The coastal zone is the host to many human activities, which have significantly increased in the last decades. However, sea level rise and more frequent storm events severely affect beaches and coastal structures, with negative consequences and dramatic impacts on coastal communities. These aspects add to typical coastal problems, like flooding and beach erosion, which already leading to large economic losses and human fatalities. Modeling is thus fundamental for an exhaustive understanding of the nearshore region in the present and future environment. Innovative tools and technologies may help to better understand coastal processes in terms of hydrodynamics, sediment transport, bed morphology, and their interaction with coastal structures. This book collects several contributions focusing on nearshore dynamics, and span among several time and spatial scales using both physical and numerical approaches. The aim is to describe the most recent advances in coastal dynamics.

The coastal zone is the host to many human activities, which have significantly increased in the last decades. However, sea level rise and more frequent storm events severely affect beaches and coastal structures, with negative consequences and dramatic impacts on coastal communities. These aspects add to typical coastal problems, like flooding and beach erosion, which already leading to large economic losses and human fatalities. Modeling is thus fundamental for an exhaustive understanding of the nearshore region in the present and future environment. Innovative tools and technologies may help to better understand coastal processes in terms of hydrodynamics, sediment transport, bed morphology, and their interaction with coastal structures. This book collects several contributions focusing on nearshore dynamics, and span among several time and spatial scales using both physical and numerical approaches. The aim is to describe the most recent advances in coastal dynamics.

The book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the physical processes which, according to the present state of knowledge, determine the evolution of coastal systems and their response to human interventions. This response depends to a large degree on the self-organising properties of coastal dynamics, which form a leading theme throughout the book. The basic theoretical ideas are explained in text and figures and also in formulas for the more mathematically inclined reader. Theories are illustrated with examples from estuaries, coastal lagoons, beaches and tidal flat systems from all over the world. The rules and simple models can be used directly without relying on complex computations; much attention is given to the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying theories and their limits of applicability. The book is fully self-contained; some knowledge of basic physics and mathematics is recommended. The book is an upgrade of the first edition. Most parts are rewritten and chapters are added to incorporate research results, new insight and experience of the past ten years. This book is intended for everyone interested in coastal systems for professional or educational reasons.

This book discusses selected theoretical topics of coastal hydrodynamics, including basic principles and applications in coastal oceanography and coastal engineering. It is not intended as a handbook; the emphasis is placed on presentation of a number of basic problems, rather than giving detailed instructions for their application. The bulk of the material deals with surface waves. In the author's opinion there is still a strong need for a book on wave phenomena in the coastal waters, as general textbooks on sea surface dynamics focus most of their attention on the deep ocean. This book intends to fill this need by concentrating on the phenomena typical of the coastal zone. Based on lectures given at the Institute of Hydroengineering, Polish Academy of Sciences in Gdansk, the approach throughout is a combination of the theoretical and observational. A basic knowledge of ordinary and partial differential equations, as well as the statistical and spectral analysis of time series, is assumed. The reader should also be familiar with fundamental hydrodynamic concepts. The book comprises nine chapters. Governing equations and conservation laws are treated in Chapter 1, using the variational principles. The theory of regular surface waves is covered in Chapters 2 to 4. The nonlinear effect of wave train modulation and their breaking of beaches is examined in Chapter 5. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the statistical and spectral treatment of waves induced by wind. Current generation and circulation pattern are the subject of Chapter 8, while sea level variations are examined in Chapter 9. References for further reading are given at the end of each chapter.

This book synthesizes knowledge of coastal and riverine material fluxes, biogeochemical processes and indications of change, both natural, and increasingly human-initiated. Here, the authors assess coastal flux in the past and present, and in future under the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and the LOICZ II (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) Project.

This collection contains 109 papers presented at the Fourth Conference on Coastal Dynamics, held in Lund, Sweden, June 11-15, 2001.