Joana Freitas

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  Available from: Joana Freitas

  Article: 1941 windstorm effects on the Portuguese Coast. What lessons for the future?

  Joana Gaspar de Freitas, João Alveirinho Dias
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  ABSTRACT: On February 15, 1941, the Iberian Peninsula was struck by a devastating windstorm. Human and material losses were significant. Coastal areas were among the most affected. Storm surge caused by strong wind and low atmospheric pressures favoured overwash occurrence. Unlike other past catastrophic events, there is abundant information on the 1941 windstorm. Historical sources – newspapers, survivor’s testimonies and official institutions reports - allowed us to realize its impact on territory and on populations. Until today 1941 phenomenon is still the biggest known storm. However, what happened then is almost forgotten. But, it can happen again. Sesimbra and Ria Formosa coastal areas are excellent case studies to understand what happened on the windstorm day and to discuss what could happen if an event like this reaches those regions again. The analysed data lead to the conclusion that the consequences would be even more devastating. First, because the current urbanization level is much higher. Second, Sesimbra and Ria Formosa are as vulnerable (or even more) to extreme events as they were in 1941. Third, its inhabitants have no "risk memory" and therefore have no concept of the danger inherent to seashore occupation. Preserving the memory of such events can be a way of preparing people for new disasters and to get authorities to take concrete measures to mitigate their effects.
  Journal of Coastal Research 01/2013; SI65(ICS 2013):714-719. · 0.77 Impact Factor
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  Available from: Joao Dias

  Chapter: Interacções Homem - Meio em zonas costeiras: o caso de Aveiro, Portugal

  J. Alveirinho Dias, Maria Rosário Bastos, Cristina Bernardes, Joana Gaspar de Freitas, Virgínia Martins
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  ABSTRACT: The littoral between Espinho and Mira (Portugal), generally known as the coast of Aveiro, where the coastal lagoon of the same name is located, is a paradigmatic example of interactive evolution between Man and Environment. When the average sea level reached the current quota, about 3000 years ago, this coast corresponded to a large bay open to the very energetic Atlantic sea waves. Up till the end of the 1st millennium the situation remained more or less the same, with the environment in an almost pristine condition. At the end of the 1" millennium, mainly due to the movement of the "Christian Reconquista" observed in the Iberian Peninsula and that progressed from north to south, there was a concentration of Christians in the north of the Douro River. This led to a great expansion of agriculture in the region between Douro and Minho (facilitated by the Little Climate Optimum), which led to a major expansion of sediment supply and the subsequent rapid growth of a sandy area near Espinho (south of the Douro estuary). Due to the incidence direction of the dominant sea waves that sandy area grew towards SSW, converting the large bay, little by little, into a coastal lagoon. The formation of this lagoon zone led to the creation of new environments. Therefore, new opportunities emerged allowing to meet basic and secondary needs (fishing, salt mining, ports, agriculture and maritime trade growth). With the migration towards south of the lagoon bar, it began losing hydraulic efficiency. Around 1757, the bar was in its most southerly position ever. To use the port of Aveiro, ships had to follow a long, difficult and dangerous route, leading to the virtual abandonment of this harbor. The region became insalubrious and the exploration of salt was quite scarce. After some unsuccessful attempts, in 1802 began the artificial opening of a new bar at the place where it is currently located, in front of Aveiro, which allowed the economic and social recovery of the region. Over the past centuries, the level of human disturbance of the lagoon environment has been gradually increasing (fishing, dredging, agriculture, livestock, industry, urban expansion, tourism development, etc..). In Estarreja, at the inner edge of the lagoon, it was settled, in the 1930s, but especially after the end of World War II, one of the most important centers of the Portuguese chemical industry, with its inherent impacts. The lagoon of Aveiro is now heavily impacted, with interventions of diverse types and intensities. On its banks, the landscape is dominated by the geometry of buildings and by the contrast of road structures (bridges, etc.), and the chimneys of the chemical industry and ceramics. At the lagoon, harbor structures and dredging radically changed the hydrodynamic standards. Besides, the sedimentary substrate is preserving the records of different human activities (among many others, agrochemical and chemical contamination). In the area of the sandy barrier, the jetties of the port of Aveiro led, as usual, to a large accumulation of sediments and simultaneously to very strong erosion. To remedy the situation great coastal protection works were undertaken in the area south of the bar, having the whole area evolved into a strong anthropic coast where the coastline is often materialized through coastal engineering structures.
  01/2012: pages 215-235; , ISBN: 9788598460116
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  Available from: Joana Freitas

