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

蓝色海岸联盟解决了国家海岸研究中心的重点议题B--海岸形态：海岸沉积物收支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(野外和实验室)和数值技能结合在一起，以了解哪些过程控制海岸系统动力学并回答相关的科学问题。BLUE-STATE将明确解决中期(年)和长期(十年或更长)区域泥沙收支预测中的不确定性，并通过以下方式更好地了解地形变化和海岸如何恢复风暴等事件序列：(I)在模型中改进对海岸带内可运输和源物质的表示；(2)利用代表联合王国海岸带的典型生境，确定生态系统如何协调可运输的物质；(3)评估这一混合泥沙物理和生物系统对外部强迫的可能变化的敏感性，包括多个变量和事件序列的综合影响，目的是在评估行为不确定性的同时了解系统的内部动力学(例如，非线性、临界阈值、临界点、前体和前兆条件)，以及(4)减少对区域泥沙收支和形态变化的中长期预测中的不确定性。为了提供综合、全面和具有成本效益的应对措施，我们的主要活动将结合(I)对典型的温带海岸观察到的各种生物-沉积物条件的典型陆架海洋景观的详细研究，(Ii)关键过程的现场验证研究，(Iii)旨在明确确定因果关系和确定一般性的操纵性实验室和现场实验，以及(Iv)整合对区域尺度和环境作用力下海岸地貌动力学的控制和影响的新理解。通过进行大量的现场观测和过程研究，我们将直接量化以前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路径的影响，以及事件排序对海岸侵蚀和恢复的影响，涉及一系列具有重要地理意义的沉积。这些数据将作为现有和创新的数值模型的校准和验证数据集，这些模型将能够单独和结合模拟关键生物和物理驱动因素的海岸形态后果。我们将通过进行仔细控制的实验、使用水槽生成不同的水流状态、使用最先进的现场测量技术跟踪自然事件期间的变化，以及在实验室使用完整的沉积物和暴露在预期未来条件(变暖、海洋酸化、营养物质负载)下的沉积物群落，来获得机理上的理解和实现一般性。由于在整个英国海岸以高空间分辨率量化所有相关的地貌动力学过程是不可行的，我们的方法是通过遵循科学主题的逻辑发展的4个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 be able 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.