A satellite-based inventory of barrier islands was used to study the influence of depositional setting, climate, and tide regime on island distribution and morphology. The survey reveals 20,783 km of shoreline occupied by 2149 barrier islands worldwide. Their distribution is strongly related to sea level history in addition to the influence of tectonic setting. Rising sea level in the late Holocene (5000 YBP–present) is associated with greatest island abundance, especially on North Atlantic and Arctic coastal plains. Stable or falling sea level in the same time frame, a pattern typical of the Southern Hemisphere, is associated with a lower abundance of islands and a higher percentage of islands along deltas rather than coastal plains. Both coastal plain and deltaic island morphology are sensitive to the wave–tide regime; however, island length is 40% greater along coastal plains whereas inlet width is 40% greater on deltas. Island morphology is also fundamentally affected by climate. Island lengths in the Arctic are on average (5 km) only half the global average (10 km) because of the effect of sea ice on fetch and thus wave energy. Storm frequency in the high and middle latitudes is suggested to result in shorter and narrower islands relative to those on swell-dominated low-latitude coasts. The ratio of storm wave height to annual mean wave height is a good indicator of the degree of storm influence on island evolution. The potential for significant climate and sea level change this century underscores the need to improve understanding of the fundamental roles that these two factors have played historically in island evolution in order to predict their future impacts on the islands.

The shoreline change rate is one of the most significant parameters in analysing sandy shore behaviour with time. This parameter can be monitored by means of low- and high-resolution survey methods, depending on the objectives of the monitoring programme. Survey efficiency is also very important for achieving high resolution in both space and time. Another important aspect is the precision and significance of the obtained results, not only from the survey method itself but also from the comparative analysis used to process the data from several surveys. The survey method and the processing algorithms are the basis of shoreline analysis. This paper presents an evaluation of two proposed high-resolution methods that are simultaneously highly accurate and very efficient. These methods are based on a global positioning system (GPS) in differential mode for surveying and on novel algorithms for assessing the spatial change rate of the shoreline. The most significant difference of the two presented survey systems is the physical support: whereas one uses a land vehicle (motor-quad) to delineate the shoreline in wide straight coastal stretches, the other considers an on-foot simplified version to survey small, more irregular stretches. The analysis of the error associated with the proposed methodologies is thoroughly described in this paper. In both modes of operation, system-inherent errors are within the centimetre level—in general lower than 0.05 m. Operation-specific errors can remain within the centimetre level, but if instrument handling is careless in the on-foot survey method, they can reach decimetre levels. If successive monitoring surveys are not carried out under similar field morphological conditions, when the frontal dune baseline is adopted as a shoreline indicator, rough errors can be introduced. Two case studies of the application of these methods, evaluating the shoreline evolution of two distinct coastal regions in Portugal, are presented.

Panicum amarum S. Elliott var. amarum and P. amarum var. amarulum (A.S. Hitchcock & M.A. Chase) P. Palmer are New World tropical-, subtropical-, and temperate-zone rhizomatous varieties of a grass species that is important on coastal foredunes and primary dune topographic facets. Herein, we present a review of the biology of these important taxa. Panicum amarum has low freshwater moisture requirements, and it tolerates low nutrient levels, high sand temperature, and extensive sand coverage. Also known as bitter panic grass, it inhabits mobile and semistable dune systems, and it plays a significant role in trapping sand and building primary dunes. Panicum amarum quickly recolonizes coastlines where all vegetation has been removed by storm surges.

The severe modification and progressive loss of coastal dunes in the last decades has resulted in calls from conservationists to assess the conservation status and condition of these systems, and thus several vunerability indices have been developed. The vulnerability status of two protected coastal dune systems in the central Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula) was assessed at local scale and results compared with a previous assessment to regional scale. A vulnerability index (VI) based on variables that desribed geomorphological condition, marine influence, aeolian influence, vegetation condition, and human effects was calculated to previously defined 17 homogeneous coastal segments, and the main factors affecting them were identified. Higher vulnerability was related to two differentiated situations: segments with low or negative sedimentary budget and segments subjected to considerable human pressure. Vulnerability status of the studied stretches was also analyzed in relation to tourism pressure and level of accessibility. Vulnerability was directly related to some characteristics of the accesses as well as to visitor pressure, showing higher vulnerability those segments with increased accessibility and influx of visitors. Obtained results were more detailed in comparison with previous assessment to regional scale, and were easily translated to specific management actions. These actions should be mainly focused on controlling and limiting human (tourism) influence, particularly in those segments affected by these factors.

