At a global scale, deltas are vital economic hubs, in part due to the combination of their access to inland regions via river systems with their proximity to sea. However, with the sea in close vicinity also comes the threat of freshwater contamination by saline seawater, especially during droughts. This study explores the potential of a mitigation measure to estuarine salt intrusion, namely the construction of a (temporary) earthen sill—a measure implemented in the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans (LA, USA). This study suggests design guidelines on how a sill can be used to mitigate estuarine salt intrusion: the design should focus on the longitudinal placement and the height of the sill, and the mitigating efficiency of the sill reduces with increasing tidal range. Overall, a (temporary) sill has great potential to reduce salt intrusion in salt wedge estuaries if there is sufficient water depth available.

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Optical turbidity and acoustic sensors have been widely used in laboratory experiments and field studies to investigate suspended particulate matter concentration over the last four decades. Both methods face a serious challenge as laboratory and in-situ calibrations are usually required. Furthermore, in coastal and estuarine environments, the coexistence of mud and sand often results in multimodal particle size distributions, amplifying erroneous measurements. This paper proposes a new approach of combining a pair of optical turbidity-acoustic sensors to estimate the total concentration and sediment composition of a mud/sand mixture in an efficient way without an extensive calibration. More specifically, we first carried out a set of 54 bimodal size regime experiments to derive empirical functions of optical-acoustic signals, concentrations, and mud/sand fractions. The functionalities of these relationships were then tested and validated using more complex multimodal size regime experiments over 30 optical-acoustic pairs of 5 wavelengths (420, 532, 620, 700, 852 nm) and six frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 MHz). In the range of our data, without prior knowledge of particle size distribution, combinations between optical wavelengths 620–700 nm and acoustic frequencies 4–6 MHz predict mud/sand fraction and total concentration with the variation <10% for the former and <15% for the later. The results also suggest that acoustic-acoustic signals could be combined to produce meaningful information regarding concentration and mud/sand fraction, while no useful knowledge could be extracted from a combination of optical-optical pairs. This approach therefore enables the robust estimation of suspended sediment concentration and composition, which is particularly practical in cases where calibration data is insufficient.

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Worldwide, estuaries are increasingly constrained by human interventions, such as wetland reclamations. Intertidal area has an important influence on the extent of estuarine salt intrusion. Previous research has shown conflicting effects of intertidal area on the salt intrusion. Therefore, this study explores this interaction for three estuary classes: (a) salt wedge, (b) partially mixed, and (c) well-mixed. Our findings show that the effect of intertidal area on the salt intrusion depends on the estuary class: enlarging the intertidal area reduces the salt intrusion for salt wedge and partially mixed estuaries, but vice versa for well-mixed estuaries. These opposing responses are explained by the balance between salt fluxes driven by the estuarine circulation versus by the tidal oscillation. In general, enlarging intertidal area results in the suppression of the estuarine circulation. Such system understanding is especially relevant in an era of increasing coastal urbanization.

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Low-lying, tropical, coral-reef-lined coastlines are becoming increasingly vulnerable to wave-driven flooding due to population growth, coral reef degradation, and sea-level rise. Early-warning systems (EWSs) are needed to enable coastal authorities to issue timely alerts and coordinate preparedness and evacuation measures for their coastal communities. At longer timescales, risk management and adaptation planning require robust assessments of future flooding hazard considering uncertainties. However, due to diversity in reef morphologies and complex reef hydrodynamics compared to sandy shorelines, there have been no robust analytical solutions for wave runup to allow for the development of large-scale coastal wave-driven flooding EWSs and risk assessment frameworks for reef-lined coasts. To address the need for fast, robust predictions of runup that account for the natural variability in coral reef morphologies, we constructed the BEWARE-2 (Broad-range Estimator of Wave Attack in Reef Environments) meta-process modeling system. We developed this meta-process model using a training dataset of hydrodynamics and wave runup computed by the XBeach Non-Hydrostatic process-based hydrodynamic model for 440 combinations of water level, wave height, and wave period with 195 representative reef profiles that encompass the natural diversity in real-world fringing coral reef systems. Through this innovation, BEWARE-2 can be applied in a larger range of coastal settings than meta-models that rely on a parametric description of the coral reef geometry. In the validation stage, the BEWARE-2 modeling system produced runup results that had a relative root mean square error of 13 % and relative bias of 5 % relative to runup simulated by XBeach Non-Hydrostatic for a large range of oceanographic forcing conditions and for diverse reef morphologies (root mean square error and bias 0.63 and 0.26 m, respectively, relative to mean simulated wave runup of 4.85 m). Incorporating parametric modifications in the modeling system to account for variations in reef roughness and beach slope allows for systematic errors (relative bias) in BEWARE-2 predictions to be reduced by a factor of 1.5–6.5 for relatively coarse or smooth reefs and mild or steep beach slopes. This prediction provided by the BEWARE-2 modeling system is faster by 4–5 orders of magnitude than the full, process-based hydrodynamic model and could therefore be integrated into large-scale EWSs for tropical, reef-lined coasts and used for large-scale flood risk assessments.@en

