Coastal management and adaptation: an integrated data-driven approach

Coastal regions are some of the most exposed to environmental hazards, yet the coast is the preferred settlement site for a high percentage of the global population, and most major global cities are located on or near the coast. This research adopts a predominantly anthropocentric approach to the analysis of coastal risk and resilience. This centres on the pervasive hazards of coastal flooding and erosion. Coastal management decision-making practices are shown to be reliant on access to current and accurate information. However, constraints have been imposed on information flows between scientists, policy makers and practitioners, due to a lack of awareness and utilisation of available data sources. This research seeks to tackle this issue in evaluating how innovations in the use of data and analytics can be applied to further the application of science within decision-making processes related to coastal risk adaptation. In achieving this aim a range of research methodologies have been employed and the progression of topics covered mark a shift from themes of risk to resilience. The work focuses on a case study region of East Anglia, UK, benefiting from the input of a partner organisation, responsible for the region’s coasts: Coastal Partnership East. An initial review revealed how data can be utilised effectively within coastal decision-making practices, highlighting scope for application of advanced Big Data techniques to the analysis of coastal datasets. The process of risk evaluation has been examined in detail, and the range of possibilities afforded by open source coastal datasets were revealed. Subsequently, open source coastal terrain and bathymetric, point cloud datasets were identified for 14 sites within the case study area. These were then utilised within a practical application of a geomorphological change detection (GCD) method. This revealed how analysis of high spatial and temporal resolution point cloud data can accurately reveal and quantify physical coastal impacts. Additionally, the research reveals how data innovations can facilitate adaptation through insurance; more specifically how the use of empirical evidence in pricing of coastal flood insurance can result in both communication and distribution of risk. The various strands of knowledge generated throughout this study reveal how an extensive range of data types, sources, and advanced forms of analysis, can together allow coastal resilience assessments to be founded on empirical evidence. This research serves to demonstrate how the application of advanced data-driven analytical processes can reduce levels of uncertainty and subjectivity inherent within current coastal environmental management practices. Adoption of methods presented within this research could further the possibilities for sustainable and resilient management of the incredibly valuable environmental resource which is the coast

The role of data within coastal resilience assessments: an East Anglia, UK, case study

Embracing the concept of resilience within coastal management marks a step change in thinking, building on the inputs of more traditional risk assessments, and further accounting for capacities to respond, recover and implement contingency measures. Nevertheless, many past resilience assessments have been theoretical and have failed to address the requirements of practitioners. Assessment methods can also be subjective, relying on opinion-based judgements, and can lack empirical validation. Scope exists to address these challenges through drawing on rapidly emerging sources of data and smart analytics. This, alongside the careful selection of the metrics used in assessment of resilience, can facilitate more robust assessment methods. This work sets out to establish a set of core metrics, and data sources suitable for inclusion within a data-driven coastal resilience assessment. A case study region of East Anglia, UK, is focused on, and data types and sources associated with a set of proven assessment metrics were identified. Virtually all risk-specific metrics could be satisfied using available or derived data sources. However, a high percentage of the resilience-specific metrics would still require human input. This indicates that assessment of resilience is inherently more subjective than assessment of risk. Yet resilience assessments incorporate both risk and resilience specific variables. As such it was possible to link 75% of our selected metrics to empirical sources. Through taking a case study approach and discussing a set of requirements outlined by a coastal authority, this paper reveals scope for the incorporation of rapidly progressing data collection, dissemination, and analytical methods, within dynamic coastal resilience assessments. This could facilitate more sustainable evidence-based management of coastal regions

Evaluation of coastal risk decision making in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Coastal hazards and their associated risks are not new to coastal managers, engineers and planners. As an island nation the coast of the United Kingdom (UK) has been an attractive area for settlement for centuries. Consequently, a substantial proportion of urban development in the UK is at risk of flooding or coastal erosion. Traditional responses to coastal hazards across Europe have been based upon reactive, parochial hard engineering structural solutions in order to protect assets at risk. These practices have been predominantly sectoral due to fragmented institutional arrangements, with limited integration between the sectors of shoreline management and the land-use planning system. Additionally, historic coastal risk decision making has shown little understanding of the complexities of coastal systems. Whilst within contemporary coastal risk decision making, there is limited transparency as to the role of natural coastal change. Levels of uncertainty exacerbate the complex task of managing coastal risk, in particular in relation to the natural coastal change evidence base. Using a multiple-case study approach, decision making practices in relation to coastal risk in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were evaluated. Concomitantly, the role of the natural coastal change evidence base within these decision making processes was scrutinised. Research investigations were facilitated via the development of two distinct and innovative methodological approaches that framed and guided two semi-structured interview schedules and a number of documentary reviews. This deductive process included a case study selection hypothesis and a Research Strategy Model (with Empirical Indicators). Case study results established the complexities associated with coastal risk decision making, including historic, contemporary and likely future decision making practices. In particular, the range of decision makers involved and the hierarchical and framed nature of decision making were identified. Importantly, traceable coastal risk decision making relationships that exist temporally, spatially and sectorally were ascertained. Forcing factors or 'context issues' that influence these decision making practices were highlighted. It was further determined that the role of natural coastal change science, as part of the coastal risk decision making evidence is constrained. This was found to be due to a number of issues, including the perpetuation of the science-practice disconnect, aggravated by natural coastal change scientific uncertainty. Through analysis of empirical findings and consideration of the underlying case study hypothesis and previous construction of decision making, a conceptualisation of coastal risk decision making was developed. This seeks to convey hypothetical stages of coastal risk decision making pathways and convey the wider complex decision context, including intricate pathway connections. A revised suite of supporting Empirical Indicators allows for a structured and comprehensive assessment of decision making, and importantly, a mechanism by which to explore the role of science within coastal risk decision making.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Simulating urban soil carbon decomposition using local weather input from a surface model

