Coastal hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes and engineering

Introduction

This article presents an overview of the Coastal Wiki content (July 2017) on coastal hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes, long term geomorphological change, climate impacts and coastal engineering (articles in blue). This content was initiated by the ENCORA themes 5 and 8.

The article also indicates missing topics (articles in red). Please help us fill these gaps by expanding and claiming these missing topics.

For some gaps alternative websites are indicated, in particular:

• pages of Wikipedia
• pages of the Australian coastal website https://ozcoasts.org.au/
• pages in English of the Dutch Deltaproof website http://deltaproof.stowa.nl/Publicaties/deltafact.aspx?pId=1739

See also: Definitions of coastal terms.

Coastal hydrodynamics

Coastal Wiki articles

• Hydrodynamic modelling
• Modelling coastal hydrodynamics
• How to apply models
• Reduction of uncertainties through Data Model Integration (DMI)
• Using model simulations to support monitoring - Methods&Techniques
• Using model simulations to support monitoring - Implementation & Results

Coastal Wiki gap

• Hydrodynamic processes and equations - introduction to the mathematical formulation of major physical processes that should be addressed in models for different types of coastal systems (sediment transport formulas are addressed in other articles)

Waves

Coastal Wiki articles

• Shallow-water wave theory
• Waves and currents by X-band radar - wave measurement technique
• Using satellite data for global wave forecasts
• Infragravity waves

Incomplete articles

• Waves – more comprehensive introduction to wave types: progressive, standing, surface, internal, gravity, capillary, wind wave, swell, tide, planetary or Rossby waves, tsunami, ship waves.
• Wave transformation needs expansion, see Shallow-water wave theory
• Statistical description of wave parameters needs expansion on wave spectrum, Rayleigh distribution, intra-wave interaction
• Edge waves definition should be expanded: periods incident waves, reflection, dissipation, propagation, coastally trapped waves

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Wind wave generation – introduction to underlying processes, fetch, saturated wave field, wave-wave interaction, wave spectrum
• Wave transformation in the nearshore – extension of Shallow-water wave theory with more detailed treatment of propagation of random waves into shallow water, wave breaking and dissipation mechanisms, breaking criteria, roller energy, wave asymmetry and skewness, cnoidal waves, solitary waves, observations, empirical formulas, models
• Surf zone dynamics – impact of Wave transformation in the nearshore on nearshore morphology
• Wave-current interaction
• Tsunamis - introduction to tsunami generation, propagation, shoaling, runup, dissipation, modelling, observations, empirical formulas
• Wave impact – stability of structures under wave attack
• Ship waves - wash or wake, Kelvin wave pattern, supercritical wash
• Wave modelling - operational, coastal, computational fluid dynamics, smoothed particle hydrodynamics

External references

• Water waves
• Airy wave theory
• Cnoidal wave
• Wind wave

Tides

Coastal Wiki articles

• Tidal motion in shelf seas

Incomplete articles

• Tides needs revision
• Tidal prediction needs expansion : harmonic method, tidal constituents, specific examples
• Storm surge definition needs expansion: storm surge prediction, storm surge modelling, storm surge impact

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Tides in the oceans
• Tidal asymmetry – introduction to tidal topographically induced wave distortion in shallow coastal systems
• Tidal bores- introduction to tidal wave propagation in shallow water, bore development and propagation/dissipation, bore types, relation with channel geometry and bed roughness, observations, modelling, practical formulas, implications for sediment transport

External references

• Theory of tides

Currents

Coastal Wiki articles

• Currents introduction to currents in the Open Sea (tidal, wind-generated, storm surge), current in the nearshore zone (shore-parallel, shore-normal, undertow, rip currents, cross-currents), two-dimensional currents in the nearshore zone
• Waves and currents by X-band radar - measurement method of currents
• Currents and turbulence by acoustic methods - measurement method of currents
• Use of ground based radar in hydrography - measurement method of currents
• Coriolis acceleration
• Bedforms and roughness
• Bed roughness and friction factors in estuaries

Incomplete articles

• Longshore current – definition needs expansion: generation of longshore currents, theory, practical formulas
• Rip currents – extension of Rhythmic shoreline features with a more detailed treatment of characteristics of rip-cells, their importance, occurrence, hydrodynamics, morphodynamic feedbacks, influence of tides, storms, modelling, practical formulas, implications for coastal management