A submerged, low-relief nearshore berm was constructed in the Pacific Ocean near the mouth of the Columbia River, USA, using 216,000 m³ of sediment dredged from the adjacent navigation channel. The material dredged from the navigation channel was placed on the northern flank of the ebb-tidal delta in water depths between 12 and 15 m and created a distinct feature that could be tracked over time. Field measurements and numerical modeling were used to evaluate the transport pathways, time scales, and physical processes responsible for dispersal of the berm and evaluate the suitability of the location for operational placement of dredged material to enhance the sediment supply to eroding beaches onshore of the placement site. Repeated multibeam bathymetric surveys characterized the initial berm morphology and dispersion of the berm between September 22, 2020, and March 10, 2021. During this time, the volume of sediment within the berm decreased by about 40%to 127,000 m³, the maximum height decreased by almost 60%, and the center of the deposit shifted onshore over 200 m. Observations of berm morphology were compared with predictions from a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport model application to refine poorly constrained model input parameters including sediment transport coefficients, bed schematization, and grain size. The calibrated sediment transport model was used to predict the amount, timing, and direction of transport outside of the observed survey area. Model simulations predicted that tidal currents were weak in the vicinity of the berm and wave processes including enhanced bottom stresses and asymmetric bottom orbital velocities resulted in dominant onshore movement of sediment from the berm toward the coastline. Roughly 50% of the berm volume was predicted to disperse away from the initial placement site during the 169 day hindcast. Between 9 and 17% of the initial volume of the berm was predicted to accumulate along the shoreface of a shoreline reach experiencing chronic erosion directly onshore of the placement site. Scenarios exploring alternate placement locations suggested that the berm was relatively effective in enhancing the sediment supply along the eroding coastline north of the inlet. The transferable monitoring and modeling framework developed in this study can be used to inform implementation of strategic nearshore placements and regional sediment management in complex, high-energy coastal environments elsewhere.

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Tropical Cyclones (TCs) are singular storms causing intense wind, large waves, extreme water levels, and heavy rainfall. TCs prove every year to be one of the most destructive natural phenomena worldwide. The quantitative assessment of the hazards resulting from TCs (i.e., flooding and extreme winds) is challenging since satellite data are only available for recent decades, whereas older historical observations are incomplete and less accurate. In addition, long-term prediction through numerical weather forecasting is still limited. This often results in large uncertainties in the definition of TC hazards associated with events with longer return periods or in areas infrequently impacted by TCs. Even when this information is available, for example through statistical sampling of synthetic TC tracks, the numerical modelling of the associated hazards for all the different TC conditions can lead to computational costs which are often infeasible. Several methodologies that overcome the issues of accuracy and computational efficiency currently exist, but these are not generically applicable, and they tend to focus on specific areas only, for example where TCs typically make landfall. The main contribution of this paper is a novel methodology for the estimation and analysis of TC hydro-meteorological conditions and induced hazards. The method is generically applicable and maximizes accuracy while accounting for computational efficiency. Our approach identifies a smaller but representative set of TC tracks (RTCs) that preserves the information about extremes and the frequency of events of the larger population. The method is successfully applied and validated in a case study in the Bay of Bengal, using a set of synthetic TC tracks representing 1000 years of TC climate. For the best-performing configuration, the required number of scenarios and associated computational costs were reduced by 90% while maintaining accuracy in the simulated offshore storm surges, significant wave height, and windspeeds typically within 10% of the prediction based on the original full set of scenarios. This method is globally applicable and greatly improves the efficiency of TC-related hazard estimation, making it particularly valuable for areas with limited historical data.

