https://www.usf.edu/arts-sciences/departments/geosciences/research/coastal-sediments/index.aspx

The Premier Global Forum on Coastal Processes, Sediment Dynamics, and Engineering Innovation

International Conference on Coastal Sediments 2027, celebrating 50 years of Coastal Sediments Conference Series, will be held in Charleston, South Carolina, May 3^rd – 7^th, 2027. The organizing committee includes:

Dr. Julie Rosati (US Army Corps of Engineers), Co-Chair

Dr. Ping Wang (University of South Florida), Co-Chair

Dr. Katherine Brutsche (US Army Corps of Engineers)

Dr. Nicole Elko (American Shore and Beach Preservation Association)

Dr. Caroline Hallin (Lund University)

Dr. Tim Kana (Coastal Science and Engineering, Inc.)

Dr. Jennifer Miselis (US Geological Survey)

Dr. Peter Ruggiero (Oregon State University).

Please mark your calendar and visit our website:

https://www.usf.edu/arts-sciences/departments/geosciences/research/coastal-sediments/

We are planning regular and special sessions, short courses, and field trips. If you have any suggestions or interested in organizing special sessions, teaching short courses, or leading field trips, please contact Ping Wang at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or our organizing committee members.

The Prada Group and UNESCO-IOC announce the opening of the first Italian centre dedicated entirely to ocean literacy, co-designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, located on the island of San Servolo in the Venetian Lagoon.

   The ocean, human beings, and how each influences the other. The first and only Italian Centre dedicated to ocean literacy, which opens today, aims to encourage a wide and diverse audience to engage with this vital topic. The initiative is promoted by Prada Group and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC), and forms part of the SEA BEYOND project, which has been working since 2019 to increase awareness among the younger generations of issues surrounding sustainability and ocean preservation. The SEA BEYOND Ocean Literacy Centre, co-designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and UNESCO-IOC, is located on the island of San Servolo, a cultural hub in the Venetian Lagoon that is already home to various major institutions. The choice of site is both tangibly and symbolically significant, as the area is a unique example of a ‘transition ecosystem’ shaped by continuous interactions between land, sea and humankind.

   It was for this reason that Venice was selected for the first Ocean Literacy World Conference in June 2024, a two-day event that ended with 131 delegates representing UNESCO member states signing the Venice Declaration for Ocean Literacy in Action, a ten-point manifesto designed to restore society’s relationship with the ocean.

   The Centre’s activities – designed to foster dialogue and employing an accessible, inclusive and multi-sensory approach – have been developed for students of all ages, local communities, researchers, residents, and tourists from both Italy and overseas. These diverse audiences will be addressed in a similarly broad language that compares ideas and perspectives from different disciplines. The aim is to encourage visitors to think critically about their relationship with the ocean, and the lagoon, and to adopt positive.

https://oceanliteracycentre.org/

New Jersey has roughly one hundred and thirty miles of coastline, including a wide array of habitats from marshes to ocean beaches, each hosting a unique ecosystem. Yet these coastal landscapes are quite dynamic, changing rapidly as a result of commercial development, environmental protection movements, and of course climate change. Now more than ever, it is vital to document these landscapes before they disappear.

Based on numerous aerial images from helicopter and drone flights between 2015 and 2021, this book provides extensive photographs and maps of the New Jersey coast, from the Pine Barrens to the ocean beaches. The text associated with each exceptional image describes it in detail, including its location, ecological setting, and relative position within the larger landscape. Author Kenneth Able, director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station for over thirty years, has thoroughly ground-truthed each image by observations made through kayaks, boats, and wading through marshes. Calling upon his decades of expertise, Able paints a compelling portrait of coastal New Jersey’s stunning natural features, resources, history, and possible futures in an era of rising sea levels.

https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/coastal-landscapes/9781978833722/

About the Author:

Kenneth Able is a distinguished professor emeritus at Rutgers University, where he taught in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences for forty-two years and directed the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Little Egg Inlet for thirty-two years. He is the author of three books and over two hundred and sixty peer-reviewed papers on marine and estuarine research.