Expansion of land use in coastal areas results in natural resources being degraded, particularly by soil and water pollution. The objectives of this study were to assess land-use patterns and determine the influence of land-use types on soil heavy-metal contamination in Pattani Bay, Thailand. In studying land use, high-resolution SPOT satellite images were used and analyzed using ArcView GIS 3.2a and ENVI 3.5 software. Collections from 16 soil-sampling sites with topsoil and subsoil layers (0–20 and 21–50 cm in depth) from nine land-use types were carried out during March and April 2006. The heavy metals mercury, lead (Pb), cadmium, arsenic (As), and zinc were analyzed using a Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV. Results found that land uses in 2006 were mainly dominated by agricultural, residential, and mangrove-forest areas. In agricultural areas, paddy field were the main land use, followed by shrimp farms. In residential areas, most land was used for living, infrastructure, and industry. Land-use types affected soil pollution in different ways. Municipality areas, industrial zones, and dockyard areas had the highest potential for soil contamination by heavy metals, particularly Pb and As, while shrimp farming and traditional land uses such as salt flats, paddy fields, orchards, and mangrove forests showed low levels of metals. At the dockyard and Pattani River–mouth sampling sites, Pb was recorded in high concentrations of 385.77 and 557.15 mg/kg, respectively; the latter exceeds the soil quality standards of the United States Environmental Protection Agency soil screening levels for residential areas (400 mg/kg). A high concentration of As was found at the dockyard, Pattani River mouth, and industrial zone (4.46, 4.75, and 3.48 mg/kg, respectively), while the EPA standard is not to exceed 4.0 mg/kg. The results indicate that using coastal lands without planning and good management negatively influences soil resources degradation, especially in the area of soil pollution.

To better anticipate and predict high-impact weather events in the SE United States Atlantic coastal region, an examination of the precursor synoptic-scale weather patterns to these events was undertaken. High-impact weather events were defined as extreme cold, extreme heat, strong tornadoes, very large hail, and hurricanes because these events have the potential to cause significant loss of life and property or a major disruption to commerce. Some signals were found in weather patterns days in advance of these events that will improve forecasting of them, which in turn will aid geologists, biologists, policy managers, and others in assessing threats to their interests. Surface high pressure, building south into the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, often preceded extreme cold events, as did the existence of a cold air mass several days before. Low-level, positive temperature anomalies in the lower troposphere often transited from the lower Great Lakes into the Mid-Atlantic before an extreme heat event. Significant tornadic events were generally preceded by a strong jet-stream disturbance near California several days in advance, transitioning into a dual jet-stream structure at 300 hPa. Significant, southerly wind and temperature positive anomalies in the lower levels over the Gulf of Mexico were also a strong indicator of tornadic events. Tropical cyclones were often preceded by a blocking ridge over the western Atlantic and a weak, low-pressure system over Florida, causing these tropical systems to move NW instead of making their usual turn to the north out to sea in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Sediment transport between the emerged land masses and deep marine basins is a fundamental process that affects the exploitation of resources and protection of the environment and its ecosystems. Sediment transport models on the continental shelf are often very complex and subject to semiempirical or empirical equilibrium transport equations that relate sediment fluxes and turbulence to physical properties such as velocity, depth, and characteristic bed-load sediment particle sizes. In engineering applications, errors in these physical properties affect the accuracy of the sediment fluxes. The present analysis details the importance of physical properties to the bed-load fluxes and suggests which parameters have more influence on the final result by providing insight into the relative strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of all the selected 52 bed-load equations for noncohesive particles (sand and gravel are treated separately). Various parameters were first investigated individually to pinpoint the key physical properties that control the errors. Because the existence of strong nonlinearity in most bed-load transport equations precludes analytical approaches, the multilinear regression (MLR) method was used to validate this analysis. Several graphs are presented to emphasize the influencing effect of those parameters that were either used directly or embedded in these equations. The most significant parameters that directly influence the sand particles are θ, d_s, and v_av, and the embedded parameters are s_fτ_o, θd_s, and S_fθ. On the other hand, for gravel particles, the most significant parameters are θ, d_s, and θ_cr and q_s^*, S_fθ, and s_fτ_o, respectively.