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Coral reefs represent an efficient natural mechanical coastal defense against ocean waves. The focus of this study is La Saline fringing coral reef, located in the microtidal West of La Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, frequently exposed to Southern Ocean swell and cyclonic events. The aim is to provide a better understanding of the reef's coastal defense characteristics for several Southern Ocean swell events. Pressure sensors were placed across the reef to measure water level fluctuations and to study wave transformation. A numerical model (XBeach surfbeat), validated using field observations, was used to deepen understanding of wave transformation, wave setup and runup. Field measurements and model outputs show that as gravity waves dissipate over the reef, and frequency-dependent dissipation of infragravity waves by bottom-friction occurs, the reef acts as a low-pass filter. Wave-induced setup is found to be the dominant hydrodynamic component. Setup and runup are each 98% and 79% driven by the offshore significant wave height, and 2% and 21% driven by the tide. The modulation of the water level by setup is the main contributor to runup in the fringing reef. At semidiurnal timescales, setup and runup are in antiphase with tidal variations as lower water levels result in higher gravity wave energy dissipation, setup and runup. Simple-to-use transfer functions relating incident wave characteristics to these hydrodynamic components are proposed. The effects of bottom friction and water level on the defensive capacity of the coral reef highlight future implications of structural damage and sea level rise.

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For successful and sustainable management of barrier islands, a thorough understanding of the ebb-tidal delta dynamics and interactions with the adjacent shorelines are of the utmost importance. Such understanding requires detailed observations and interpretations of the morphodynamics of smaller-scale features such as the individual channels and shoals (referred to as intra-delta dynamics). The intra-delta dynamics of Ameland Inlet (the Netherlands) are studied through analysis of sixteen high-resolution bathymetric surveys, supplemented with an extensive dataset of hydrodynamic observations collected in 2017. The observations are compiled into a synthesis of the morphodynamics of the ebb-tidal delta and its neighboring shorelines, to provide a basis for present day and future coastal management. Our observations show that Ameland Inlet as a whole can be classified as a typical mixed-energy, wave-dominated system. However, the ebb-tidal delta contains distinct areas that are wave or tide dominated, and these areas evolve with the changing morphodynamics of the ebb delta. Between 2005 and 2021, large morphodynamic changes have occurred on the ebb-tidal delta and continuous erosion of the island tips occurred. Limited wave-sheltering by the ebb-tidal delta exposes the shorelines of the adjacent barrier islands to significant wave-driven sand transports and sand losses. Sediment supply from longshore transport and the erosion of the updrift island Terschelling contributed to the formation, growth and migration of a series of ebb-chutes and lobes, which eventually led to complete relocation of the main channel on the ebb-tidal delta. This main channel relocation took 15 years to complete and is an example of the ebb-delta breaching model of sand bypassing. Changes in the sediment bypassing patterns result in a sediment starved western island tip of Ameland, necessitating repeated sand nourishments under the Dutch coastal maintenance policy. Our observations also confirm the role the ebb-tidal delta as a sand reservoir for the downdrift barrier island. The delta sand body is not a reservoir for the back-barrier basin, since the basin is predominantly supplied with sand eroded from the updrift island of Terschelling. As demonstrated in this study, the intra-delta dynamics of an ebb-tidal delta are complex and can change drastically through time. Only through detailed measurements and observations can all the intricate interactions that take place be unravelled.@en

