Paine, J.G.; Caudle, T.L., and Andrews, J.R., 2017. Shoreline and sand storage dynamics from annual airborne LIDAR surveys, Texas Gulf Coast.

Annual airborne LIDAR surveys were conducted along the Texas Gulf of Mexico shoreline between 2010 and 2012 to map shoreline position, determine shoreline movement and its historical context, and quantify beach and dune morphology by determining elevation threshold area (ETA) relationships for Holocene barrier islands, strandplains, and fluvial and deltaic headlands and marshes. Historical (1800s to 2007) movement is erosional for all major Texas shoreline segments, averaging 1.3 m/y of retreat. Shorelines retreated between 2007 and 2010 at a higher average rate of 2.8 m/y because of erosion and partial recovery from Hurricanes Ike (2008), Humberto (2007), and Dolly (2008). Despite the erosional context, airborne LIDAR surveys show that the shoreline advanced at 75% of 11,783 monitoring sites between 2010 and 2011 and moved an average of 6.5 m seaward during storm recovery. The recovery reversed between 2011 and 2012, when the shoreline retreated at 67% of 11,811 sites and moved an average of 3.1 m landward. Movement was similar to historical trends: NE and southern coast shorelines retreated, whereas central coast shorelines were relatively stable. Retreat between 2011 and 2012 did not fully offset advance between 2010 and 2011; the shoreline advanced at 59% of 11,811 sites and moved an average of 3.4 m seaward between 2010 and 2012, resulting in a net area gain of 203 ha. LIDAR-derived beach and dune areas exceeding threshold elevations of 2–9 m above mean sea level (at 1-m increments), divided by shoreline length over which the ETAs were determined, were used to produce average profiles. These data can be used to determine sediment storage volumes and temporal change, flood susceptibility, and erosion resilience. Storage patterns evident in ETA data mimic historical shoreline movement. Low elevation and sand storage occur where retreat is highest, whereas higher elevation and storage occur where retreat is lowest.

Wang, H.; Piazza, S.C.; Sharp, L.A.; Stagg, C.L.; Couvillion, B.R.; Steyer, G.D., and McGinnis, T.E., 2017. Determining the spatial variability of wetland soil bulk density, organic matter, and the conversion factor between organic matter and organic carbon across coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.

Soil bulk density (BD), soil organic matter (SOM) content, and a conversion factor between SOM and soil organic carbon (SOC) are often used in estimating SOC sequestration and storage. Spatial variability in BD, SOM, and the SOM–SOC conversion factor affects the ability to accurately estimate SOC sequestration, storage, and the benefits (e.g., land building area and vertical accretion) associated with wetland restoration efforts, such as marsh creation and sediment diversions. There are, however, only a few studies that have examined large-scale spatial variability in BD, SOM, and SOM–SOC conversion factors in coastal wetlands. In this study, soil cores, distributed across the entire coastal Louisiana (approximately 14,667 km²) were used to examine the regional-scale spatial variability in BD, SOM, and the SOM–SOC conversion factor. Soil cores for BD and SOM analyses were collected during 2006–09 from 331 spatially well-distributed sites in the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System network. Soil cores for the SOM–SOC conversion factor analysis were collected from 15 sites across coastal Louisiana during 2006–07. Results of a split-plot analysis of variance with incomplete block design indicated that BD and SOM varied significantly at a landscape level, defined by both hydrologic basins and vegetation types. Vertically, BD and SOM varied significantly among different vegetation types. The SOM–SOC conversion factor also varied significantly at the landscape level. This study provides critical information for the assessment of the role of coastal wetlands in large regional carbon budgets and the estimation of carbon credits from coastal restoration.

Thuy, N.B.; Kim, S.; Chien, D.D.; Dang, V.H.; Cuong, H.D.; Wettre, C., and Hole, L.R., 2017. Assessment of storm surge along the coast of central Vietnam.

