Michel Dagniaux

The amount of projects along the Angolan coast is increasing rapidly over the past years; however there is still little understanding of the Angolan and in special the Luanda coastal system whereas the demand for information and knowledge is rising. Several important features of the Luanda area are the following:

 
- Kwanza River; river 60 km south of the city of Luanda, is considered to be the main supplier of sediment
- Mussulo Bay; bay lying southwest of the city of Luanda
- Island of Mussulo, spit which almost entirely encloses Mussulo bay
- Submerged spit; underwater spit which is connected to the Island of Luanda in the south and in the north with the Island of Mussulo
- Luanda bay; bay lying west of the city of Luanda, partly enclosed by the Island of Luanda
- Island of Luanda; spit which encloses (part of) the bay of Luanda

 
Area of interest

The area of interest is bounded in the north at the end of the Island of Luanda (tip of the northern spit) and in the south by the mouth of the Kwanza River. In essence, only the coastal area is being investigated.

Problem description

At this moment little is known about the coastal systems at the Luanda area. Several projects are occurring nowadays and future projects are already being planned in the Luanda area. These projects will changes the morphology and may therefore affect the coastal system as a whole. To understand and predict effects of certain human interventions the coastal system needs to be described, researched and studied.

Object

Increasing the insight in the Luanda area by focusing on the different morphological and hydrodynamics of this area.

 Main question

What are the main characteristics which influence the interaction between the coastal systems of the Island of Mussulo and the Island of Luanda and which interventions have an important effect on the coastal changing of the Luanda area?

Approach

At first the coastal system at the Luanda area the coastal processes along the various subsystems are described. Secondly, based on the coastal system description a numerical model will be set up. In this case a 1D coastline model will be used. A timespan of decades will be simulated to understand which long term changes will occur. Missing input parameters are collected during a site visit. The outcome of the model will be analysed and based on these new insights other aspects may be looked into. Where after the research questions will be answered and a conclusion is driven from these answers.