In an era of rising seas and other challenges posed by climate change, coastal regions like the Netherlands are facing ever graver threats. Strategic sand nourishments could mitigate the threat of coastal erosion and sea level rise on barrier island coasts while limiting ecological impacts. However, insufficient knowledge of sediment transport pathways at tidal inlets and ebb-tidal deltas prevents an informed response in these areas. The main goal of this project was to describe and quantify the pathways that sediment takes on an ebb-tidal delta. To reach this goal, we focused our analyses on Ameland ebb-tidal delta in the Netherlands. Before we could begin to tackle this challenge, we needed to develop new tools and techniques for analyzing a combination of field measurements and numerical models. These include a method for analyzing the stratigraphy and mapping the morphodynamic evolution of ebb-tidal deltas, a new metric for characterizing suspended sediment composition, and innovative use of sediment tracers. We also established a quantitative approach for looking at and thinking about sediment pathways via the sediment connectivity framework, and developed a Lagrangian model to visualize and predict these pathways efficiently. The techniques developed here are useful in a wider range of coastal settings beyond Ameland, and are already being applied in practice. We foresee that the main impacts of this project will be to improve nourishment strategies, numerical modelling, and field data analysis. This dissertation also points forward to numerous opportunities for further investigation, including the continued development of the connectivity framework and SedTRAILS. By managing our coastal sediment more effectively, we will set the stage for a more sustainable future, in spite of the challenges that lie ahead.@en

Ebb tidal deltas (ETDs) are highly dynamic features of sandy coastal systems, and coastal management concerns (e.g., nourishment and navigation) present a pressing need to better describe and quantify their evolution. Here we propose two techniques for leveraging the availability of high-resolution bathymetric surveys to generate new insights into the dynamics and preservation potential of ebb-tidal deltas. The first technique is conformal mapping to polar coordinates, using Ameland ebb-tidal delta in the Netherlands as a case study. Since the delta tends to evolve in a clockwise direction around the inlet, this approach provides an improved quantification and visualization of the morphodynamic behaviour as a timestack. We clearly illustrate the sediment bypassing process and repeated rotational migration of channels and shoals across the inlet from updrift to downdrift coasts. Secondly, we generate a decadal scale (1975–2021) stratigraphic model from the differences between successive bathymetries. This stratigraphy showcases the delta's depositional behaviour through space and time, and provides a modern analogue for prehistoric ebb-tidal deltas. During the surveyed period, inlet fills form the largest and most stable deposits, while the downdrift swash platform is the most stable structure over longer periods. Together, these approaches provide new perspectives on ebb-tidal delta dynamics and preservation potential which are readily applicable to other sites with detailed bathymetric data. These findings are valuable at annual to decadal timescales for coastal management (e.g., for planning sand nourishments) and also at much longer timescales for interpreting stratigraphy in ancient rock records.@en

Coastal aeolian sediment transport is influenced by supply-limiting factors caused by sediment sorting by grain size. Sorting processes can lead to coarsening of the bed surface and influence the formation of aeolian ripples. However, the influence sorting processes and bedforms might have on the magnitude of the transport is not fully understood. This study explores sorting processes and their influence on the magnitude and mode of aeolian transport by using sediment tracers. Sand was painted in different colors according to particle size and placed on a supratidal beach in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Several experiments were conducted with varying wind speeds. Surface sampling and cameras tracked the sand color movement on the bed surface, and wind velocity was measured. The tracer experiments showed that ripples developed in moderate wind conditions. Once the ripples had formed, the supply of finer tracer grains in the downwind direction decreased over time, while the supply of coarser grains remained constant. A linear relationship between ripple migration speed and wind speed was found. For higher wind speeds, no ripples or differences in transport of grain size fractions were observed. Instead, alternating phases of erosion and deposition of the bed surface were observed, which could not be related to local variations in wind velocity. Based on these results and literature, a conceptual model was developed for an active bed surface layer with two transport regimes corresponding to moderate (I) and high (II) wind speeds. The conceptual model is intended to guide the selection of aeolian sediment transport models as a function of wind speed, bed characteristics, and upwind sediment supply. For Regime I, transport could be modeled using a linear relationship between sediment transport and wind speed and for Regime II using a third power relationship in combination with a process-based model accounting for supply limitations.