  Dataset: O litoral português na época contemporânea: representações, práticas e consequências. Os casos de Espinho e da Praia da Rocha

  Joana Gaspar de Freitas
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  ABSTRACT: In this work we trace the evolution of human occupation of portuguese coast during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in order to understand how a territory nearly empty and neglected – inhabited only by fishermen - became a prime spot for the elite’s vacation and, a few decades later, a major holiday destination for all people. We analysed how coastal representatins have changed regarding the uses it has been given and how the living experience of the space has imposed a set of urban structures that produced irreversible (and unpredictable) changes on natural coastal systems dynamics. We also attempt to relate the configuration of today's coastal landscape - deeply anthropized - with representations and practices associated to man´s presence in seashore in the last two centuries. The purpose is to show the role of anthropogenic actions in the intensification of risks impending today upon populations located near the sea. This thesis is a History contribution for the current scientific debate about Man/Seashore interactions. Key-words: History, Man, Man/Seashore interactions, Risks
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  Available from: Joana Freitas

  Article: Episodes of coastal erosion in the second half of the XIX century and it´s relation with the development of the coast for bathing use – the cases of Espinho, Nazaré and Ericeira

  Joana Gaspar de Freitas
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  ABSTRACT: At the present time, due to the continuous use of the sea front, coastal erosion has become a serious problem. Local communities feel that the sea is stealing territories that they regarded as their own, forgetting that in the nature nothing remains static and unaltered. But this is not a recent phenomenon: since the second half of the XIX century historical data supply’s information about incidents on sea invasions, reaching certain points of the Portuguese coast in a sporadic or frequent form. A systematic gathering of information in newspapers on a broad period of time (c. 1850-1920) revealed that some of these events happened with some regularity in specific zones, creating concrete problems and different solutions, which reveal how populations and authorities dealt with the first cases (known and documented) of coastal erosion. From these record the situation of Espinho, Nazaré and Ericeira stand out. The sea invasions that occurred in these places caused extensive material damages, since during several consecutive years the sea invaded streets and houses destroying all kinds of urbane equipments. In the three analyzed cases the coastal erosion problems were strongly enhanced by the intensification of human occupation, namely the development of the bathing vocation of these villages.
  Proceedings of the 10th International Coastal Symposium, Journal of Coastal Research. 12/2009; Special Issue 56:622-626.
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  Available from: Joana Freitas

  Article: O litoral português, percepções e transformações na época contemporânea: de espaço natural a território humanizado

  Joana Gaspar de Freitas
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  ABSTRACT: A percepção que temos e a utilidade que damos ao litoral têm mudado ao longo dos tempos. Outrora, a orla costeira, ainda que pontilhada de algumas cidades e vilas, era na sua maior extensão um território vazio, evitado e ignorado, habitado por uma população diminuta de pescadores. Com o aparecimento da moda dos “banhos de mar”, o espaço litorâneo passou a ser local de atracção e divertimento, sendo procurado sazonalmente por grandes massas populacionais. Nos últimos dois séculos, a história do litoral revela-se indissociável da do próprio homem, na medida em que este espaço tem sido pensado e modificado em função do significado e da utilidade que a sociedade lhe atribui. Através da leitura e interpretação de um conjunto de fontes do século XIX e início do século XX – jornais, livros de memórias, textos satíricos, contos populares, guias de turismo e propaganda, obras de carácter etnográfico, médico e científico-natural -, bem como de alguns trabalhos recentes sobre o desenvolvimento do fenómeno social da “praia”, procurámos definir e caracterizar o percurso diacrónico da interacção entre o homem e o litoral, tendo em conta a forma como o ser humano pensa o espaço envolvente, define estratégias e implementa práticas para o adaptar às suas necessidades. Este estudo, que parte da análise de fontes documentais pouco divulgadas e que procura oferecer uma perspectiva histórica sobre os fenómenos ocorridos na orla litoral na época contemporânea, pode trazer novos contributos para um mais profundo entendimento da problemática em torno da gestão costeira, pois para se gerir convenientemente este território é preciso conhecer não só as suas especificidades próprias e compreender a sua evolução natural, mas também ter em conta as transformações físicas a que esteve e está sujeito pela acção do Homem.
  Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada. 07/2007; 7 (2):105-115.