In the present paper, the interaction of surge, wave, and tide along the coast of central Vietnam is assessed using a coupled model of surge, wave, and tide. A series of storm surge simulations for Typhoons Xangsane (2006), Ketsana (2009), and Nary (2013) are carried out, considering the effects of tides and waves that combines wave-dependent drag and wave-induced radiation stress to find a predominant factor in storm surge generation. The results indicate that the surge–wave interaction is crucial to the storm surge simulation in this area. In particular, the wave-dependent drag improves an accuracy of the storm surge level up to 30%. In addition, the radiation stress contributes up to 15%. However, the tide–surge interaction is negligible because there is less than 2% difference in results with and without the tide. A series of coupled surge and wave simulations for 49 historical typhoons in the period of 1951 to 2014 show that mean peak surge levels along the coast are 2.5 m. The highest peak surge level reached 4.1 m at Cuaviet in the Quangtri Province during Typhoon Harriet (1971).

Manta, G.; Barreiro, M.; Ortega, L., and Defeo, O., 2017. The effect of climate variability on the abundance of the sandy beach clam (Mesodesma mactroides) in the southwestern Atlantic.

The yellow clam Mesodesma mactroides is a fast-growing, short-lived species that inhabits sandy beaches of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean (SAO). The purpose of this study was to relate interannual fluctuations of the yellow clam population in Uruguay to climate circulation anomalies in the SAO. Twenty-three years of clam abundance, as well as sea-surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), salinity, and wind stress anomalies (WSA) from oceanic reanalyses were used. Composites and linear regressions showed that the best scenario for high abundance of M. mactroides is characterized by cold and salty waters and onshore WSA on the Uruguayan Atlantic coast. These local WSA are part of a cyclonic configuration of WSA in the SAO that forces negative SSTA in the region. High and low M. mactroides abundance tended to occur along with La Niña and El Niño events in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, respectively. These results suggest that interannual fluctuations in M. mactroides abundance are not only locally but also remotely controlled by regional- and global-scale climate variability modes.

Smith, S.M.; Tyrrell, M.; Medeiros, K.; Bayley, H.; Fox, S.; Adams, M.; Mejia, C.; Dijkstra, A.; Janson, S., and Tanis, M., 2017. Hypsometry of Cape Cod salt marshes (Massachusetts, U.S.A.) and predictions of marsh vegetation responses to sea-level rise.

The structure and functioning of salt marsh ecosystems are being impacted by sea-level rise, and a major determinant of their vulnerability to this aspect of climate change is their ground surface elevation relative to tide heights (hypsometry). In this study, a comprehensive real-time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) survey was conducted within four salt marshes at Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) to create digital elevation models, and in situ water-level loggers were used to collect tidal data within each system. From these data, marsh surface elevations were calculated relative to mean high tide elevations for 2013 and projected elevation change rates with 50 cm and 100 cm of sea-level rise. Vegetation responses to these scenarios were then modeled based on the relationship of high and low marsh zones to relative elevation. The results suggest that (1) CCNS marshes sit low within their tidal frames, unlike the majority of salt marshes in New England, (2) high marsh areas will be most affected with sea-level rise, with 90–100% losses under both 50 cm and 100 cm sea-level rise scenarios, and (3) total marsh losses of up to 30% could ensue with 100 cm of sea-level rise. Such changes, should they occur, would substantially impact the coastal environment on Cape Cod and profoundly impact the ecosystem services provided by these systems.

Alexander, C.R. and Windom, H.L., 2017. Material mobilization and transport in the Anadyr River-Estuarine system, eastern Siberia.

Water and sediments samples collected from the Anadyr River, one of the most pristine Siberian watersheds, and its associated estuarine and coastal region were analyzed for a variety of inorganic constituents, trace metals, and stable and radioisotopes to assess the mobilization and fate of materials transported along this fluvial–marine pathway. Sampling campaigns occurred during high and waning river discharge: the former concentrated primarily on the fluvial part of the system and the latter, the estuarine and coastal areas. A major focus of this report is on trace metal geochemistry, but results also address sediment provenance, transport, and deposition. The fluvial concentrations of most of the trace metals analyzed (i.e. Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Ni) are elevated in thermokarsted areas along the river course because of groundwater inputs to surface waters, presumably resulting from seasonal thawing of permafrost. Further down, river concentrations decrease, most likely because of removal to particles. The estuarine distribution of dissolved trace metals indicates that there is little biogeochemical alteration during their transport through the estuarine/coastal region. Estuarine concentrations of Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd, U, and Fe are generally conservative with respect to salinity. The estuarine concentrations of the other trace elements studied (Mn, Co, Mo, and V) show no distinct pattern relative to salinity. ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs activities and trace metal, organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations, and δ¹³C in surface and down-core sediments indicate that the Onemen Bay-Anadyr Bay estuarine system effectively traps particles originating from the watershed and from the Bering Sea. Onemen Bay is dominated by fluvial sources, whereas Anadyr Bay appears to be dominated by particles of a more oceanic provenance.