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Multiple tidal inlet systems like the Wadden Sea have long been considered as separated basins, bordered by so-called tidal divides. Recently, it was however shown that fluxes of water and sediment occur over the borders of these basins, especially during wind events. In this paper, the wind-driven fluxes over these borders and the residual flow of water through the main inlet are studied. The study is based on flow measurements at the tidal divides and in the main inlet of the Ameland Inlet system in the Dutch Wadden Sea and on numerical modelling. The measurements were carried out during 40 days in the fall of 2017, including both calm conditions and storm events. Numerical simulations of a full year have been used for upscaling results from the measurements to system scale exchange flows, and to unravel the effects of several mechanisms. The wind-driven variability in exchange flows between back-barrier basins at tidal divides was measured in the field and reproduced by the numerical model. Water level set up increases the water depth and thus the conveyance capacity at tidal divides, such that the exchange flows increase in magnitude. The flow conditions due to wind forcing are similar for both tidal divides of the Ameland Basin. The conveyance capacity and therefore the total volume exchange are however different. This leads to a residual compensation flow through the main inlet, which is directed outward (i.e., in the ebb direction) during winds from the prevailing southwestern wind direction. The net discharge through the main inlet is therefore a consequence of the residual flows over the tidal divides.

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Coral reefs are effective natural coastal flood barriers that protect adjacent communities. Coral degradation compromises the coastal protection value of reefs while also reducing their other ecosystem services, making them a target for restoration. Here we provide a physics-based evaluation of how coral restoration can reduce coastal flooding for various types of reefs. Wave-driven flooding reduction is greatest for broader, shallower restorations on the upper fore reef and between the middle of the reef flat and the shoreline than for deeper locations on the fore reef or at the reef crest. These results indicate that to increase the coastal hazard risk reduction potential of reef restoration, more physically robust species of coral need to be outplanted to shallower, more energetic locations than more fragile, faster-growing species primarily being grown in coral nurseries. The optimization and quantification of coral reef restoration efforts to reduce coastal flooding may open hazard risk reduction funding for conservation purposes.@en

Estuaries and coasts can be conceptualized as connected networks of water and sediment fluxes. These dynamic geomorphic systems are governed by waves, tides, wind, and river input, and evolve according to complex nonlinear transport processes. To predict their evolution, we need to better understand the pathways that sediment takes from source through temporary storage areas to sink. Knowledge of these pathways is essential for predicting the response of such systems to climate change impacts or human interventions (e.g., dredging and nourishment). The conceptual framework of sediment connectivity has the potential to expand our system understanding and address practical coastal management problems (Pearson et al., 2020). Connectivity provides a structured framework for analyzing these sediment pathways, schematizing the system as a series of geomorphic cells or nodes, and the sediment fluxes between those nodes as links (Heckmann et al., 2015). Once organized in this fashion, the resulting network can be expressed algebraically as an adjacency matrix: sediment moving from a given source to different receptors. There is a wealth of pre-existing statistical tools and techniques that can be used to interpret the data once it is in this form, drawing on developments in other scientific disciplines (Newman, 2018; Rubinov & Sporns, 2010). Lagrangian flow networks have been increasingly used to analyze flow and transport pathways in oceanographic and geophysical applications (Padberg-Gehle & Schneide, 2017; Reijnders et al., 2021; Ser-Giacomi et al., 2015). However, this approach has not yet been adopted to analyze coastal or estuarine sediment transport, and requires a multitude of field measurements or numerical model simulations. Lagrangian particle tracking has been widely used to assess connectivity in the context of oceanography and marine ecology (Hufnagl et al., 2016; van Sebille et al., 2018), because the models record the complete history of a particle’s trajectory, not only its start and end points. Particle tracking models are also relatively fast and lend themselves well to parallel computing (Paris et al., 2013). This approach thus permits a faster and more detailed analysis of sediment connectivity than existing Eulerian approaches (e.g., Pearson et al., (2020)). Although several Lagrangian sediment transport models have been developed (e.g., (MacDonald & Davies, 2007; Soulsby et al., 2011)), they have not been used to support connectivity studies. Hence, there is a need for Lagrangian sediment particle tracking tools tailored to predicting sediment transport pathways and determining connectivity of complex coastal systems. To meet this need, we developed a Lagrangian sediment transport model, SedTRAILS (Sediment TRAnsport vIsualization & Lagrangian Simulator) and used it to develop a sediment connectivity network. Our approach provides new analytical techniques for distilling relevant patterns from the chaotic, spaghetti-like network of sediment pathways that often characterize estuarine and coastal systems. We demonstrate a proof of concept for our approach by applying it to a case using these tools. @en

