Sediments
Sediments in intertidal mudflats and salt marshes form an
essential part of our natural coastal defence, by dissipating wave
energy and protecting the coast from erosion. Climate change may
bring increased wave action, rainfall and sea-level rise to our
coasts, all of which may threaten these natural defences. Therefore
it is important to monitor sediment level changes in order to
understand the factors controlling sediment levels and assess
whether there is net erosion or accretion at a specific site. Such
data can then be used to validate the output from numerical models
of estuarine sediment dynamics.
One of the principal research themes at PML over the past 30
years has been to improve understanding of the physical, chemical
and biological processes that underpin the functioning of coastal
and estuarine systems. This body of work provides a solid
foundation from which to develop better tools and methods for
managing our coast and estuaries; relevant in the context of
monitoring and predicting coastal change in response to climate
change.
PML has developed a novel, high resolution sensor to monitor
short and long-term changes in sediment levels and has built
site-specific and larger scale hydrodynamic and sediment transport
models. These tools can be used to characterise sediment dynamics
and biological communities in estuaries and evaluate interactions
between organisms and sediments. This in turn will be used to
predict responses to coastal change and potential pollution
incidents, in order to help advise upon appropriate management
strategies for the coastal zone.
Projects
- Sediment
transport in estuaries
PML has a long-established track record in
research into sediment transport in estuaries and has developed a
sensor to detect short and long-term changes in sediment levels and
has built site-specific sediment transport models. PML
scientists are currently working on a project to produce a detailed
estimate of sedimentation rates in the Humber estuary and to give
an indication of how these might vary in the future.