Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NEARCONTROL (NEARshore geological CONTROL on coastal morphodynamics: monitoring and modelling in high-resolution)
Période du rapport: 2018-02-01 au 2019-01-31
Challenging these oversimplified assumptions about coastal evolution and improving the quantification of geological control is essential to understanding event to decadal scale evolution of sedimentary coastlines and improving our ability to predict future coastal response to environmental, climate and sea-level change. NEARCONTROL focusses on the role and impact of the underlying geological control in the evolution of the nearshore, particularly in response to energetic storm conditions. The overall objective is to develop an approach that integrates high-resolution geophysical surveying and exploratory numerical modelling in order to test the hypothesis that the geological framework exerts the fundamental control on nearshore configuration and evolution. Our results highlight that the underlying geological and stratigraphic surfaces determine the overall shape of the nearshore and, by constraining sediment dynamics and morphological change, their impact in contemporary and future coastal evolution is unavoidable. Understanding these interactions and incorporating the associated uncertainties in coastal modelling frameworks will enhance quantitative and qualitative assessments of future coastal evolution and contribute to improved coastal adaptation to SLR.
The response of sedimentary barriers and nearshore areas to accelerated SLR in a changing climate will be overwhelmingly determined by the geological and stratigraphic framework of the coastal area to be transgressed and the extent to which future wave erosion is effective in modifying the nearshore morphology. The synchronous barrier and nearshore landward translation under SLR that is still assumed in most mesoscale coastal evolution modelling approaches is far from ubiquitous, and the conceptual and analytical approach that underpins the equilibrium-profile model grossly oversimplifies the processes and mechanisms of coastal evolution. Our results demonstrate that decoupled barrier-nearshore evolution over an irregularly erodible surface is to be expected for most sedimentary coasts and that progress in predicting mesoscale coastal evolution requires an improved understanding of nearshore erosion during extreme coastal storms.
The research developed and results obtained have been and will continue to be disseminated in various ways. So far, 10 manuscripts have been published or submitted for peer-review in scientific journals, 16 presentations have been delivered to national and international conferences, 1 MSc thesis has been completed, a conference session and a workshop have been organized, as well as a training event and one outreach activity.