Macrophytes in estuarine gradients: Flow through flexible vegetation

Aquatic plants –or macrophytes- are an important part of coastal, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide, both from an ecological and an engineering viewpoint. Their meadows provide a wide range of ecosystem services: forming a physical protection of the shoreline, enhancing water quality and harbouring many other organisms. Unfortunately...

Hydrodynamic Drivers of Sediment Transport Across a Fringing Reef

Coral reefs are highly valuable ecosystems, which are under an increasing number of environmental pressures. Sedimentation and sediment transport patterns are among key physical drivers of coral reefs, so it is important to improve our understanding of these poorly studied dynamics on reefs. To this purpose, flume experiments were performed on a...

How tides and waves enhance aeolian sediment transport at the sand motor mega-nourishment

Expanding knowledge concerning the close entanglement between subtidal and subaerial processes in coastal environments initiated the development of the open-source Windsurf modeling framework that enables us to simulate<br/>multi-fraction sediment transport due to subtidal and subaerial processes simultaneously. The Windsurf framework couples...

The Importance of Combined Tidal and Meteorological Forces for the Flow and Sediment Transport on Intertidal Shoals

Estuarine intertidal areas are shaped by combined astronomical and meteorological forces. This paper reveals the relative importance of tide, surge, wind, and waves for the flow and sediment transport on large intertidal shoals. Results of an intensive field campaign have been used to validate a numerical model of the Roggenplaat intertidal...

Lateral Flows and Sediment Dynamics in a Large Engineered Estuary

Estuaries are partially enclosed water bodies where river water mixes with sea water. Estuaries provide important ecological functions which are strongly regulated by estuarine hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics, and also by human interventions. Sustainable management of such systems therefore requires a thorough understanding of the interplay...