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Wind driven currents – sea surface entrainment, turbulence, Ekman theory
• Density-driven currents – buoyancy, stratification, turbulence damping, entrainment, modelling
• Turbulence – generation, coherent flow structures, dissipation, Kolmogorov theory, spectrum, shear stress, diffusion, mixing length

Transport and mixing processes

Coastal Wiki articles

• Seawater intrusion and mixing in estuaries
• Estuarine circulation
• Salt wedge estuaries
• Dynamics and structure of the water and matter ex-change between the Wadden Sea and the German Bight
• Transport and dispersion of pollutants, nutrients, tracers in mixed nearshore water
• Shelf sea exchange with the ocean
• Suspended particulate matter distribution in the North Sea
• Index of vulnerability of littorals to oil pollution
• Oil spill monitoring
• Water quality services GMES - MarCoast in Germany

Incomplete articles

• Stratification – needs expansion: stability criteria, internal waves, Kelvin-Helmholz instability, turbulence damping, internal friction, mixing

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Transport and mixing processes in shelf seas - introduction to concepts and processes, field studies, modelling, ecosystem implications
• River plume dynamics - introduction to major physical processes, observation methods, field examples and practical simulation models

External references

• Reduction of saline intrusion
• Oil spill

Flood risk

Coastal Wiki articles

• Chances and risks
• Extreme storms
• Decision Support Systems for coastal risk assessment and management
• Risk and coastal zone policy: example from the Netherlands
• Flood risk analysis study at the German Bight Coast

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Extreme event analysis - Gumbel, Weibull distributions, exceedance probability, dependence and joint probability, return period
• Flood risk general article
• Risk management strategies general article

Coastal sediments and sediment transport

Coastal Wiki articles

• Manual Sediment Transport Measurements in Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Seas series of articles on sediment transport measurement, with many subtopics
• Sediment deposition and erosion processes
• Dynamics of mud transport
• Sand transport
• Sediment transport formulas for the coastal environment
• Coastal Hydrodynamics And Transport Processes - introduction to sediment transport in general, onshore and offshore transport and equilibrium coastal profile, transport of non-cohesive sediments
• Wave ripples
• Wave ripple formation

Incomplete articles

• Sediment - needs update with links to specific topics

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Sediment classification - grain size, gravel, sand, boulder, shape, flat, round, type, cohesive, non-cohesive
• Graded beds – sorting processes, seabed armouring, erosion, deposition, modelling
• Sediment budget coastal systems
• Boundary layer processes and sediment transport - introduction to the boundary layer concept (waves, current, waves+current), turbulence, temporal-spatial scales, bed-flow interaction, velocity and acceleration skewness, flat/rippled/sloping beds, sediment transport processes, onshore-offshore asymmetry, observation, modelling, practical formulas
• Current ripples and dunes – formation processes, theoretical background, modelling
• Cross-shore sediment transport - shoaling zone, breaker zone, swash zone
• Aeolian transport – from beach to dunes, influence of grainsize, fetch, tides, moisture, vegetation, dune formation, modelling
• Estuarine sedimentation and turbidity maximum - introduction to characteristics of turbidity maxima, underlying processes (tidal asymmetry, estuarine circulation), impact on sedimentation and water quality, conditions of occurrence, relation with dredging and reclamation in estuaries, observations, modelling

Coastal morphology

Wave-dominated coasts

Coastal Wiki articles

• Classification of coastlines deals with nearly straight coastlines (with overview of coastal characteristics), special coastal planforms (delta coastlines, sand spits, barrier islands, mechanisms and conditions for barrier island development), barrier formation; effect of development
• Characteristics of sedimentary shores - introduction to different coastal types
• Active coastal zone
• Closure depth
• Shoreface profile
• Swash zone dynamics
• Gravel Beaches
• Littoral drift and shoreline modelling needs expansion and update of longshore sediment transport with recent formulas
• Data-driven models and statistical approaches

Incomplete articles

• Rocky shore morphology – needs expansion to cliff morphology, sediment input, shore platforms, stacks, headlands, etc.
• Beach berm – expand definition and add section on berm formation

