Where have the geomorphologists gone?
An academic competition asked the question “How do we get better at long-term coastal (morphodynamic) modelling?” My response was to express the opinion we’ve gone too far down one pathway, while substantially neglecting several areas of science, notably geomorphology. This opinion is built from watching the transition of science from the 1980s through to early 2000s, when the attempt to move ‘short-term’ modelling into ‘longer-term’ concepts was most heavily open to discussi
Reading a Cyclone Forecast
While we commonly talk about tropical cyclone impacts in terms of wind strength, coastal impacts require further interpretation when we're looking at a forecast map. In order to interpret wave and storm surge, storm path and intensity are crucial factors, with impacts potentially strongly influenced by storm timing relative to tides.
What's Causing This Erosion?
Understanding erosion causes is critical to choosing an appropriate response: Severe storm erosion usually deserves a ‘wait and see’ response, as nature often provides rapid, efficient and cost-effective (!) recovery. Setbacks or development buffers are practical responses to unstable coastal landforms, which can create cycles or episodes for decades or longer. If erosion is due to short-term (e.g. seasonal) or local fluctuations in sediment transport, coastal protection syst
Waterways Safety Assessment
There are many different waterways and we interact with them in different ways, not just in the surf. Taking the time to undertake a waterways safety assessment can help reduce risk. In many locations, professional assessment is available through life saving associations.
An Island is the Sum of its Parts
Coastal science often uses conceptual models to describe how landforms are expected to evolve under different pressures. Coral islands challenge the use of general models, as the presence or absence of individual features can affect how each island changes, sometimes with significant differences in the same archipelago. Managing impacts to islands and island communities effectively into the future needs an understanding of each island, with local geomorphology telling a key p
A Simple Question on the Sydney Shelf?
Ask a coastal engineer and an oceanographer the same question, and you’ll get two different answers. They're both right, and yet they're both wrong. I was recently asked to look at near-bed currents on the Sydney Shelf. I'd done my reading (as a coastal scientist) and it was a clear slam-dunk that the shelf is wave-dominated with tiny tidal currents. Following a similar method I'd applied on the Gold Coast in ~12-m water depth, I started to evaluate the considerable record o
