Through an analysis of the interaction between end users and researchers participating in the European Union–funded CoastView project (EVK3-CT-2001-0054), this article illustrates some of the difficulties associated with end user–oriented research. A way of structuring and focusing discussion between end users and researchers, which was applied and further developed during the course of the project, is suggested as a method to deal with these difficulties. The analysis in this article indicates that successful specialist support of decision making is related to the use of a systematic “frame of reference.” This involves explicit definitions of both strategic and operational objectives applied in a four-step decision recipe consisting of (1) a quantitative state concept, (2) a benchmarking procedure, (3) a design procedure for measures or interventions, and (4) an evaluation procedure.

This study investigates the stability of the Rosetta Promontory shoreline on the Nile Delta over the period 1988–95, and especially the effect of the revetments constructed between 1986 and 1991 on the western and eastern parts of the promontory. A computer code is developed to calculate the volumetric changes along the promontory, and a numerical model, developed by the Danish Hydraulic Institute, is used to calculate the sediment transport. The results generated by this model are compared with those computed from beach profile data. The study shows that the shoreline along Rosetta Promontory is still unstable and that the revetments have not been efficient enough to stop erosion.

This paper discusses storm surge water levels along with exploratory data analysis, development of event magnitudes for characteristic surge return periods, and sort term forecasting potential of surge water levels using localized linear techniques. The area considered is a location in the New York-Long Island (N.Y.-L.I.) area. The short term local linear forecasting of storm surge water level is found to be meaningful for time periods on the order of 1–2 hours using only water level information without additional meteorological information. Characteristics of the historically large surge events for both Northeasters and Hurricanes are also discussed in the paper along with potential of local linear forecasting to provide useful information for various types of large water level events. The limited forecasting study is a first step in a planned broader assessment of forecasting future storm water levels for emergency management knowledge and planning.

This paper develops and applies techniques to describe and analyze spatial patterns and controls of seawall construction on Puget Sound Lowland shores, Washington State. The main objectives are: (1) to further develop a methodology that statistically differentiates between sequential, clustered, or random patterns of seawall installation; (2) to apply the cumulative pattern assessment methodology to three drift cells in Thurston County that are representative of those typically found along the Puget Sound; and (3) to identify physical and human controls of seawall construction and patterns by analyzing differences for 109 properties in a variety of relevant drift-cell factors, including direction of sediment transport, slope stability, vegetative cover, land use, and property owner experiences and motives. Property-level information was gathered using a combination of on-site field surveys, property assessment records, aerial photograph/map analysis, and property owner questionnaires. The aerial photo analysis showed that shore protection has greatly increased in each drift cell over the last 33–45 years, increasing from 4–15% to 71–83%. Dates of bulkhead installation, as well as the direction and distance of protected sites relative to the first protected sites within each drift cell, were analyzed using a Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Additional statistical analyses did not identify many significant differences in shoreline characteristics or hazard experiences between shoreline reaches that might help explain patterns in seawall installation, with some exceptions, such as differences in shore protection, erosion experiences, and beach types. Similarly, statistical analyses comparing protected and unprotected properties identified few significant differences or associations, primarily related to improved acreage, backshore uses, historic slumping and recent slope failure, and upland/slope vegetation types.

Differential glacio-isostatic movement and climatically controlled eustatic change has caused transgression and regression in the Baltic Sea during its Holocene development. In the southern Baltic, glacio-isostatic subsidence superimposed with eustatic rise has provoked a continuously retreating coastline since the beginning of the Littorina transgression, 8000 BP. On the contrary, at the same time, uplift of the Fennoscandian Shield has caused permanent regression along the Scandinavian coast. An especially developed numerical space/time model displays the transgression and regression processes. Along the southern sinking coast, the entire ecosystem, including the conditions for human settlements, is influenced by the sea transgression. The complex processes require interdisciplinary research teams consisting of geoscientists (geologists, geomorphologists, geodesists), biologists (paleobotanists, paleozoologists), climate researchers, and archaeologists to study the complex processes affected by retreating coastlines and their socioeconomic implications. Such a team has investigated, since September 2002 along the southern Baltic Sea coast, the cause and effect relation between driving forces (climatic and geological processes) and the response of the natural and social environment in the coastal areas of a transgressive sea. Since 1999, underwater archaeological studies have discovered Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements along drowned coastlines of the Mecklenburgian Bight. Dated artifacts helped to describe the relative sea level change in the western Baltic Sea. On the basis of these data, methods of backstripping have been developed to describe, at a high resolution, the process of coastal development along a sinking coast of a tideless sea. Greenhouse gas emission scenarios provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their effects on sea level change have been coupled with predictions of isostatic vertical crustal movement, resulting in scenarios of future coastline development. Those scenarios help to elaborate protection strategies in the frame of long-term planning in coastal zone management.

