the evaluation of tectonic and volcanic contributions to the displacement of MIS 5.5 markers. • Produce a WEB-GIS containing MIS 5.5 and Holocene shorelines, freely accessible by users and fed by input data provided by registered users. • Obtain future sea-level projections and create model flood maps based on the available Digital Terrain Models and on IPCC sea-level scenarios, taking into account isostatic and tectonic effects.