Estuaries are among the most sensitive and widely exploited territorial habitats on Earth. Although predominantly shallow aquatic environments, estuaries are extremely important socio-economically, and their usage places ever-increasing stresses on these habitats, especially where there is any anthropogenic involvement. The effective governance and administration of estuarial regions often requires an intricate scientific understanding of the various contributory natural processes. Estuary Research - Recent Advances is a book that draws on the most recent world-class scientific research on estuarine topics, including geomorphology, analysis of shoreline changes, anthropogenic stresses, rare earth elements, salt marsh and intertidal areas, water quality, climate change & risk, sedimentation, flocculation, ecosystems, and many more. The research was carried out by researchers who specialise in estuaries and related issues.

https://www.intechopen.com/books/11836

Academic Editor: Andrew J. Manning, HR Wallingford, UK

https://link.springer.com/book/9783032154729

Coastal Dynamics Conference, to be held from 7th – 11th April 2025. Coastal Dynamics started in 1994, being a sister conference of the Coastal Sediments Series, which started in 1977. The international Coastal Dynamics conference series is one of the most important meetings for scientists in the fields of nearshore dynamics and coastal evolution. The 1st edition was held in 1994 in Barcelona. Since then, conferences were held in Gdansk, Poland (1995); Plymouth, UK (1997); Lund, Sweden (2001); Barcelona (2005); Tokyo, Japan (2009); Arcachon, France (2013); Helsingor (2017); and Delft (2021).

The conference theme is “Living with a Dynamic Coast”, and we invite scientists and experts from all over the world conducting research on the dynamics and changes of the coastal systems to contribute with their insights and research results. Approaches include field (remote and in-situ) observations, laboratory experiments, theoretical formulations, and numerical simulations.

Recent research and applications concerning coastal waves and currents, interactions between wind, water, sediments and ecosystems, and morphology changes in different morphological environments (with and without structures) such as sandy, rocky, and muddy coasts, inlets, and estuaries are welcome.

This open-access proceedings of Coastal Dynamics 2025 compile 231 manuscripts of the communications presented at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, between 7th and 11th April 2025. The works are divided in 15 chapters (2 volumes), in accordance with the topic of the sessions where they were presented. The conference theme was “Living with a Dynamic Coast”. Most updated research on the dynamics and changes of the coastal systems include field (remote and in-situ) observations, laboratory experiments, theoretical formulations, and numerical simulations. Recent research and applications concerning coastal waves and currents, interactions between wind, water, sediments and eco-systems, and morphology changes in different morphological environments (with and without structures) such as sandy, rocky, and muddy coasts, inlets, and estuaries are described in this compilation.

The extended list of highlights coming out of the conference included the following keywords: machine learning algorithms; automatic techniques; neural networks, clustering, random forests, multivariate analysis; extensive time/space datasets; stochastic modelling/simulators; model-data hybrid approaches; climate versus seasonal drivers; dune evolution modelling; long-term trending/forecasting; high-resolution; young researchers; satellite/UAV/LIDAR imagery/data; sediment-vegetation-flow interaction under/above water; multi-disciplinary, across-scales processes; nature-based interventions; new field experiments; digital twins; adaptation pathways; climate change impacts; role of infragravity waves; process-based models; small/remote coastal environments; sea-level rise.

This proceedings collection contains approximately 270 papers on a wide range of research topics related to coastal sediment processes, including nearshore sediment transport and modeling, beach processes, shore protection and coastal managements, and coastal resilience building. This unique book provides a comprehensive documentation of cutting-edge research on coastal sediment process and morphodynamics from eminent researchers worldwide. Readers can learn from the most current coastal research studies and expand their knowledge on a numerous selection of topics related to coastal sediment processes and shore protection.

Edited by:
Ping Wang (University of South Florida, USA), Elizabeth Royer (University of South Florida, USA), and Julie D. Rosati (US Army Corps of Engineers, USA).

