Description

Dynamics of Coastal Systems is about the dynamic interaction between water motion and seabed topography, which affects the natural response of coastal systems to change in external conditions and to human interventions -- from the scale of seabed ripples up to the scale of entire barrier and delta systems. The book highlights major concepts developed during the past 50 years for the description of current-topography, tide-topography and wave-topography interactions. It provides simple analytical tools and models for diagnosing and predicting coastal response to change, with references to a great variety of coastal systems around the world. These concepts and tools are crucial for sustainable management of beaches, deltas and coastal wetlands.The book is based on a master course on coastal morphodynamics given at the Universities of Utrecht and Delft in The Netherlands for graduate students who are familiar with the basic concepts of coastal hydrodynamics. It enables coastal engineers to complete their background knowledge and to facilitate access to cutting-edge scientific literature on specific topics. The book may also serve to familiarise consultants, practitioners and academics in related coastal disciplines with modern concepts of land-sea interaction.