Physical and biological dynamic coastal processes and their role in coastal recovery (BLUE-coast)

BLUE-coast联盟解决NERC重点主题B，海岸形态：海岸沉积物预算及其在海岸恢复中的作用。该项目将采用整体和多学科的方法，将生物学家、海岸工程师、地质学家、地貌学家和海洋学家的专业知识与互补的实验（现场和实验室）和数值技能相结合，以了解控制海岸系统动力学的过程并回答相关的科学问题。BLUE-coast将明确解决中期（年）和长期（十年或更长时间）区域沉积物预算预测中的不确定性，并通过以下方式更好地理解形态变化以及海岸如何恢复事件（如风暴）的后果：(i)在模式中改善海岸带内可运输物质和源物质的代表；（ii）利用代表英国海岸带的典型生境，确定可运输物质是如何被生态系统调节的；（iii）评估这种混合沉积物物理和生物系统对外部强迫可能变化的敏感性，包括多个变量和事件序列的综合影响，目的是了解系统的内部动力学(例如非线性、临界阈值、临界点、前体和先行条件)与行为不确定性评估同时进行，以及（iv）减少区域沉积物收支和形态变化中长期预测的不确定性。项目概述：重点主题的范围设定了对物理和生物动态海岸过程的定量知识的要求，以改进区域沉积物收支和形态变化的水动力模型预测。为了提供一个综合的、整体的和具有成本效益的响应，我们的主要活动将结合(i)对代表性陆架海洋景观的详细研究，这些景观涵盖了温带海岸通常观察到的各种生物-沉积物条件，（ii）关键过程的现场验证研究，以及（iii）旨在明确识别因果关系和建立普遍性的操纵性实验室和现场实验。（iv）整合对区域尺度和环境强迫下海岸形态动力学控制和影响的新认识。通过进行大量的现场观察和过程研究，我们将直接量化先决条件对海岸侵蚀和恢复的影响，生物群对调节沉积物通量和途径的影响，以及事件排序对海岸侵蚀和恢复的影响，这些影响涉及一系列地理上重要的沉积栖息地。这些数据将作为现有和创新数值模型的校准和验证数据集，这些模型将能够单独或联合模拟关键生物和物理驱动因素对沿海形态的影响。我们将通过进行精心控制的实验，使用水槽产生不同的流动状态，使用最先进的现场测量技术跟踪自然事件期间的变化，以及在实验室中使用暴露于预期未来条件（变暖，海洋酸化，养分负荷）的完整沉积物和沉积物群落，获得机制理解并实现普遍性。由于在整个英国海岸以高空间分辨率量化所有相关的形态动力学过程是不可实现的，我们的方法是通过遵循科学主题逻辑进展的跨学科工作包来解决主要目标。

The BLUE-coast consortium addresses NERC highlight topic B, Coastal morphology: coastal sediment budgets and theirrole in coastal recovery. This project will adopt a holistic and multidisciplinary approach, combining the expertise ofbiologists, coastal engineers, geologists, geomorphologists and oceanographers with complementary experimental (fieldand laboratory) and numerical skills, to understand what processes control the coastal system dynamics and answer therelevant scientific questions.BLUE-coast will explicitly address uncertainties in the prediction of medium-term (years) and long -term (decadal andlonger) regional sediment budgets and better understand morphological change and how the coast recovers aftersequences of events, such as storms by: (i) improving representation of both transportable and source material within thecoastal zone within models; (ii) establishing how transportable material is mediated by the ecological system usingexemplar habitats representative of the UK coastal zone; (iii) assessing sensitivities of this mixed-sediment physical andbiological system to possible changes in external forcing, including the combined impact of multiple variables andsequences of events, with the goal of understanding the internal dynamics of the system (e.g. nonlinearities, criticalthresholds, tipping points, precursors and antecedent conditions) in parallel with assessments of behavioural uncertainties,and (iv) reduce uncertainties in medium to long -term prediction of regional sediment budgets and morphological change.Project Overview: the scope of the Highlight Topic sets a requirement for quantitative knowledge on both physical andbiological dynamic coastal processes in order to improve hydrodynamic model predictions of regional sediment budgetsand morphological change. To deliver an integrated, holistic and cost effective response, our main activities will combine (i)a detailed study of representative shelf sea landscapes that spans the full variety of organism-sediment conditions typicallyobserved in temperate coasts, with (ii) in situ validation studies of key processes, and (iii) manipulative laboratory and fieldexperiments aimed at unambiguously identifying causal relationships and establishing generality, and (iv) integration ofnew understanding of controls and effects on coastal morphodynamics at regional scales and under environmental forcing.By undertaking a substantial element of in situ observation and process studies, we will directly quantify the effect ofantecedent conditions on coastal erosion and recovery, the effect of biota on mediating sediment fluxes and pathways andthe effect of event sequencing on coastal erosion and recovery, across a range of geographically significant sedimenthabitats. These data will act as calibration and validation datasets for existing and innovative numerical models that will beable to simulate the coastal morphological consequences of key biological and physical drivers, alone and in combination.We will gain mechanistic understanding and achieve generality by performing carefully controlled experiments, generatingdifferent flow regimes using flumes, tracking changes during natural events using state-of-the-art field measurementtechnology and, in the laboratory, using intact sediments and sediment communities exposed to anticipated futureconditions (warming, ocean acidification, nutrient loading). As it is not feasible to quantify all the relevant morphodynamicprocesses at high spatial resolution across the entire UK coast, our approach is to address the principal objectives through4 interdisciplinary workpackages that follow a logical progression of scientific themes.