Previous research has shown that a very oblique wave incidence on a coast may render a rectilinear shoreline unstable. Here, we present some further insight into the physics of such instability. The obliqueness of wave incidence has two effects on the alongshore drift: (i) a direct effect on the relative angle between the wave fronts and the shoreline, and (ii) an indirect effect on the breakers height via the wave energy spreading as the waves refract when they approach the shore. The direct effect turns out to be, in all incidents, stabilizing, and the instability occurs only from the effects of the wave energy spreading, which dominate for large incidence angles. Whereas earlier studies have pointed only to the alongshore drift as the cause of the instability, we show that the instability mechanism involves both the surf and the shoaling zones, so that the link provided by the cross-shore sediment transport is also essential.

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) concept has been adopted by Australian states, including the state of Victoria, as the framework vehicle to guide coastal management. Conceptually vital to the ICZM process is that appropriate environmental, social, demographic, and economic information should be available to all stakeholder groups, such that informed decision making can be supported across the entire catchment–marine–coastal continuum. It has been noted, both internationally and in Australia, that spatial information and related enabling technologies (e.g., geographical information systems –) have much potential to enhance the level of decision support for ICZM practitioners. However, despite much policy innovation regarding ICZM and spatial information infrastructure in Victoria since the early 1990s, stakeholders within the Victorian ICZM program are not yet served by any form of coordinated spatial information provision framework or any capacity-building initiatives vis-à-vis the application of spatial enabling technologies for ICZM. In this paper, we report the findings of an anonymous online survey (responses n = 342) administered to all Victorian ICZM stakeholder groups, which aimed to obtain baseline data regarding spatial information and enabling technology use. Survey results show that despite policy development and innovation at state government level, the current deployment of spatial information and its associated stakeholder-focussed decision-support technology does not meet its potential for decision support in bringing ICZM policy to practice. Results indicate that the initiation of targeted capacity-building programs, aimed specifically at increasing the capability of ICZM practitioners regarding the application of spatial information and enabling technologies, should be considered by lead agencies in order to provide an enhanced level of decision support within the Victorian ICZM program.

A great many studies on wave breaking have been carried out, and much experimental and field data have been documented. Moreover, on the basis of various data sets, many empirical formulas based primarily on regression analysis have been proposed to quantitatively estimate wave breaking for engineering applications. However, wave breaking has an inherent variability, which suggests that a linear statistical approach such as regression analysis might be inadequate. This study presents an alternative nonlinear method using an artificial neural network (ANN), one of the soft computing methods, for predicting breaking-wave heights and water depths. Using data from laboratory experiments showing that wave breaking characteristics on a gravel beach are different from those on a sandy beach, we developed a three-layered feed-forward type of network to obtain the output of wave-breaking heights and water depths using deepwater heights, wave periods, and seabed conditions as inputs. In particular, the effects of the groundwater table on wave breaking on a gravel beach were considered. We then aggregated the laboratory data to train the ANN to predict the wave breaker index. The results predicted by fully-trained ANNs are more accurate than those obtained by existing empirical formulas, and they identified factors crucial for predicting wave breaking. These results show that ANNs are useful tools for both the prediction and mechanistic analysis of wave breaking.

A nested configuration of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) is used to study the seasonal circulation patterns and mesoscale activity of the Eastern Brazilian Margin (EBM). The EBM encompass an oligotrophic and bathymetrically complex zone in the NW South Atlantic from 8°S to 20°S. Sea-level anomaly data are used to validate the model. Analysis of the mean circulation reveals that the EBM is dominated by seasonal and spatial dynamics of the southward Brazil Current (BC) and the northward North Brazil Undercurrent (NBUC), as well as their connection to the South Equatorial Current (SEC) dynamics. The EBM can be divided in three dynamic provinces, which are seasonally connected either by the permanent main flow or by mesoscale process. In the northern province, from 8°S to 13°S, the NBUC is the major permanent feature and the BC is just a thin flow, confined to the top few meters. As it moves southward, the BC gets deeper and stronger. In the middle province, from 13°S to 16°S, the dominance of the top 0–100-m circulation is seasonally alternated between the southward BC flow and the northward NBUC flow. In the southern province, from 16°S to 20°S, the BC appears as a dominating surface feature. While on the top (0–100 m) the main current presents a pronounced seasonal and spatial variability, on subsurface waters (100–500 m) the NBUC connects the EBM continuously. Finally, analysis of the regional simulation reveals well-defined cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies. They detach from the main flow and translate along the domain throughout the year. The translation patterns are associated with the seasonal variability of the main EBM flow, with anticyclonic mesoscale features translating southward and mesoscale cyclonic features translating northward. On their pathway, these features may come very close to the margin, interacting with the near-shelf flow.