Quantifying and characterizing suspended sediment is essential to successful monitoring and management of estuaries and coastal environments. To quantify suspended sediment, optical and acoustic backscatter instruments are often used. Optical backscatter systems are more sensitive to mud particles (<63 μm) and flocs, whereas acoustic backscatter systems are more responsive to larger sand grains (>63 μm). It is thus challenging to estimate the relative proportion of sand or mud in environments where both types of sediment are present. The suspended sediment concentration measured by these devices depends on the composition of that sediment, thus it is also difficult to confidently measure concentration with a single instrument when the composition varies and extensive calibration is not possible. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology for characterizing the relative proportions of sand and mud in mixed sediment suspensions by comparing the response of simultaneous optical and acoustic measurements. We derive a sediment composition index (SCI) that is used to directly predict the relative fraction of sand in suspension. Here, we verify the theoretical response of these optical and acoustic instruments in laboratory experiments and successfully apply this approach to field measurements from Ameland ebb-tidal delta (the Netherlands). Increasing sand content decreases SCI, which was verified in laboratory experiments. A reduction in SCI appears during more energetic conditions when sand resuspension is expected. Conversely, the SCI increases in calmer conditions when sand settles out, leaving behind mud. This approach provides crucial knowledge of suspended sediment composition in mixed sediment environments.

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Sediment tracer studies use uniquely identifiable particles to track the pathways and fate of individual sand or silt grains in marine environments. These techniques are best applied to assess connectivity between potential sediment sources and sinks, such as between a sand nourishment and an ecologically sensitive area. Significant challenges exist when applying sediment tracing techniques to further understanding of systems with complicated hydrodynamic, sediment, and morphological regimes. Ebb-tidal deltas are highly dynamic coastal environments shaped by the complex interplay of waves and tides, but have been under-explored. In this study, we use dual signature (fluorescent and ferrimagnetic) sediment tracers to simulate the dispersal of dredged sediment placed as a sand nourishment on an energetic ebb-tidal delta (at Ameland Inlet, the Netherlands). After deployment, sediment dispersal and grain size sorting behaviour were monitored via the collection of seabed grab samples and magnetic sampling of sediment transported in suspension. The tracer content within collected samples were put in context with hydrodynamic conditions observed during the study period. Here we show that the use of such dual signature tracers, in addition to novel tracer recovery and analysis techniques, enables the dispersal of sediment to be monitored even in such complex settings and energetic conditions as an ebb-tidal delta. Our observations show that tracers transported in suspension are significantly finer than tracers that accumulated in the seabed. These suggest that preferential transport as a function of grain size is a key process in shaping the morphology of ebb-tidal deltas and thus governing the dispersal of sand nourishments there. The findings of this study and the approach used here provide valuable tools for assessing the baseline conditions of complex coastal environments today, and for planning the interventions which may be necessary in future responses to climate change. Lessons learned from the application of sediment tracers in this study are provided to assist future researchers and practitioners in applying this technique in dynamic coastal environments.@en

Waves are important drivers for reef hydrodynamics, and therefore strongly contribute to flooding over reef-lined coasts. While high-frequency waves are largely dissipated when they propagate over the reef flat due to breaking and friction, low-frequency (LF) waves are generally able to reach the back-reef beach. There, they can reflect and form (quasi-) standing wave patterns, which under resonant conditions can lead to disproportionally high run-up on the beach (e.g., Pequignet et al., 2009; Gawehn et al., 2016). The probability of this phenomenon is expected to increase due to sea-level rise (e.g., Pequignet et al., 2009). In this study, we numerically investigate long wave resonance and the processes enhancing or limiting the resonant amplification of long waves over the reef flat. Besides the role of frictional dissipation (e.g., Pomeroy et al. 2012), we investigate how the nonlinear transformation of long waves influences the amplification rate.@en