Pantoja, D.A.; Marinone, S.G., and Filonov, A., 2017. Modeling the effect of a submarine canyon on eddy generation in Banderas Bay, México.

Banderas Bay is located at the tip of Cabo Corrientes, a coastal promontory near the entrance of the Gulf of California. In this area, the intensification and recirculation of the Mexican Coastal Current (MCC) interact with Banderas Bay and, more specifically, a submarine canyon within the bay, in a manner that generates eddies. This eddy formation was explored using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) numerical model in a series of idealized experiments consisting of a northward coastal current simulating the MCC. Banderas Bay is prone to generate eddies due to a headland and the very steep topography of the canyon. When the intensity of the currents at the entrance of the bay reaches 0.4 m s⁻¹, the circulation exhibits detachments and then eddies. The eddies have azimuthal speeds of 0.1 to 0.3 m s⁻¹ and diameters that are constrained by the bay/canyon geometry of up to 30 km. Dynamically, the Froude number is Fr ∼ 0.4, and the Rossby number (Ro) is >0.65, leading the Burger number (Bu = Ro²/Fr²) to be ∼2, showing that the eddy shedding is due to a separation process. These eddies are generated at the lee of the cape and shed to the center of the bay. As a result of the MCC intensification, the advection of vorticity is more intense, by ∼15%, than the vertical stretching mechanism (which is commonly more significant in canyon dynamics). In addition, as the canyon narrows with depth, the dynamics change from a gradient-flow balance in the upper layers to less of a gradient-flow balance in the deeper layers, where the pressure gradient force dominates the circulation.

Li, Y.; Wang, Y.; Xu, S.; Hu, B., and Wang, Z.-L., 2017. Effects of mariculture and solar-salt production on sediment microbial community structure in a coastal wetland.

Mariculture and solar-salt production are two pervasive anthropogenic activities in worldwide coastal areas; however, their effects on sediment microbial biomass, community composition, and diversity have received less attention. Here, this question was investigated using the phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing in Bohai Rim, northern China. Both mariculture and salt production increased bacterial (+135% and +84%), fungal (+45% and +20%), and total PLFAs contents (+72% and +39%) compared with intertidal wetlands. Furthermore, mariculture and salt production shifted microbial PLFAs compositions. The ratio of fungi:bacteria-PLFAs decreased in mariculture ponds (−40%) and salt fields (−37%) relative to the undisturbed wetland, and the ratio of Gram-positive:Gram-negative bacteria decreased in the salt fields (−67%). Mariculture promoted the relative abundances of Firmicutes and Gemmatimonadetes, while salt production stimulated the relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Spirochaetes, Tenericutes, and Chlamydiae, as compared with the intertidal wetland. The changes in the microbial community composition were mainly attributed to sediment organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, and . The microbial and bacterial Shannon-Wiener indices, however, did not change under mariculture and salt production. In conclusion, mariculture and sea-salt production had a broad range of effects on sediment microbial biomass and community composition but had little effect on diversity.

Li, L.; Shi, P.; Du, X., and Jiao, H., 2017. Using numerical simulation to determine the seismic response of coastal underground structures in saturated soil deposits.

This paper discusses numerical simulation of seismic response of underground structures in saturated soil deposits. A fully fluid–solid coupling model is developed to simulate the dynamic behavior of saturated soils during an earthquake and is implemented into the commercial software ABAQUS with a user-defined element. The model is then applied to simulate seismic response of a structure buried in a saturated soil deposit. The effect of burial depth on the dynamic response of the underground structure is explored. The numerical simulations show that the user-defined element developed in this paper is capable of simulating the dynamic response of the underground structure in a saturated soil deposit. With the increase of burial depth, stress in the underground structure is transferred from the exterior walls, top slab, and bottom slab of the structure to its interior columns. The stress in the deeply buried underground structure varies more significantly than that in the shallowly buried structure during earthquake excitation.