The density of human populations in nearshore areas is more than three times the global average and is one example of why monitoring sensitive nearshore environments is essential. In this paper we outline a method for map-based monitoring of nearshore flora and epifauna using the seabed imaging and mapping system (SIMS) and geographic analysis. This system uses underwater video and sidescan sonar to systematically inventory and classify nearshore habitats. Species presence and abundance were mapped in 2006 and 2009 for a coastal area of British Columbia, Canada, and represented in a geographic information system (GIS). Spatial statistics were applied to maps of change in species abundance, and hot spots of floral and epifaunal change were identified. While minimal overall change within species groups occurs over 3 years, local areas of significant change were found near the marina entrance and the Washington State ferry terminal, where marine boat traffic may be affecting vegetation. The use of spatial statistics with this method reduces the effects of seasonal variability, minimizes impact of data errors, and identifies statistically significant hot spots of change. We have also demonstrated that SIMS generates suitable data for change detection and monitoring.

Barrier islands, the dominant geomorphic features along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, are a favorite place for living and visiting. Unfortunately, barrier islands are vulnerable to storm-surge flooding and erosion because of low elevations and the movement of sand by waves and tides. In order to estimate the impacts of surge flooding, sea-level rise, and erosion on barrier islands, the lengths and areas of barrier islands and population living there were quantified using high-resolution satellite imagery from Google Earth and 1990–2000 census block data. The total length and area of barrier islands spanning 18 states along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are about 3700 km and 6800 km², respectively. There are approximately 1.4 million people living on barrier islands, half of which are in Florida according to 2000 census data. The population densities of barrier islands are three times those of coastal states on average, and the population increased 14% from 1990 to 2000. The collision course of population increases and development in the face of accelerated sea-level rise due to global climate change makes barrier islands more vulnerable.

This article explores an Antarctic expedition that led to the development of marine sciences in Romania, celebrating their one hundredth anniversary, and the creation of marine stations. Emil Racovitza participated in the Belgica Antarctic Expedition of de Gerlache which seems to have nurtured his interest in the marine sciences. He is credited with launching oceanography in Romania. Other major figures in the development of oceanography and the creation of marine research facilities are Borcea and Antipa, whose careers are retraced in the paper. Recently all research points have been regrouped to form the National Institute for Research and Development.

La Roumanie fête le centenaire de son océanographie et l'INRDM (Institut National pour la Recherche et le Dévelopment Marins “Grigore Antipa”) célèbre les 40 années de sa création; de fait il s'agit d'un organisme issu de la coalescence de plusieurs stations océanographiques qui ont jalonné le développement de l'océanographie en Roumanie. Plusieurs noms de personalités proéminentes sont citées dans ce bref aperçu. Racovitza, qui se fit un renom en tant que membre du complément scientifique de l'expédition de la Belgica en Antarctique, y trouva probablement sa vocation marine. Les festivités de l'anniversaire, qui ont un cachet international, se centreront sur un symposium.

Istoricul oceanologiei româneşti poate fi rezumat prin evocarea personalităţilor lui E. Racoviţa, G. Antipa, I. Borcea şi a instituţionalizării cercetării marine în staţiunile şi laboratoarele care au general Institutul Român de Cercetări Marine/Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Marină “Grigore Antipa” şi Institutul Naţional de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Geologie şi Geoecologie Marină “GeoEcoMar.”