Considering the likely increase in coastal flooding in small island developing states (SIDSs) due to climate change, coastal managers at the local and global levels have been developing initiatives aimed at implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and adaptation measures. Developing science-based adaptation policies requires accurate coastal flood risk (CFR) assessments, which in the case of insular states are often subject to input uncertainty. We analysed the impact of a number of uncertain inputs on coastal flood damage estimates: (i) significant wave height, (ii) storm surge level and (iii) sea level rise (SLR) contributions to extreme sea levels, as well as the error-driven uncertainty in (iv) bathymetric and (v) topographic datasets, (vi) damage models, and (vii) socioeconomic changes. The methodology was tested through a sensitivity analysis using an ensemble of hydrodynamic models (XBeach and SFINCS) coupled with a direct impact model (Delft-FIAT) for a case study of a number of villages on the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. Model results indicate that for the current time horizon, depth damage functions (DDFs) and digital elevation models (DEMs) dominate the overall damage estimation uncertainty. When introducing climate and socioeconomic uncertainties to the analysis, SLR projections become the most relevant input for the year 2100 (followed by DEM and DDF). In general, the scarcity of reliable input data leads to considerable predictive uncertainty in CFR assessments in SIDSs. The findings of this research can help to prioritize the allocation of limited resources towards the acquisitions of the most relevant input data for reliable impact estimation.

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A large-scale field campaign was carried out on the ebb-tidal delta (ETD) of Ameland Inlet, a basin of the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands, as well as on three transects along the Dutch lower shoreface. The data have been obtained over the years 2017-2018. The most intensive campaign at the ETD of Ameland Inlet was in September 2017. With this campaign, as part of KustGenese2.0 (Coastal Genesis 2.0) and SEAWAD, we aim to gain new knowledge on the processes driving sediment transport and benthic species distribution in such a dynamic environment. These new insights will ultimately help the development of optimal strategies to nourish the Dutch coastal zone in order to prevent coastal erosion and keep up with sea level rise. The dataset obtained from the field campaign consists of (i) single-and multi-beam bathymetry; (ii) pressure, water velocity, wave statistics, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, and bedform morphology on the shoal; (iii) pressure and velocity at six back-barrier locations; (iv) bed composition and macrobenthic species from box cores and vibrocores; (v) discharge measurements through the inlet; (vi) depth and velocity from X-band radar; and (vii) meteorological data. The combination of all these measurements at the same time makes this dataset unique and enables us to investigate the interactions between sediment transport, hydrodynamics, morphology and the benthic ecosystem in more detail. The data provide opportunities to calibrate numerical models to a high level of detail. Furthermore, the open-source datasets can be used for system comparison studies. The data are publicly available at 4TU Centre for Research Data at https://doi.org/10.4121/collection:seawad (Delft University of Technology et al., 2019) and https://doi.org/10.4121/collection:kustgenese2 (Rijkswaterstaat and Deltares, 2019). The datasets are published in netCDF format and follow conventions for CF (Climate and Forecast) metadata. The http://data.4tu.nl (last access: 11 November 2020) site provides keyword searching options and maps with the geographical position of the data.

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Connectivity provides a framework for analyzing coastal sediment transport pathways, building on conceptual advances in graph theory from other scientific disciplines. Connectivity schematizes sediment pathways as a directed graph (i.e., a set of nodes and links). This study presents a novel application of graph theory and connectivity metrics like modularity and centrality to coastal sediment dynamics, exemplified here using Ameland Inlet in the Netherlands. We divide the study site into geomorphic cells (i.e., nodes) and then quantify sediment transport between these cells (i.e., links) using a numerical model. The system of cells and fluxes between them is then schematized in a network described by an adjacency matrix. Network metrics like link density, asymmetry, and modularity quantify system-wide connectivity. The degree, strength, and centrality of individual nodes identify key locations and pathways throughout the system. For instance, these metrics indicate that under strictly tidal forcing, sand originating near shore predominantly bypasses Ameland Inlet via the inlet channels, whereas sand on the deeper foreshore mainly bypasses the inlet via the outer delta shoals. Connectivity analysis can also inform practical management decisions about where to place sand nourishments, the fate of nourishment sand, or how to monitor locations vulnerable to perturbations. There are still open challenges associated with quantifying connectivity at varying space and time scales and the development of connectivity metrics specific to coastal systems. Nonetheless, connectivity provides a promising technique for predicting the response of our coasts to climate change and the human adaptations it provokes.

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