This volume presents the proceedings of Symposium on Marine Geology and Palaeoceanography of the 30th International Geological Congress at Beijing. The proceedings aim to present a view of contemporary marine geology and should be of interest to researchers in the geological science.
The research presented in this work qualitatively investigates the morphodynamic response of a large tidal inlet/basin system to future relative sea level rise (RSLR) using the state-of-the-art Delft3D numerical model. Understanding the potential impacts of RSLR on these systems is a prerequisite for their sustainable management due to their rich bio-diversity and the increase in economic activities and local communities in recent decades. The adopted approach used a highly schematised model domain analogous to the Ameland inlet in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Model simulations were undertaken applying tidal and wave boundary forcings with three IPCC projected RSLR scenarios (no RSLR, low RSLR and high RSLR). Predicted inlet evolution indicated a channel/shoal pattern typically observed at the Ameland inlet. RSLR enhances the existing flood-dominance of the system leading to erosion on the ebb-tidal delta and accretion in the basin. Under the no RSLR case, resulting bed evolution of the process-based model (Delft3D) tends to agree with empirical-equilibrium relations of the ASMITA model. Application of the low RSLR scenario resulted in quite stable tidal flat evolution. Model simulations with the high RSLR scenario indicated disappearing the tidal flats over time and turning the system into a lagoon. Applying nourishment hardly compensated the RSLR induced sediment demand of tidal flat evolution.
Coastal Wetlands, Second Edition: An Integrated and Ecosystem Approach provides an understanding of the functioning of coastal ecosystems and the ecological services that they provide. As coastal wetlands are under a great deal of pressure from the dual forces of rising sea levels and the intervention of human populations, both along the estuary and in the river catchment, this book covers important issues, such as the destruction or degradation of wetlands from land reclamation and infrastructures, impacts from the discharge of pollutants, changes in river flows and sediment supplies, land clearing, and dam operations. - Covers climate change and its influence on coastal wetland form and function - Provides a fully updated and expanded resource, including new chapters on modeling, management and the impact of climate change - Contains full-color figures of wetlands and estuaries in different parts of the world
This thesis investigates the physical mechanisms of air-water gas transfer through direct measurements of turbulence at the air-water interface. To enable this study, a new approach to the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is developed in order to quantify free-surface flows. PIV measurements of free-surface turbulence are performed with concurrent measurements of gas transfer in a specially constructed oscillating grid-stirred tank for a range of turbulent mixing and surface conditions. Surface turbulence, vorticity, divergence, and gas transfer are all affected by the presence of a surface film, with significant effects realized for relatively small surface pressures. Results show that while a relationship between surface turbulence and the gas-transfer velocity is an obvious improvement over that found using an estimate of the bulk flow turbulence, this relationship is dependent on the flow regime. However, the data from the grid turbulence experiments, and additional data from experiments with waves, can be reconciled by a single relationship between the gas-transfer velocity and the 1/2-power of the surface divergence, which agrees with previous conceptual models. These results demonstrate the important role of surface divergence in air-water gas exchange, and relate, in a physically meaningful way, the interactions between surface renewal, surfactants, and gas transfer.
This proceedings contains papers presented at the 31st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, which has held in Hamburg, Germany (31 August - 5 September 2008). The proceeding is divided into five parts: Waves; Long Waves, Nearshore Currents, and Swash; Sediment Transport and Morphology; Coastal Management, Environment, and Risk; and Coastal Structures. The papers cover a broad range of topics including theory, numerical and physical modeling, field measurements, case studies, design, and management. Coastal Engineering 2008 provides coastal engineers, scientists, and planners, with state-of-the-art information on coastal engineering and coastal processes.
This book presents chapters, written by leading coastal scientists, which collectively depict the current understanding of the processes that shape barrier islands and barrier spits, with an emphasis on the response of these landforms to changing conditions. A majority of the world’s population lives along the coast at the dynamic intersection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and landscapes. As narrow, low-lying landforms, barriers are especially vulnerable to changes in sea level, storminess, the geographic distribution of grass species, and the rate of sand supply—some barriers will undergo rapid changes in state (e.g., from landward migrating to disintegrating), on human time scales. Attempts by humans to prevent change can hasten the loss of these landforms, threatening their continued existence as well as the recreational, financial and ecosystem service benefits they provide. Understanding the processes and interactions that drive landscape response to climate change and human actions is essential to adaptation. As managers and governments struggle to plan for the future along low-lying coasts worldwide, and scientists conduct research that provides useful guidance, this volume offers a much-needed compilation for these groups, as well as a window into the science of barrier dynamics for anyone who is generally interested in the impacts of a changing world on coastal environments.
This IAS Special Publication contains 23 papers presented at the 3rd International Research Symposium on Modern and Ancient Clastic Tidal Deposits. This symposium series has an enviable international reputation for its quality, and so the contributions represent the latest developments in the field. The conference was preceded and followed by a number of field trips to some of the most prominent tidal flat and barrier island systems of continental Europe, and these have been written up as overview papers that summarize the current state of knowledge about these various tidal regions. The latest research results from this very specialized field. If you are a member of the International Association of Sedimentologists, for purchasing details, please see: http://www.iasnet.org/publications/details.asp?code=SP24