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/13358#t=aboutBook 

Beaches, barrier islands and tidal inlets are valuable coastal resources and provide desirable environments that are often densely populated. They are dynamic landforms that change constantly, driven by both normal processes and energetic storms. They behave as one interconnected system and must be understood and managed as such. This book discusses their various morphologic features, as well as the processes that shape them and future challenges due to environmental change. A major focus is placed on the interaction between sandy beaches and tidal inlets, and the sediment exchange among various morphologic features. Balancing these valuable sediment resources while maintaining the natural sediment exchange constitutes a major goal of modern shore protection and coastal management. Illustrated with numerous aerial photographs to demonstrate how beaches and tidal inlets interact, this book provides a valuable reference for graduate students, researchers and professionals working in coastal management and geomorphology.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/sedimentology-and-stratigraphy/beach-inlet-interaction-and-sediment-management?format=HB

Authors:

Ping Wang, University of South Florida

Dr Ping Wang is a Professor of Geology at the University of South Florida. He has been teaching and conducting research on barrier-inlet systems for over twenty years. He has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, edited books and conference proceedings. The practical aspect of his research focuses on shore protection and coastal management.

Tanya M. Beck, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Dr Tanya M. Beck is the Program Manager for the Coastal Inlets Research Program, in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). She obtained her PhD in Geology from the University of South Florida and has published numerous technical reports and peer-reviewed articles. Her research focuses on the coastal environment related to geomorphic long-term evolution, erosion and sedimentation, and regional management of coastlines.

An Important Message Concerning Tidal Lagoon Power in Swansea Bay, Wales

https://www.facebook.com/TidalLagoonSwanseaBay/videos/1982526951791809/ 

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world's first tidal lagoon power plant. A tidal lagoon is a 'U' shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. Electricity is generated on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day.

Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 4 m height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 60 m long draft tubes, rotating the 7.2 m diameter hydro turbines.

The project was awarded a Development Consent Order in 2015 and is primed for construction. It will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a 9.5km breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years. Its major delivery partners include Atkins, General Electric, Andritz Hydro, Laing O'Rourke and Alun Griffiths Ltd.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/

Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Anja Scheffers, who has been selected to be part of the new Future Earth Coast International Secretariat

Future Earth Coasts is the new name for the longstanding Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) project.

The goal of LOICZ was "to provide the knowledge, understanding and prediction needed to allow coastal communities to assess, anticipate and respond to the interaction of global change and local pressures which determine coastal change."

First started in 1993, LOICZ has involved scientists from across the globe investigating changes in the biology, chemistry and physics of the coastal zone. Since 2003 LOICZ expanded its areas of research to include social, political and economic sciences to better address the human dimensions of the coastal zone. Results have been published in peer-reviewed journals, books and a Report and Studies Series. From 2015, LOICZ has become a core project of the new Future Earth initiative under the new name of Future Earth Coasts.

We have 'signposted' our goals and expectations for Future Earth Coasts in a document to stimulate an open and wide ranging consultative and engagement process to develop a new ten year plan for Future Earth Coasts to generate the knowledge needed to advance sustainability of coastal socio-ecological and geographic systems.

Future Earth has been established by The Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, a partnership for global sustainability including researchers, funders and users of knowledge. It has a 10 year mandate to develop knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformation towards global sustainability.

International Project Office in Transition

The International Project Office (IPO) serves as the secretariat for Future Earth Coasts (FEC) and administers the project on a day-to-day basis. The IPO is responsible for assisting the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) in all aspects of its work and liaising with key stakeholders at regional, national and local levels. The office collates and communicates information related to national and international FEC research, as well as serving as a channel of communication on coastal aspects of global environmental change.

Following 4 successful years hosted by the MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork from 1 January, 2019 the IPO will be moving to a new host and new structure for the IPO. The new arrangement will ensure that Future Earth Coasts truly represents a global community of interest for evolving sustainable pathways for coastal zones, and we are exploring options for the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) to form the IPO as a coordinating lead hub with other organisations constituting Regional Project Offices of a distributed IPO arrangement.

For more information, please visit: https://www.futureearthcoasts.org/