On the accuracy of automated shoreline detection derived from satellite imagery: A case study of the Sand Motor mega-scale nourishment

Measured trends and variability in shoreline position are used by coastal managers, scientists and engineers to understand and monitor coastal systems. This paper presents a new and generic method for automated shoreline detection from the largely unexplored collection of publicly available satellite imagery. The position of the obtained...

The State of the World’s Beaches

Coastal zones constitute one of the most heavily populated and developed land zones in the world. Despite the utility and economic benefits that coasts provide, there is no reliable global-scale assessment of historical shoreline change trends. Here, via the use of freely available optical satellite images captured since 1984, in conjunction...

Long term coastline monitoring derived from satellite imagery

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...

Integrated modelling of the morphological evolution of the sand engine mega-nourishment

This study presents some recent developments in coastal morphological modeling focusing on flexible meshes, flexible coupling between models operating at different time scales, and a recently developed morphodynamic model for the intertidal and dry beach. This integrated modeling approach is applied to the Sand Engine mega nourishment in The...

Understanding coastal erosion processes at the Korean east coast

Morphodynamic Upscaling with the MORFAC Approach in Tidal Conditions: The Critical MORFAC

A hampering factor in the application of morphodynamic models is the potential excessive time needed to complete a simulation. One way to upscale a model run is the use of a morphological factor, or MORFAC. In this paper, we investigate the upper limit to the value of the MORFAC as a function of model geometry and timestep for a schematized case...

On the Generic Utilization of Probabilistic Methods for Quantification of Uncertainty in Process-based Morhpodynamic Model Applications

A variety of uncertainty sources are inherent in process-based morphodynamic modelling applications. There is an increasing demand for the quantification of these uncertainties. This contribution introduces a probabilistic-morphodynamic (PM) modelling framework that enables this quantification. The PM modelling framework provides a systematic...

Effect of Different Forcing Processes on the Longshore Sediment Transport at the Sand Motor, The Netherlands

The Sand Motor is a pilot project of a ‘mega-nourishment’ built in the Dutch coast in 2011. In order to understand which conditions reshape those mega-nourishments the influence of different types of forcing on the longshore sediment transport along the Sand Motor has been assessed in this paper using a process-based model. The use of numerical...

A qualitative assessment of climate change impacts on the stability of small tidal inlets via schematised numerical modelling

Tidal inlets are of great societal importance and are also the most morphologically dynamic regions in the coastal zone. Therefore, they are of great scientific interest. Their behaviour is governed by the delicate balance of oceanic processes such as tides, waves and mean sea level (MSL), and fluvial/estuarine processes such as riverflow. All...

The sand engine: A solution for the Dutch Delta in the 21st century?

The Netherlands’ strategy to combat coastal erosion since 1990 has been through nourishment, initially as beach nourishments but more and more as shoreface nourishments. In the light of sea level rise projections the yearly nourishment magnitudes continue to increase. In view of this an innovative soft engineering intervention, comprising an...

The sand engine: A solution for vulnerable deltas in the 21st century?

The Netherlands’ strategy to combat coastal erosion since 1990 has been through nourishment, initially as beach nourishments but more and more as shoreface nourishments. In the light of sea level rise projections the yearly nourishment magnitudes continue to increase. In view of this an innovative soft engineering intervention, comprising an...

A comprehensive sediment budget for the Mississippi Barrier Islands

In order to conceive any realistic plan for post-Katrina island restoration, it is necessary to understand the physical processes that move sand along the littoral drift zone off the coast of Mississippi. This littoral zone influences the character of the Mississippi barrier islands as they exist in an ever changing cycle. To help in this...

Process-based modeling of coastal dune development

In this paper, the aeolian transport model DUNE (Sauermann et al., 2001, Kroy et al., 2002) that describes important features and dynamics of typical desert dunes, is extended such that it can be applied in sandy coastal areas. Initial tests explore the limitations of the model in coastal areas after which adaptations are proposed and...

Applying an analogue for a conceptual model for the development of a mega nourishment

This paper discusses the effectiveness of a mega-nourishment project. Mega-nourishment is a new technology for beach nourishment that has recently been developed. It arises as an alternative to beaches where a structural erosion problem is observed and there is the need for continuously nourishments works. A pilot project was implemented near...

The Lagos coast: Investigation of the long-term morphological impact of the Eko Atlantic City project

The Lagos coast has been suffering high rates of erosion since the construction of three harbour moles, i.e. the West Mole, East Mole and the Training Mole, at the tidal inlet connecting the Lagos Lagoon to the South Atlantic Ocean. To provide for a permanent erosion mitigation measure and to create residential and commercial area for circa 400...

Morphodynamic upscaling with the MORFAC approach

The Morphological Acceleration Factor (MORFAC) approach for morphodynamic upscaling enables the simulation of long term coastal evolution. However the general validity of the MORFAC concept for coastal applications has not yet been comprehensively investigated. Furthermore, a robust and objective method for the a priori determination of the...

Impact of short-term bed level changes on wave characteristics at the Frisian dikes