Field Observations of Infragravity Waves off the Dutch Coast

Infragravity (IG) waves (0.005-0.04 Hz) are surface waves that can dominate the nearshore hydrodynamics and can impact various coastal processes (e.g., run-up, overwash). A proper offshore description of incident IG waves is required for storm impact models, which generally assume a local equilibrium between sea-swell (SS) waves (0.04-0.33 Hz)...

Detection of aeolian sand strips and their characteristics using terrestrial laser scanning: The dependency between aeolian sand strip development and the environmental conditions occurring at the Noordwijk beach

Sea level rise causes more difficulties for coastal maintenance. Although hard structures were built in the past to prevent for flooding, nature based solutions are preferred more recently. For the application of nature based solutions, a better understanding of the coastal processes is desired. Dry sand is transported towards the dunes by...

Quantifying complex relations between spit growth and its hydrodynamic drivers, in non-tidal, wind-dominated lake environments: Application to the Marker Wadden (Lake Markermeer, The Netherlands): Spit quantification at the Marker Wadden

Many sand spits are morphodynamically complex cases that are hard to quantify. Therefore, most case studies on sand spits in a specific type of environment, are descriptive or even non-existent. As is the case for spits in low-energy lake environments, like the two spits at the Marker Wadden islands. Because quantification is necessary for spits...

The potential of dune vegetation during storm conditions: Assessing the applicability of XBeach in dune rehabilitation projects

Coastal protection is required to keep coastal areas protected during storm conditions. Coastal dunes are a natural defense against flooding and erosion from the sea against storms. Many insights have been obtained regarding the positive effects of coastal dune vegetation on dune formation and growth in the past. Several recent studies have...

1D source term interactions for shallow lakes in SWAN

During the calibration of SWAN for shallow water lakes in the Netherlands, problems have been encountered. Especially the emergence of an unnatural, secondary peak in the low frequency part of the energy density spectrum poses problems. Therefore, this investigation aims to address the nonlinear shallow water source terms in SWAN that may...

Infragravity wave resonance over coral reef lined coasts

Coral reefs are vital to the prosperity of the world and the local communities by providing food and coastal protection. Coral reefs are home to 25% of marine life and have therefore gained the nickname ’rainforest of the sea’. However, the reefs are being damaged by climate change and human intervention, resulting in an alarming rate of...

Preferential hydrodynamic, geomorphological, and vegetation ecology conditions for turtle nesting: Al Wajh Bank, Saudi Arabia

Sea turtles are a popular tourist attraction that offers travelers a unique nature experience. As a part of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision, an unprecedented amount of tourism development is being carried out under the ‘Red Sea Development Project’. The aim is to develop hyper-luxury islands in a sustainable and ecologically friendly way by closely...

Hoist the flag: A boundary rip current case study on swimmer safety in the Scheveningen harbour area

Each year several fatalities due to rip currents are reported in the Netherlands. One of these accidents was during May 11th in 2020 near the Scheveningen harbour, were several surfers lost their lives. During the hydrodynamic and meteorological accident were quite severe, with a significant wave height of 3.0m and wind speeds of 11 m/s, which...

Modeling Sand Wave Field Dynamics in the North Sea using Delft3D Flexible Mesh

Offshore wind farms are being built at an unprecedented pace in the North Sea. The Dutch government is aiming for a CO2 neutral energy supply by 2050 and vast cost reductions have turned (offshore) wind energy into a worthy competitor for other (green) energy sources. Most of the planned wind farms in the Dutch North Sea are located in areas...

Beach cusps in a low-energy lake environment: Relating hydrodynamics to coastal feature formation at the Houtribdijk

The Houtribdijk is a dike intersecting the IJsselmeer and Markermeer, and is partly reinforced by the construction of sandy shores. The sand eliminates the wave loads before they can reach the levee. Making use of sandy shores as flood protection in a freshwater lake environment is unique. The main goal of this thesis was to find the causes of...

Numerical Modelling of Aeolian Sediment Transport, Vegetation Growth and Blowout Formation in Coastal Dunes

Coastal dunes are dominant features along much of the world’s sandy coastlines serving as the first line of protection against coastal flooding. Besides this primary purpose, the coastal dunes also provide a variety of other functions such as the supply of drinking water, nature conservation and recreational areas. With the secondary functions...

Mapping port operability indicators across the world: Screening the suitability of port locations related to metocean conditions

Wave dissipation on a complex coral reef: An experimental study

Atolls and coral islands in and around the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean largely rely on coral reefs for their coastal protection. On these reefs a large roughness is created by different coral species. The dissipative character of these species reduces the incident wave height, thereby reducing the amount of run-up on the coast. In our current...

A Particle-based Approach for Stochastic Modelling of Waves in the Near-shore Region

Processes occurring in the near-shore region operates on a small spatial and temporal scale. Simulations of these processes have long posed challenges for computational science, and to have accurate representations require a higher resolution. This results in computationally expensive models. This project aimed to investigate the possibility of...

The effect of wave directional spread on coastal hazards at coastlines fronted by a coral reef

Many coastlines fronted by a coral reef are threatened by wave driven flooding. For this reason, waves in coral reef environments has been topic of many studies. However, most are focused on a 1D simplification of the coral reef environment. These studies neglect the impact of 2D processes, for example wave directional spread. In this study an...

Non-hydrostatic wave modelling of coral reefs with the addition of a porous in-canopy model

One sixth of the world's coastline consist of coral reefs and provide natural flood defence for the people who live in the coastal region behind the reef. However, a rising sea level, changing wave conditions and degradation of corals threaten the coastal safety of these reefs.Numerical models can be applied to study the reef-hydrodynamics and...

Using small scale morphological features on estuarine tidal flats as indicators for large scale morphological shape and development

Intertidal flats and salt marshes can protect hinterland against wave energy and flooding by tides or storm surges. Thus, the development of tidal flats is important to foresee. The presence of specific small scale features could indicate a certain development and large scale morphological shape. The shape is a predictor for development and it...