A simple technique for rapid measurement of moisture content at a point on a beach with a Delta-T moisture probe is described. The sensing elements of the probe consist of four stainless steel rods (6 cm long) which, when inserted into the beach sediments, measure the impedance introduced by the presence of moisture. To provide a realistic measure of surface moisture content, the effective length of the probe was shortened from 6 to 2 centimeters by inserting the rods through a cube (4 centimeters thick) of dielectric foam. Laboratory tests comparing the output voltage of the probe with gravimetric moisture content in sand taken from a field site at Greenwich Dunes, Prince Edward Island, Canada, produced linear best-fit lines (R² > 0.97). The tests showed no appreciable difference between the short probe and the original long probe for moisture content of 0–10% and for differing salt content. A calibration produced from 150 measurements in the field over 4 weeks with the short probe and gravimetric moisture content of core samples (2 centimeters thick) was the same as the laboratory calibration, though with more scatter. Field tests within plots (1 meter square) show that surface moisture content can vary by more than 3% within this small area. Measurements within a rectangular grid 50 meters alongshore and 25 meters cross-shore show spatial patterns related to wave run-up and tidal cycles and seepage from the dune, as well as temporal fluctuation related to precipitation events and drying by sun and wind.

The initial establishment and survival of a salt marsh is regulated by a variety of factors, including salinity, sediment type, elevation, nutrient levels, and wave climate. Despite the obvious importance of wave climate on the existence or nonexistence of wetlands along shorelines of water bodies, there are currently few methods for its evaluation at wetland locations. This study used an existing wind-wave hindcast method to estimate wave climate at sites with and without Spartina alterniflora along the shoreline in coastal Alabama. The sites with vegetation along the shoreline had lower wave levels than nearby sites without vegetation. Other sites with eroding stands of vegetation had wave levels intermediate between the no-vegetation and vegetation sites. The upper limit of wave energy for (noneroding) salt marsh existence was a median significant wave height of about H = 0.1 meter and a corresponding 80 percentile (less than this level 80% of the time) significant wave height of H = 0.2 meter. Sites with less wave energy had vegetation along the shoreline. The results indicate that wave height frequency distribution based on wind-wave modeling hindcasts is an appropriate methodology for wave climate evaluation at wetland sites. The results can be used to minimize the size of breakwaters used in constructed wetlands.

The application of artificial armor units in the construction of rubble mound breakwaters is quite common. Various armor units such as the cube, the tetrapod, the dolos, and the quadripod are commonly used. Recent additions are the accropode and the core-loc, which can be used in a single layer of armoring. The stability of such breakwaters has been the subject of many studies to date. One area of interest has been the effect of the armoring unit placement method on the stability of breakwaters. The present study aims to compare two known methods of tetrapod placement in relation to breakwater stability. The results of the study are also reviewed in the light of earlier studies on breakwater stability.

The Cacela Peninsula on the south coast of Portugal was, previous to nourishment operations, extremely vulnerable to overwash events. During the 1995–96 winter, extensive overwashing led to the opening of a new inlet. Simultaneously, the lagoon channel in the backbarrier was silting up with the overwash deposits, inlet flood delta sands, and accretion of fine sediments.

Between October 1996 and February 1997 the channel was dredged, and the sediments were deposited on the western 2,000 meters of the Cacela Peninsula, forming an artificial dune ridge. The sediment characteristics of the dredge spoils were in contrast with the natural dune sand. The spoils had higher silt and clay content, lower mean grain size, and poorer sorting. In January 1998, three washover breaches were infilled, with sand removed from the foreshore, on the eastern part of the Cacela Peninsula. These sands were coarser and more poorly sorted than the original dune sediments.

