Developed coastal areas often exhibit a strong systemic coupling between shoreline dynamics and economic dynamics. “Beach nourishment”, a common erosion-control practice, involves mechanically depositing sediment from outside the local littoral system onto an actively eroding shoreline to alter shoreline morphology. Natural sedimenttransport processes quickly rework the newly engineered beach, ...

One of the most frequently quoted ecosystem services of seagrass meadows is their value for coastal protection. Many studies emphasize the role of above-ground shoots in attenuating waves, enhancing sedimentation and preventing erosion. This raises the question if short-leaved, low density (grazed) seagrass meadows with most of their biomass in belowground tissues can also stabilize sediments. ...

[1] Turbulence in the surf zone, the shallow region adjacent to the shoreline, has a key role in beach erosion, fertilization, dispersal, and larval settlement of marine invertebrates, and microbial contamination dilution in beach waters. Breakingwave generated (the dominant source) surf zone turbulence is understood poorly. A new surf zone turbulent dissipation rate scaling is derived, that co...

The impacts of coastal erosion are expected to increase through the present century, and beyond, as accelerating global mean sea-level rise begins to enhance or dominate local shoreline dynamics. In many cases, beach (and shoreline) response to sea-level rise will not be limited to passive inundation, but may be amplified or moderated by sediment redistribution between the beach and the broader...

Erosion is a major threat for coasts worldwide, beaches in particular, which constitute one of the most valuable coastal landforms. Vulnerability assessments related to beach erosion may contribute to planning measures to counteract erosion by identifying, quantifying and ranking vulnerability. Herein, we present a new index, the Beach Vulnerability Index (BVI), which combines simplicity in cal...

This study used non-invasive pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry to measure the maximum fluorescence yield (F(v)/F(m)) of two Hawaiian scleractinian coral species exposed to short-term sedimentation stress. Beach sand or harbor mud was applied to coral fragments in a flow-through aquarium system for 0-45 h, and changes in F(v)/F(m) were measured as a function of sediment type and length...

The extent of microplastic pollution (<5mm) in the southern hemisphere, particularly southern Africa, is largely unknown. This study aimed to evaluate microplastic pollution along the south-eastern coastline of South Africa, looking at whether bays are characterised by higher microplastic densities than open stretches of coastline in both beach sediment and surf-zone water. Microplastic (mean ±...

The chronicles of nearshore morphology and surficial beach deposits provide valuable information about the nature of the beach condition and the depositional environment. It imparts an understanding about the spatial and temporal relationship of nearshore waves and its influence over the distribution of beach sediments. This article contains data about wave and sediment dynamics of the ten sand...

Seafloor temperatures measured during the SAX99 experiment off Fort Walton Beach, Florida, included sharp decreases in response to the passage of cold fronts. Sediment pore water temperatures exhibited an increasing temperature (3-4o Cm) with depth in the sediment. By fitting a heat conduction model to the gradient data, the thermal diffusivity of the sediment was estimated to be 0.006 cms. The...