Afshar-Kaveh, N.; Ghaheri, A.; Chegini, V.; Etemad-Shahidi, A., and Nazarali, M., 2017. Evaluation of different wind fields for storm surge modeling in the Persian Gulf.

With the increasing demand for accurate storm-surge predictions in coastal regions, there is an urgent need to select the most accurate wind field product to use in hydrodynamic prediction models. In this study, the responses of a coastal and ocean circulation model to four wind products, QuikSCAT, European Center of Middle-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) ERA-Interim, Global Forecast System (GFS), and Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP), were evaluated. Simulation of water-level fluctuation with the mentioned wind forcings were compared with tide-gauge observations in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. The results show that using the GFS wind field, which is a global numerical weather prediction model, produces better results compared with using other wind datasets. Although the result shows competitive improvement of the storm-surge prediction between the GFS and the CCMP forced model, the former exceeds the results almost in all stations. The correlation coefficient of the GFS-forced model for Kangan tide-gauge station is 0.80 compared with those of QuikSCAT, ECMWF, and CCMP, which are 0.64, 0.73, and 0.79, respectively.

Wang, Z.; Tang, Y.; Feng, H.; Zhao, Z., and Liu, H., 2017. Model test for lateral soil resistance of partially embedded subsea pipelines on sand during large-amplitude lateral movement.

The lateral soil resistance exerted on partially embedded pipes during large-amplitude lateral movement is the key parameter for the analysis of controlled lateral buckling attributable to axial compressive thermal stress. A series of large-scale model tests were performed to investigate the responses of pipe segment with different initial pipe embedment and different pipe weight during large-amplitude lateral movement. The lateral and vertical displacement and lateral soil resistance were measured during the test. The test results showed that breakout resistance and the trajectories of model pipe depend on initial pipe embedment and pipe weight; however, residual resistance is influenced only by pipe weight. In addition, the lateral soil resistance is idealized to two types of the lateral soil-resistance models on the basis of different initial embedment depth, namely the trilinear and quadlinear soil-resistance models, for deeper and shallower initial pipe embedment, respectively. A modified formula is presented to calculate breakout resistance. Finally, according to the failure mechanism of pipe soil interaction during lateral movement, a new formula for predicting residual resistance has been developed. The predicted results are well fitted with test results.

Strachan, K.L.; Hill, T.R.; Finch, J.M.; Barnett, R.L., and Frenzel, P., 2017. Distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera in two South African estuaries and the application as sea-level indicators.

The global mean sea level is rising as a result of climate change and is likely to affect millions of people. It is essential to understand and quantify regional relative sea-level variability to be able to predict future changes. Proxy evidence is necessary for extending our understanding of past sea-level changes beyond the industrial era, and salt-marsh foraminifera have become an important tool for reconstructing late Holocene sea-level changes. In South Africa, little is known regarding the distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera and their use as sea-level indicators, thereby limiting their application in sea-level research. This study therefore describes the distribution of living and dead surface foraminifera from two study sites along the SE South African coastline. The full surface dataset has been compiled from 139 samples that are used to describe the contemporary distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera. Cluster analysis is used to define four biozones; high marsh, middle marsh, low marsh, and mudflats. In the high marsh, where environmental conditions reach the survival threshold, a greater abundance of agglutinated foraminifera occurs. In the low-marsh zone, where subaerial exposure is restricted and environmental conditions are usually stable, a greater diversity of calcareous species occurs. The tidal mudflats have the highest diversity of calcareous assemblages with some agglutinated taxa present. Distributions of living foraminiferal populations are similar to the population distributions of dead foraminifera at both sites in the low-marsh and mudflat zones. In the high-marsh zones, however, the living-to-dead ratio and distributions are different, which could be a result of different influences of environmental variables along with seasonal variations. This study provides insights into foraminiferal distributions along the SE coastline of South Africa, which will be useful for interpreting late Holocene sea-level changes.