A 2-year monitoring program, consisting of beach/dune profiling, topographic surveys in specific areas, and sediment analysis, was established to observe the morphological evolution of these areas.

The total eroded volume recorded for the dune nourishment project after 2 years was about 106,500 cubic meters, corresponding to 33% of the total 325,000 cubic meters of sediment that was deposited. The washover infilling showed little or no variation. However, the downdrift beaches and foredunes experienced severe erosion.

Both protective measures accomplished their purposes in terms of preventing erosion; however, a natural landscape was only created where dune development by aeolian processes was possible.

The variability of the bottom sediment grain size was estimated at two sites located at 8.5 and 12.5 m depth across the Ebro Delta inner shelf from cores taken at the beginning and end of three one-month-long current meter turbidimeter deployments. The sediment variability showed different characteristics in each survey. During winter conditions and after a river flood (December '96–January '97), a mud layer was deposited on the inner shelf overlying sandy deposits. The mud layer was eroded before April '97. During the spring survey (April '97–May '97) a sand layer was deposited after several storms. Finally, a general coarsening of the sediment was observed during the summer deployment (August '97). Potential implications of these sediment changes in the estimation of near bottom sediment fluxes are addressed, considering effects on turbidity measures and the estimation of the vertical profile of suspended sediment.

Airborne laser bathymetric (ALB) systems rapidly acquire large, high-quality datasets via variable swath widths that are independent of water depth. Laser bathymetric survey tools have applicability in clear coastal (Case II) waters down to −70 meters depth. Deployed along the southeast Florida (Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties) coast, an advanced ALB system provided a continuous dataset for 160 kilometers of coast from onshore to 6 kilometers offshore. Digital terrain models developed from this high-density bathymetric data permitted recognition of numerous seafloor features and bathymetric patterns from different image formats. Bathymetric analysis of the 600-km² survey area on the narrow continental shelf shows inherited lithologic features that are partly covered by surficial sediments. Primary parabathic provinces include: (1) nearshore rocky zones dominated by the Anastasia Formation, (2) coral-algal reef systems (Florida Reef Tract [FRT]), and (3) marine terraces. Secondary sedimentary subprovinces include shoreface sands, inter-reefal sedimentary infills (coral rubble in basal sequences and near reef gaps), and finer-grained materials seaward of the FRT. Tertiary topographic features include: (1) longshore bar and trough systems, shoals, sand sheets, and diabathic channels; (2) reef crests and ledges, forereef spurs and grooves, sediment ramps in large reef gaps, and incised paleo-river channels; and (3) drowned karst topography. Hierarchical organization of these bathymetric features is now possible for the first time because of the increased accuracy and density of bathymetric data obtained by ALB systems.

Sediment discharge from the Yangtze into the sea has decreased rapidly from 481.7 × 10⁶ tons/y (1953–76) to 389.5 × 10⁶ tons/y (1977–2000), without any corresponding decrease in water discharge. In 2001, the sediment discharge from the Yangtze dropped to 276 × 10⁶ tons. Human activities and climate changes obviously play a major role for reducing the sediment supply from the upper basin and for increasing the sediment sinks in the mid–lower basin. Sediment budgets in different parts of the Yangtze are estimated according to hydrometric data and other sources. Major physical and anthropogenic processes are examined with respect to their effects on sediment discharge from the Yangtze into the sea. The decrease of sediment supply (−46.8 × 10⁶ tons/y) from the upper Yangtze in the second period accounts for about 50% of the total decrease (−92.2 × 10⁶ tons/y) into the sea, mostly due to the increased sedimentation in reservoirs as well as climatic factors. The other 50% decrease is mostly attributed to increased sand mining in the mid–lower Yangtze and the decreased sediment supply from the Hanjiang River after building the Danjiangkou Reservoir.

