Winds of opportunity: The effects of wind on intertidal flat accretion

Intertidal ecosystems are threatened by sea level rise and anthropogenic pressures. Understanding the processes controlling the morphodynamic developments of tidal flats is crucial for sustainable management of these systems. Analysis of three extensive fieldwork campaigns carried out on two adjacent mudflats fringing the Dutch Western Wadden...

An explanatory model for the burial of fines in the sandy seabed of the southern North Sea

The amount of suspended fines in the southern North Sea strongly depends on their exchange with the sandy seabed. This exchange is governed by resuspension of fines during storms, followed by burial in the week thereafter. Despite its importance for fine sediment dynamics, the burial of fines into a sandy seabed is currently not well...

The impact of wind on flow and sediment transport over intertidal flats

Sediment transport over intertidal flats is driven by a combination of waves, tides, and wind-driven flow. In this study we aimed at identifying and quantifying the interactions between these processes. A five week long dataset consisting of flow velocities, waves, water depths, suspended sediment concentrations, and bed level changes was...

How human activities affect the fine sediment distribution in the Dutch Coastal Zone seabed

The fine sediment distribution in the seabed is an important indicator for the ecological functioning of shallow coastal seas. In this paper, we investigate the processes and conditions that determine the fine sediment distribution in the Dutch coastal zone surficial seabed, while also assessing the response of the system to human...

Feedbacks between Fine-Grained Sediment Deposits and Bedforms in a Predominantly Sandy Seabed: Field Observations from the Southern North Sea

The Importance of Wind-induced Sediment Fluxes on Tidal Flats

Port maintenance and nature preservation are two often conflicting aspects of coastal management. Within a Pilot Project in the Western Wadden Sea (the Netherlands - see Figure1a) we test a win-win solution that could reduce harbour siltation while simultaneously stimulate saltmarsh development.<br/>For this purpose, fine material, dredged in...

Response of SPM concentrations to storms in the North Sea: Investigating the water-bed exchange of fine sediments

Shallow coastal seas are subject to an increasing pressure by offshore operations. Further to a direct influence these operations impose on benthic and pelagic organisms, an indirect influence is caused by changes in sediment dynamics and morphodynamics. Temporal variations in SPM have a large effect on the timing and rate of primary production,...