Gómez, J.F.; Byrne, M.-L.; Hamilton, J., and Isla, F., 2017. Historical coastal evolution and dune vegetation in Isla Salamanca National Park, Colombia.

This paper analyzes the relationship between coastal dynamics and vegetation over dunes in Isla Salamanca Road Park (ISRP), a biosphere reserve and Ramsar site located on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Historical coastline changes together with the main geomorphological features were surveyed through fieldwork, satellite images, and historical aerial photographs, revealing that erosion is the predominant process in the eastern and central sectors of ISRP, and accreting trends throughout time occur in the westernmost sector of the study area. Dunes in the central and eastern sectors are scarped and regularly affected by storm wave action, whereas on the western end of the study area, embryo dunes are currently forming and evolving. Based on the mapped landforms and coastline trends for the last six decades, 1-square-m quadrats were used to identify dune vegetation over six cross-shore transects next to stretches of coast under moderate erosion (eastern sector), high erosion (central sector), and accretion (western sector). The vegetation diversity index indicates that the scarped dunes in the eastern and central sectors have more diverse and mature species cover than the embryo dunes located in the western sector. The former is populated by late successional species, whereas the latter is populated by pioneer vegetation species that can thrive under sand burial. These outcomes reveal the underpinning effect that coastal dynamics and past coastal changes have in the present landscape and vegetation associations along ISRP.

Aragonés, L.; Tomás, R.; Cano, M.; Rosillo, E., and López, I., 2017. Influence of maritime construction within protected archaeological sites along coastal areas: Los Baños De La Reina (Alicante), Spain.

A multidisciplinary study was made assessing the impact of the construction of a harbour on an existing Roman fish farm, which was excavated in the first century BC and placed in Alicante, on the SE coast of Spain. The effect of the harbour on the wave frequencies and the velocity of the streams has been modelled for the different building stages, using the SMC (Sistema de Modelado Costero) software, including consideration of the local maritime climate and bathymetry. The results show that the predominant wave frequencies and the stream velocities increased considerably after harbour construction and, as a result, created new turbulence areas within the influence area of the Roman fish farm. The presence of hydrodynamic bioindicators confirms this result. The lithological structure of the rock mass from which the pools were excavated clearly favours the differential erosion and the subsequent failure of the area, which is now exposed to the impact of ocean waves. The activity of some lithophaga organisms can also increase the degradation of the rock mass. Consequently, a joint analysis of the geological, biological, and maritime information available suggests the degradation of the Roman fish farm located in this area was strongly exacerbated by the construction of the harbour.

Eom, J.; Choi, J.-K.; Won, J.-S.; Ryu, J.-H.; Doxaran, D.; Ruddick, K., and Lee, S., 2017. Spatiotemporal variation in suspended sediment concentrations and related factors of coastal waters based on multispatial satellite data in Gyeonggi Bay, Korea.

The variations in suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in turbid coastal waters around Gyeonggi Bay, Korea were analyzed using multiresolution ocean-color satellite imagery. Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) and Land Satellite 7 (Landsat-7) Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM ) images were atmospherically corrected, and an empirical algorithm was employed to generate maps of SSCs in the study area and investigate daily and annual variabilities in coastal water turbidity. SSC values were highest around 6 hours before high tide and around low tide, and the maximum values had strong positive relations with the tidal range near the sand ridge and channel (R² values of 0.74 and 0.72, respectively), which implies that the main driver of the diurnal variability in SSC is resuspension of bottom sediment by tides in areas of shallow water. Annually, the maximum SSC value near the sand ridge was about 400 g m⁻³, showing remarkable variation over tidal cycles, whereas it was about 10 g m⁻³ in the open sea, with little variation. The SSC around the sand ridge was higher in winter than in summer, mainly because of stronger resuspension resulting from winds during the NW monsoon in winter. The SSC around the Han River estuary was higher in summer than in winter because of the river discharge, which indicates that suspended sediments supplied by the Han River do not significantly affect SSC variation in the open ocean. This study revealed that application of the high temporal resolution of GOCI, combined with the high spatial resolution of Landsat-7 ETM , can be useful for monitoring short- and long-term variations in SSC in Korean coastal waters.

