Τhe coastline of Kalymnos island is mostly rocky. Nevertheless, 37 beaches of relative small size have been recorded, which are expected to experience significant retreats (in amounts >50% of their recorded maximum width) under the future projections of sea level rise.
Beach retreat projections for the island of Kalymnos based in the reduction (% percent) of their max. recorded width
Masouri
Masouri is located at the western coast of the island, having a length of 360 m and a maximum width of 20 m. It is the main touristic beach of the island and its landward limit is characterized by touristic development (hotels and other commercial infrastructure). Masouri is largely protected from wave action by Telendos island with only waves from the SW being able to cause significant morphological effects. During the last decade, increased erosion has been observed along the beach face; recent SW wind waves have induced seawall collapses followed by complete erosion of the southern beach margin.
High detailed topo-bathymetric and bed morphological maps of the beach were created from the data collected during the field works.
(Left): The transects followed during the field works in Masouri. (Center and right): High resolution bed morphological and bathymetric maps