The widely accepted assumption that the equilibrium beach profile in the surf zone corresponds with uniform wave-energy dissipation per unit volume is directly examined in six cases from the large-scale SUPERTANK laboratory experiment. Under irregular waves, the pattern of wave-energy dissipation across a large portion of the surf zone became relatively uniform as the beach profile evolved toward equilibrium. Rates of wave-energy dissipation across a near-equilibrium profile calculated from wave decay in the surf zone support the prediction derived by Dean (1977). Substantially different equilibrium beach-profile shapes and wave-energy dissipation rates and patterns were generated for regular waves as compared to irregular waves of similar statistical significant wave height and spectral peak period. Large deviation of wave-energy dissipation from the equilibrium rate occurred at areas on the beach profile with active net cross-shore sediment transport and substantial sedimentation and erosion. The rate of wave-energy dissipation was greater at the main breaker line and in the swash zone, as compared to middle of the surf zone. Based on analysis of the SUPERTANK data, a simple equation is developed for predicting the height of irregular waves in the surf zone on an equilibrium profile. The decay in wave height is proportional to the water depth to the one-half power, as opposed to values of unity or greater derived previously for regular waves.

Increasing demands on coastal areas require enhanced understanding of coastal erosion hazards. Here we analyze a 5-km segment of the Kihei coastline (Maui, Hawaii) centered on an area of chronic coastal erosion. A high-resolution database of variations in shoreline sediment volume over the past century reveals a complex and dramatic pattern of changes between 1900 and 1997. Comparisons of historical sediment erosion and accretion at barriers to longshore transport are used to estimate longshore sediment fluxes over this period. In the absence of detailed long-term oceanographic and meteorological data for the site, fluctuations in the magnitude and direction of net longshore sediment transport (NLST) are a potentially valuable resource for investigating why documented changes have occurred. Available data suggest that observed patterns of NLST reflect multidecadal variations in Kona storm (strong, rain-bearing winds from the southwest) activity. These storms appear to be modulated by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which has a tendency to alter atmospheric circulation such that Kona storm activity in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands is reduced during its positive phase. Correlations among the PDO cycle, Kona storm activity, and NLST in Kihei, and the apparent inability of other possible forces to produce the observed patterns of NLST, suggest a cause-and-effect relationship. Consideration of the PDO may improve our understanding of coastal sediment dynamics in many areas, enhancing existing efforts to forecast erosion hazard areas and effectively manage sandy shorelines.

During the typhoon season, storm surges often instigate serious damages to the coastal areas of Taiwan. In August 1994, typhoon Doug almost completely destroyed the breakwaters and docking facilities in the Lungtung harbor at the northeast tip of Taiwan. The estimated maximum sea level rise was about 3m. Analyses of tide, wave and meteorological records indicate that the amplitude and spatial pattern of storm surges are related to the local wind speed, direction and duration as well as the local geometry. A linear two-dimensional numerical model is used to quantify the storm surge structure. The model results indicate that sea levels reached a maximum of about 2 m at the peak of the storm. The largest surge, however, does not occur at where the most severe damage was located. This suggests that the wave run-up could be an important contribution to the storm surge.

A beach morphology monitoring program was initiated during summer 1997 along the Columbia River littoral cell (CRLC) on the coasts of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, USA. This field program documents the seasonal through interannual morphological variability of these high-energy dissipative beaches over a variety of spatial scales. Following the installation of a dense network of geodetic control monuments, a nested sampling scheme consisting of cross-shore topographic beach profiles, three-dimensional topographic beach surface maps, nearshore bathymetric surveys, and sediment size distribution analyses was initiated. Beach monitoring is being conducted with state-of-the-art real-time kinematic differential global positioning system survey methods that combine both high accuracy and speed of measurement. Sampling methods resolve variability in beach morphology at alongshore length scales of approximately 10 meters to approximately 100 kilometers and cross-shore length scales of approximately 1 meter to approximately 2 kilometers. During the winter of 1997/1998, coastal change in the US Pacific Northwest was greatly influenced by one of the strongest El Niño events on record. Steeper than typical southerly wave angles resulted in alongshore sediment transport gradients and shoreline reorientation on a regional scale. The La Niña of 1998/1999, dominated by cross-shore processes associated with the largest recorded wave year in the region, resulted in net beach erosion along much of the littoral cell. The monitoring program successfully documented the morphological response to these interannual forcing anomalies as well as the subsequent beach recovery associated with three consecutive moderate wave years. These morphological observations within the CRLC can be generalized to explain overall system patterns; however, distinct differences in large-scale coastal behavior (e.g., foredune ridge morphology, sandbar mor-phometrics, and nearshore beach slopes) are not readily explained or understood.

