"Surface waves, hydrodynamics and geological processes in coastal environments"

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Coastal areas of oceans, estuaries and lakes are extremely dynamic and represent a huge area of economic and environmental importance to Canada. The successful monitoring, understanding and prediction of coastal processes is critical to our ability to determine and minimize coastal hazards, including coastal erosion and flooding from storms, transport of contaminants in surface water, and longer-term geomorphological evolution associated with climate change. Recently, computer models that simulate waves, currents and sedimentary processes have advanced to the point where the cumulative effects of different physical processes can be simulated in three dimensions. However, the expressions that describe the physical and geological processes are largely empirically derived and limited to specific conditions. Research conducted by four Master's and two Doctoral students will include observation of coastal processes in new field environments, development of new numerical formulations, and simulation of wave and sediment processes at specific sites to address socioeconomic issues, including the environmental effects of implementing large-scale renewable energy schemes in the marine environment.This research will advance the state-of-the-art and improve our understanding of complex and interconnected physical and geological processes in coastal environments. The research program is designed to lead toward better coastal observations and the development and refinement of predictive numerical models. This will provide new insight concerning the fundamental processes governing the interactions between waves and currents, contribute to our understanding of wave transformation in shallow water (typically less than 20 m depth) and sediment resuspension, and predict changes to the marine environment imposed by renewable energy structures. The discoveries will benefit Canada by training six new coastal experts, and providing critical information for coastal engineers, scientists, managers and policy makers to protect the environment.