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Typology of coastlines – introduction to different coastline classification schemes, accretional, erosional coasts, beaches, estuaries, inlets, deltas, cliffs, mudflats, dunes, stacks, headlands, blowholes
• Embayed beaches - morphodynamics and equilibrium planform of beaches that are semi-enclosed by headlands or groynes.
• Wave-dominated coast general introduction: barriers, beaches, breaker bars, intertidal bars and runnels
• Macrotidal coasts - introduction to: characteristics of macrotidal coasts (compared to micro- or mesotidal coasts), variability, major involved hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes, resilience, response to sea-level rise
• Mud coasts (or Fluvial-dominated coasts ) - introduction to the particular characteristics of mud coasts (compared to sand coasts) and the processes responsible for their formation, evolution and maintenance, threats and response to sea-level rise
• Typology of mangrove coasts – morphological-ecological interaction
• Coastal barrier formation - introduction to characteristics of coastal barriers, their importance, processes responsible for their formation, evolution and maintenance, threats to existing coastal barriers (human interventions and sea-level rise), good management practices
• Breaker bar dynamics – development, evolution and decay of breaker bars in the surf zone, underlying morphodynamic processes and modelling
• Beach-dune interaction - introduction to major processes of coastal dune formation and erosion, and practical modelling concepts
• Reef systems

External references

• OzCoast Beaches

Deltas, estuaries and lagoons

Coastal Wiki articles

• Morphology of estuaries - classification of estuaries, tide-dominated, river-dominated, wave-dominated estuaries, examples
• Wave-dominated river deltas
• Estuarine morphological modelling
• Physical processes and morphology of synchronous estuaries
• Siltation in harbors and fairways
• Case studies: Long term predictions for estuaries
• Salt marshes
• Dynamics, threats and management of salt marshes
• Salt marshes in Europe and temporal variability

Incomplete articles

• Estuaries and tidal rivers – introduction to different types of estuaries
• Mudflat – needs expansion of existing definition, mudflat morphology and morphodynamics (interaction morphology-tide-waves-biology), link to saltmarsh morphology
• Salt marsh morphodynamics – typical salt marsh morphologies, introduction to underlying physical feedback processes (interaction waves, tide with morphology)
• Fjords – definition needs to be expanded: formation process, hydrodynamics
• Coastal squeeze – article must be revised and expanded: introduction to the concept of coastal squeeze, influential factors, how does it happen, consequences, examples, how to avoid, how to mitigate, lessons from practice
• Characteristics of muddy coasts - needs revision and expansion to include wave influence and interactions ecology-hydrodynamics-morphology.

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Rias – definition, impact of geological constraints on hydrodynamics and morphodynamics
• Tidal lagoons – evolution, morphodynamics
• Tide-dominated river deltas - introduction to characteristics of tidal deltas with high liquid and solid river discharge, major processes for their formation, evolution and maintenance, resilience and threats, response to sea-level rise
• Ebb-tidal deltas – tide- and wave-driven morphodynamics, interaction with tidal basin morphodynamics
• Estuarine morphodynamics – morphodynamic feedback, equilibrium planform, equilibrium hypsometry, tidal flats, alternating bars, channel meandering, channel bifurcation
• Estuary response to sea-level rise
• Estuary channelization - impact on hydrodynamics, salt intrusion, sedimentation, turbidity, field cases, modelling
• Tidal flat reclamation – morphodynamic response, consequences for physical and ecological processes in estuaries and options for restoration
• ICZM issues in estuaries
• Bio-geomorphology of salt marshes – landscape dynamics of salt marshes resulting from the interaction between biotic and physical processes

External references

• OzCoast Deltas

Coastal morphology measuring techniques

Coastal Wiki articles

• Bathymetry from inverse wave refraction
• Data processing and output of Lidar
• Hyperspectral seafloor mapping and direct bathymetry calculation in littoral zones
• Instruments for bed level detection
• Space geodetic techniques for coastal zone monitoring
• Argus applications
• Argus image types and conventions
• Argus standard image processing
• Argus video
• Argus video monitoring system
• Data analysis and Statistical Approaches

Coastal morphodynamic modelling and self-organisation

Coastal Wiki articles

• Stability models
• Rhythmic shoreline features
• Beach Cusps
• Sand ridges in shelf seas
• Process-based modelling
• Process-based morphological models
• Geomorphological analysis
• Behaviour-based models
• Littoral drift and shoreline modelling
• Stochastic and fractal methods in coastal morphodynamics

