Journal of Environmental Protection, 2019, 10, 1194-1211 https://www.scirp.org/journal/jep ISSN Online: 2152-2219 ISSN Print: 2152-2197 DOI: 10.4236/jep.2019.109071 Sep. 17, 2019 1194 Journal of Environmental Protection Physical Forcing Induced Coastal Vulnerability along the Gulf of Guinea Angora Aman 1 , René A. Tano 2* , Elisée Toualy 1 , Foungnigué Silué 1 , Kwasi Appeaning Addo 3 , Regina Folorunsho 4 1 Climate Tropical Team, Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics and Fluid Mechanics, Felix Houphouet Boigny University of Cocody, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire 2 Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Physics, Nangui Abrogoua University, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire 3 Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana 4 Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos, Nigeria Abstract Coastal areas of the Gulf of Guinea experience accelerated degradation as a result of erosion and flooding associated with intensification of extreme ma- rine-meteorological phenomena. The coastal erosion process, especially on the sandy or muddy littoral, constitutes one of the main factors of the degra- dation of the Gulf of the Guinean coast. These risks, which are still poorly stu- died, could increase over the coming decades because of climate change and the human activities that exacerbate them. Data related to ocean forcing (tide, wave, and sea level anomaly), to hydrologic parameter (rainfall) and to the state (geomorphology, coastal slope, and rate of coastal retreat) of the coast were analyzed by several statistical methods and a numerical vulnerability model to map the vulnerability of the different coastlines of this region. The results showed that the vulnerability of these coastal areas is influenced by geomorphology, tide, waves and rainfall intensity. 24.34% and 37% of the en- tire coast are of low and moderate vulnerability respectively. While 26.98% and 11.66% are of high and very high vulnerability respectively. This infor- mation could facilitate developing sustainable policies to effectively manage hazards in this coastal zone. Keywords Mapping, Physical Forcing, Coastal Vulnerability Index, Gulf of Guinea 1. Introduction The coastline is dynamic and is, therefore, an area of constant change. The changes How to cite this paper: Aman, A., Tano, R.A., Toualy, E., Silué, F., Addo, K.A. and Folorunsho, R. (2019) Physical Forcing In- duced Coastal Vulnerability along the Gulf of Guinea. Journal of Environmental Pro- tection, 10, 1194-1211. https://doi.org/10.4236/jep.2019.109071 Received: August 5, 2019 Accepted: September 14, 2019 Published: September 17, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access