Ning, D.-z.; Li, Q.-x.; Chen, L.-f.; Zhao, M., and Teng, B., 2017. Higher harmonics induced by dual-submerged structures.

Various types of submerged multibody systems are being inserted into and being devised in the real sea. Nonlinear diffraction of regular waves attributable to dual-submerged cylinders and boxes is investigated both experimentally and numerically in this study. The ultimate objective of the study is to provide best practice guidelines for the engineers in the field leading to the better design of the submerged structures with better hydrodynamic performance and higher survival characteristics. A two-dimensional fully nonlinear numerical wave flume based on a time-domain higher order boundary element method is used, and the comparisons between the numerical and experimental results are carried out for cross-checking both the numerical model and physical experiments. The influence of the submergence, gap distance, size, and geometric shape of the two submerged structures on the higher free harmonics is also investigated. It is found that a decrease in the smaller submergence depth of the two submerged structures leads to an increase in the amplitudes of the higher harmonic free waves generated at the lee side of the structures. The amplitude of the higher order free-harmonic waves is found to oscillate with the distance between the two submerged structures periodically, and the oscillating length is about half of the incident wavelength. Furthermore, a phase difference between the two submerged rectangular structures with different widths is observed.

Li, F.; Yao, L.; Sun, W.; Jiang, Y.; Li, Z., and Zhai, Y., 2017. Histopathological liver and testis alterations in male half-smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) exposed to endocrine disruptors.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are a class of xenobiotics that may interfere with the function of the endocrine system. The adverse effects of these substances can be identified through pathology. In this research, the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) or 17β-estradiol (E2) exposure on the liver and testis of Cynoglossus semilaevis were investigated. In particular, this research observed the pathological alterations in the liver (e.g., cellular swelling, hepatocyte adhesion, and vacuolation, etc.) and testis (e.g., cellular swelling, sperm deformation, and flagellum bending, etc.). Results of the investigation revealed that exposure dose and response indicators are correlated with each other, and BPA or E2 exposure at different doses induces some degree of damage to C. semilaevis tissues on a histopathological level. Accordingly, this research provides a window for developing C. semilaevis as a model of marine fish in determining the effects of other kinds of pollutant exposure on the aquatic ecosystem and on humans.

Wang, L.; Guo, C.; Su, Y.; Wu, T., and Wang, S., 2017. Numerical study of the viscous flow field mechanism for a non-geosim model.

Inasmuch as the scale effect of wake fields has not yet been resolved, the application of a “Smart Dummy” model in predicting the full-scale nominal wake field and propeller-induced hull pressure fluctuations of ships sailing in coastal environments and zones farther out to sea has shown great potential since the concept was first proposed. However, it still has not been widely used because the rules and mechanisms of the Smart Dummy model are seldom studied by international and domestic researchers. A non-geometrically similar model (non-geosim model) of the KRISO3600TEU Container Ship (KCS) was designed by employing a local parameterization modeling method based on computational fluid dynamics numerical simulation methods. Based on the viscous flow field mechanism, numerical analysis was performed on the ship resistance performance, free-surface wave pattern, hull volume-of-fluid distribution, hull streamlines, nominal wake field at the propeller plane, and stern axial velocity field. First, the accuracy of meshing and numerical methods was verified using grid-independent analysis. Subsequently, the same grid and methods were applied for the numerical simulation and analysis of towed bare hull and self-propelled ships. The results show that the free-surface wave pattern of the Smart Dummy model was almost identical with that of the geosim model, and the distribution of boundary layers around the hull shows that the Smart Dummy had thinner and more contracted velocity boundary layers after the deformation area. The stern streamline distribution further indicated that the Smart Dummy model had a more uniform propeller inflow velocity. The difference in the angle of attack of the propeller blade operating at the rear of the KCS model accounted for the overprediction of the propeller-induced hull pressure fluctuations using the geosim model. Overall, the new method proposed in this paper has important potential applications in predicting flow characteristics for large container ships sailing in coastal environments and zones farther out to sea.

Colten, C.E., 2017. Environmental management in coastal Louisiana: A historical review.