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Coastline instability - introduction to conditions for coastline instability, occurrence, characteristics of unstable coastlines, observations, processes, morphodynamic feedback, modelling, practical formulas, implications for coastal management
• Nearshore bed forms and bed roughness – extension of Bedforms and roughness with a more detailed treatment of the physical background and practical methods for representing the influence of bed forms and bed roughness in the nearshore zone in numerical models of waves, currents, mixing and sediment transport
• Sand waves - introduction to characteristics of sand waves, their practical importance, conditions and major (feedback)processes for their formation, evolution and maintenance, modelling, some examples and simple rules
• Bio-geomorphology of the coastal zone – morphological and ecological patterns in the coastal zone resulting from the interaction between biotic and physical processes

Coastal erosion

Coastal Wiki articles

• Bruun rule for shoreface adaptation to sea-level rise
• Types and background of coastal erosion
• Natural causes of coastal erosion
• Human causes of coastal erosion
• Accretion and erosion for different coastal types
• Typical examples of structural erosion
• Port breakwaters and coastal erosion
• Dune erosion
• Coastal Erosion along the Changjiang Deltaic Shoreline

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Shoreline prediction – practical (data-driven) methods, applicability, storms, implication for coastal management
• Decadal coastal prediction - introduction to (data-driven) methods for predicting coastal evolution over decadal time scale

Long-term morphodynamics and climate change

Coastal Wiki articles

• Sea level rise
• Geomorphological time scales and processes
• Effect of climate change on coastline evolution
• Bruun rule for shoreface adaptation to sea-level rise
• Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Mangroves
• Ocean circulation
• Thermohaline circulation of the oceans

Incomplete articles

• Geomorphology – needs expansion to a general article linking to more specific articles
• Climate change - extend existing definition to general introduction to the topic

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Climate change impacts general article with links to more specific articles, and to articles on sea level change
• Stratigraphy of coastal systems – introduction to depositional/erosional seabed structures, relation with depositional and erosional processes, long-term morphodynamic processes, response to sea-level rise
• Long-term coastal evolution - introduction to evolution of sedimentary coasts during the Holocene, processes and interactions, modelling, response to future sea-level rise, implications for coastal management
• Quaternary geology - glaciology, case studies, saltmarsh climate change dating
• Sea level change - indications of former sea levels, causes of sea level change, pleistocene, holocene, present, future, isostacy and eustacy, tectonics, climate change
• Geomorphological modelling at geological time scale
• Seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers
• ICZM issues associated with long term geomorphology

Coastal protection and engineering

Hard measures

• Hard shoreline protection structures
• Protection against coastal erosion
• Shore protection, coast protection and sea defence methods
• Hard structures and structural erosion
• Groynes
• Groynes as shore protection
• Deteriorated groynes
• Detached breakwaters
• Applicability of detached breakwaters
• Detached shore parallel breakwaters
• Application of breakwaters
• Revetments
• Seawalls and revetments
• Overtopping resistant dikes

Soft measures

• Artificial reefs
• Natural barriers
• Dynamics, threats and management of biogenic reefs
• Sand-filled geosystems in coastal engineering
• Beach nourishment
• Artificial nourishment
• Shore nourishment
• Experiences with beach nourishments in Portugal
• Floating breakwaters
• Perched beaches
• Beach drainage
• Sand by-pass systems
• Sand dune types - Europe
• Dynamics, threats and management of dunes

Wind and wave energy

• Wave energy converters
• Wave energy converters in coastal structures
• Offshore wind farm development in Germany

Incomplete articles

• Dredging needs expansion with overview article of techniques and impact

Coastal Wiki gaps

• Experience with coastal nourishment in the Netherlands
• Coastal defence options - UK MAFF guidelines, do nothing, risk management, sustain, change
• Resonance phenomena - dealing with seiches in harbours and basins
• Disposal of dredged materials – including fate of dredged materials
• Sand mining in shelf seas - introduction to sand mining strategies (surface/depth of pits, frequency), impact on hydrodynamics, morphological evolution, ecological recovery, good practice guidelines
• Estuary engineering - deepening and channelisation of estuaries, tidal flat reclamation, impacts, coastal squeeze, managed realignment. (See also [
• Tidal power – introduction to methods for tidal energy exploitation, practical experience
• Marine wind energy introduction to methods and conditions for sustainable and efficient exploitation (technical, financial, environmental)
• Examples of marine wind farms – practical experience

External references

• Sand nourishment
• Reuse of dredged material
• Managed realignment