Die Geschichte der rumänischen Meereswissenschaften kann zusammen-gefasst werden durch die Berufung der Persönlichkeiten von Emil Racovitza, Grigore Antipa und Ioan Borcea sowie die Institutionalisierung der Meeresforschung in Forschungseinrichtungen, die zur Gründung des Rumänischen Meeresforschungs-institut/Nationalinstitut für Meeresforschung und Entwicklung “Grigore Antipa” und des Nationalinsitut für Forschung und Entwicklung der Meeresgeologie und Ökologie (GeoEcoMar) geführt haben.

As an island nation with some 85% of the population residing within 50 km of the coast, Australia faces significant threats into the future from sea level rise. Further, with over 710,000 addresses within 3 km of the coast and below 6-m elevation, the implication of a projected global rise in mean sea level of up to 100 cm over the 21st century will have profound economic, social, environmental, and planning consequences. In this context, it is becoming increasingly important to monitor trends emerging from local (regional) records to augment global average measurements and future projections. The Australasian region has four very long, continuous tide gauge records, at Fremantle (1897), Auckland (1903), Fort Denison (1914), and Newcastle (1925), which are invaluable for considering whether there is evidence that the rise in mean sea level is accelerating over the longer term at these locations in line with various global average sea level time-series reconstructions. These long records have been converted to relative 20-year moving average water level time series and fitted to second-order polynomial functions to consider trends of acceleration in mean sea level over time. The analysis reveals a consistent trend of weak deceleration at each of these gauge sites throughout Australasia over the period from 1940 to 2000. Short period trends of acceleration in mean sea level after 1990 are evident at each site, although these are not abnormal or higher than other short-term rates measured throughout the historical record.

Measurements using a series of laboratory experiments are carried out to investigate the effects of a submerged structure in protecting a rubble mound breakwater. In this study, a rectangular submerged structure is installed in front of a rubble mound breakwater, and irregular waves are generated by a piston-type wave maker installed at the end of a channel 32.5 m long, 0.6 m wide, and 1.1 m deep. In laboratory experiments, the effects of heights of the submerged structure on the transmission coefficients and run-up and run-down heights are evaluated. The role of the submerged structure on the stability of a breakwater is also investigated.

Palm Jumeirah is the most completely developed of several man-made coastal island megaconstructions in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The palm-shaped island, surrounded by an elliptical breakwater, was developed 7 y ago, has an overall footprint of 23 km², of which the constructed island surface area is 7.9 km², and is connected to shore via a 5-km-long spine from the mainland to the crescent tip. Time-series observations of hydrographic variables and currents within the interior of the development (Palm Jumeirah Lagoon) during 30 d in April–May 2008 were utilized to examine current flow, tide variability, water budget, vertical mixing, and turnover time within this megastructure. Currents within Palm Jumeirah Lagoon varied between stations; however, similar water temperatures and salinities were apparent throughout all the stations. Palm Jumeirah Lagoon tides were mixed and mainly semidiurnal, with spring and neap tidal ranges measuring 116 and 56 cm, respectively, and no difference in amplitude or phase throughout Palm Jumeirah Lagoon. There were substantial differences in water discharge between the east and west entrances, with high discharge on average exiting the eastern entrance and low discharge exiting the western entrance. These results indicate that the eastern and western halves of Palm Jumeirah Lagoon are flushed unequally and show differences in residence times (1.2 and 42 d, respectively), due to differences in tidal currents, wind influence, and variability of the bathymetric contour. Previous numerical modeling studies of water residence time within Palm Jumeirah Lagoon did not capture this difference, which could be associated with the exclusion of bathymetric variability in the previous modeling. Due to the strong shear and weak saline stratification, the water column throughout Palm Jumeirah Lagoon remained instable, with vertical mixing present during the spring-neap tidal cycle and well-mixed conditions predominating throughout the lagoon system.

Neogoniolithon brassica-florida (encrusting rhodobionta) is generally reported as a veneering coral community along the wave-beaten rocky coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Its presence in the hyperhaline lagoon of Bahiret el Bibane, situated in SE Tunisia, takes on particular importance because of its extension. It constitutes a reef formation 14 km long developing on both sides of the sea inlet. The building of this “natural monument” seems to be the result of an evolutionary series. The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of this reef, comparing it to 30 years ago. The current extension of the Neogoniolithon brassica-florida reef appears to be much reduced from that reported 30 years ago, indicating a regression of 26%. Four different phases leading to the reef building were also identified.