A global scale approach involving data assimilation schemes (e.g. Distributed Oceanographic Data System) is designed to simulate the discharge of sediment to the coastal ocean at the dynamic level (daily). The result is either a real-time, hindcast or forecast picture of coastal hydrology optimized to estimate sediment loads of rivers. The approach links a compendium of global and regional web-based databases into a GIS system. Relational and spatial methods (i.e. RiverToolst, HYDRO1k, ArcInfot) facilitate the process of data acquisition useful to sediment discharge models (i.e. HydroTrend). As a climate-driven hydrological model, HydroTrend incorporates drainage basin properties (river networks, hypsometry, relief, lakes or reservoirs, distributary channels) through high-resolution digital elevation models, along with other biophysical parameters (basin-average temperature, precipitation, evapo-transpiration, canopy, soil depth, hydraulic conductivity, ice fields). The schema is designed to provide important boundary conditions for marine sediment-dispersal models, concomitant with ocean data (wind, wave, currents). Considering that <4% of world-rivers are monitored for their sediment loads, the approach provides a unique means to predict the sediment flux across an entire coastline at a high-resolution temporal scale. Model comparison to long-term (1950–1994) observations from the Lanyang River (Hsi), Taiwan is shown to capture average conditions and inter- and intra-annual variability of water discharge, sediment concentration and loads.

To simulate transport of clastic material in the Baltic a sediment transport module is linked to a Baltic Sea Model that is based on the Modular Ocean Model—MOM3. In order to describe the properties of the seabed sediment parameters as mean grain size, critical shear velocity and bed roughness length must be provided as input data to the numerical model system. To obtain maps of these quantities for the Baltic Sea area the proxy-target concept is applied. As proxy-variable the mean grain size of the sediment types is used. For different sediment samples the critical shear velocity was measured and serves as the target variable. Using the relation between the sediment classifications based on the mean grain size (proxy) and the measured critical shear velocity (target) a map of the critical shear velocity in the Baltic is derived.

In January 1993 several extreme strong storm events occurred in the Baltic. Using this period for a model calculation maximum values of current and wave induced bottom shear velocities were obtained. Comparing these model results with the critical shear velocity distribution provided by the proxy-target concept we identify potential erosion areas. Further we show the transport path of material initially deposited in the Mecklenburgian Bight.

Since the beginning of the Littorina transgression at nearly 8000 BP the development of the Baltic Sea is closely connected to the global eustasy, reflecting the climate change during the Holocene. Modelling of coastline changes since this time was accomplished by a geostatistical approach using relative sea level curve data. In combination with a recent digital elevation model palaeo coastlines were calculated. Especially in the southern Baltic Sea large areas affected by the transgression are pointed out. A detailed study improved by the implementation of sediment budget calculations in the Mecklenburgian Bight, Germany, outlines the influence of the Littorina transgression at subsiding coasts. In the northern part of the Baltic Sea isostatic uplift of the earth's crust superposes the global sea level rise. Here, regression results in an considerable increase of land area. In summary, the area of the Baltic Sea has decreased by 30%, and the volume has decreased by 47% since 8000 BP.

Many deterministic numerical models accurately predict wave action and coastal flow but are unable to represent sedimentary processes over geologic times either because their basic equations and numerical implementation do not allow the sediment-water interface to change through time, or because their degree of detail makes geologic-time simulation prohibitive. The model presented here builds upon knowledge gained in geologic modeling. It does not attempt to represent detailed fluid flow (such as individual waves). It handles only the properties of the flow that directly affect sediment transport at scales of spatial variability greater than about 100 m. The model exploits the fact that the unsteady component of the flow (waves, tides) is predominantly cyclic, and the flow's net effect on sediment transport can be characterized by a field of directional sediment transport rates. Daily and seasonal weather variations that modulate the flow can be incorporated statistically, allowing the transport field to represent a time period of several years. Each of the model's time steps can thus encompass many years, allowing an entire run to span time periods of geologic interest. In each step, the sediment transport field is calculated from water flow (waves and currents) and bathymetry. Then it is used to redistribute sediment and recalculate flow. The model incorporates long-term eustatic, climatic, and sediment-input changes by varying conditions between steps.

The following is an introduction to The World's Coasts: Online. A brief overview of what is covered is given as well as a listing of the contents of the website.