A series of state and federal environmental management policies have been implemented in Louisiana's coastal region over the last several centuries that have directly affected vulnerable coastal residents. The policies have shifted primary attention from flood protection, to wetlands reclamation, to wildlife conservation, to wetlands restoration. Adoption and implementation of these policies have seldom factored in the impacts of management regimes on the coastal society. This paper reviews the changing environmental management regimes, how they have affected access to natural resources in the region, the adaptations made by resource-dependent societies in response to these management changes, the role of public engagement in planning environmental management, and the lack of provisions in the plans to accommodate the human adjustments they impel.

Ye, R.; Song, Z.; Zhang, C.; He, Y.; Yu, S.; Kong, J., and Li, L., 2017. Analytical model for surface saltwater intrusion in estuaries.

Based on the laterally averaged salt transport equation, a physically based surface saltwater intrusion model is presented for estimating the spatial distribution of salinity near the surface of the river along the estuary over high-water slack, low-water slack, and tidal-average conditions. The model is applied to simulate steady-state salinity profiles on the water surface of the Modaomen Estuary of the Pearl River delta in China. The results indicate that this model describes the surface salt profiles reasonably well and is capable of forecasting surface saltwater intrusion.

Yeom, G.-S.; Mizutani, N.; Hur, D.-S., and Lee, W.-D., 2017. Application of a modified estimation formula for collision force of deformed drifting containers under tsunami conditions.

Damage from a tsunami can be divided widely into direct damage and indirect damage by drifting bodies owing to a run-up wave. Indirect damage attributable to freight containers, which play a major role in international trade, is a concern owing to the effect on international and domestic economic activities. Recently, Japan incurred tremendous damage from a tsunami that occurred after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and recorded the greatest amount of economical loss and highest wave run up (40 m in the Ryori district of Ofunato City) historically (PIANC Marcom WG53, 2010). A previous study proposed an estimation formula for a collision force of a container at drift from a run-up tsunami, which comprises the impulse and momentum of the container and the added mass. In this study, a modification of the existing estimation formula for the collision force of a drifting container from a run-up tsunami was implemented, and its improvement was verified through a comparison between laboratory and numerical experiments. Additionally, the estimation formula was revised for application to a large deformed container, and its applicability under prototypical conditions was confirmed through a comparison with the verified numerical model. Finally, for practical use, a simplification of the estimation formula was applied. As a result, the simplified version of the estimation formula, which considers a large deformation, was shown to have a similar form as the original estimation formula, which did not consider a large deformation, although the influence of the added mass has decreased.

Jung, T-H.; Son, S., and Ryu, Y. 2017. Finite element solution of linear waves on a sloping bottom boundary.

A new, finite-element solution of linear water waves, which can be applied to a nonvertical bottom boundary, is introduced in this study. The present solution can be applied to regions in which the water depth gradually approaches zero, such as coastlines. To obtain this solution, the entire domain is divided into three subregions. In the up-wave and down-wave subregions, analytical solutions are used. In the middle region, which occupies most computational domain, the standard Galerkin finite-element method is applied. The introduced numerical method is compared with an analytical solution to show its validity.

Caudle, T.L. and Paine, J.G., 2017. Applications of coastal data collected in the Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program (THSCMP).

The Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program (THSCMP) engages students and teachers who live along the Gulf of Mexico in the study of their natural environment. Scientists from the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at The University of Texas at Austin show middle and high school students and teachers how to measure topography, map vegetation lines and shorelines with GPS, and observe weather and wave conditions. The students are active participants in the research project, which has the dual benefit of enhancing their science education while providing valuable data on the dynamic coastline. Students collect critical scientific data that help scientists and managers address coastal issues and gain a better understanding of dune and beach dynamics on the Texas coast. Since the THSCMP began in 1997, data collected by students have been applied by scientists to investigate beach, dune, and vegetation-line recovery following several tropical cyclones, including Hurricane Ike in 2008. Student-collected data are used to monitor the effects of nourishment projects on South Padre Island, foredune changes on Mustang Island, geotextile tubes on Galveston Island, and jetty construction on Matagorda Peninsula. Student data are also used in verifying shoreline positions for updates of Texas' long-term shoreline change rates. Through these real-world examples of scientific observations, students gain a better understanding of environmental issues affecting their communities.