Non peer reviewe

Evaluation of coastal risk decision making in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Coastal hazards and their associated risks are not new to coastal managers, engineers and planners. As an island nation the coast of the United Kingdom (UK) has been an attractive area for settlement for centuries. Consequently, a substantial proportion of urban development in the UK is at risk of flooding or coastal erosion. Traditional responses to coastal hazards across Europe have been based upon reactive, parochial hard engineering structural solutions in order to protect assets at risk. These practices have been predominantly sectoral due to fragmented institutional arrangements, with limited integration between the sectors of shoreline management and the land-use planning system. Additionally, historic coastal risk decision making has shown little understanding of the complexities of coastal systems. Whilst within contemporary coastal risk decision making, there is limited transparency as to the role of natural coastal change. Levels of uncertainty exacerbate the complex task of managing coastal risk, in particular in relation to the natural coastal change evidence base. Using a multiple-case study approach, decision making practices in relation to coastal risk in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were evaluated. Concomitantly, the role of the natural coastal change evidence base within these decision making processes was scrutinised. Research investigations were facilitated via the development of two distinct and innovative methodological approaches that framed and guided two semi-structured interview schedules and a number of documentary reviews. This deductive process included a case study selection hypothesis and a Research Strategy Model (with Empirical Indicators). Case study results established the complexities associated with coastal risk decision making, including historic, contemporary and likely future decision making practices. In particular, the range of decision makers involved and the hierarchical and framed nature of decision making were identified. Importantly, traceable coastal risk decision making relationships that exist temporally, spatially and sectorally were ascertained. Forcing factors or 'context issues' that influence these decision making practices were highlighted. It was further determined that the role of natural coastal change science, as part of the coastal risk decision making evidence is constrained. This was found to be due to a number of issues, including the perpetuation of the science-practice disconnect, aggravated by natural coastal change scientific uncertainty. Through analysis of empirical findings and consideration of the underlying case study hypothesis and previous construction of decision making, a conceptualisation of coastal risk decision making was developed. This seeks to convey hypothetical stages of coastal risk decision making pathways and convey the wider complex decision context, including intricate pathway connections. A revised suite of supporting Empirical Indicators allows for a structured and comprehensive assessment of decision making, and importantly, a mechanism by which to explore the role of science within coastal risk decision making

Estuary – coast interaction and morphodynamic evolution: a comparative analysis of three estuaries in southwest England

Investigations of geomorphology and morphodynamics within the coastal zone have tended to treat the open coast as an independent system to that of any neighbouring estuaries. This separation is also evident within shoreline management, which has traditionally been undertaken within the context of coastal cells or estuarine valleys. The focus of this research is a comparative analysis of morphodynamic behaviour and sedimentary characteristics of connected open-coast – estuary systems. The north coast of Cornwall, southwest England, is notably indented and dominated by bedrock cliff and shore platforms. However, it also comprises some broad embayments that accommodate estuarine valleys and open coast, typically sandy beaches. The region provides an ideal environment within which to assess broad-scale coastal change and the association between estuarine and open-coast morphodynamics. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to consider regional coherence in coastal behaviour and to evaluate the relative importance of local physical context vs. regional climate forcing. The Hayle, the Gannel and the Camel estuaries that are located within St Ives, Crantock and Padstow bays respectively, have received considerable attention in terms of the impacts of mining on estuarine sedimentation. The impacts on sediment supply, sedimentology and mineraology have been explored extensively in these past studies, however, very little consideration has been given to the nature of coastal geomorphology and coastal system dynamics. This PhD research explores mesoscale coastal dynamics, and evaluates coastal behaviour over decades to centuries in the context of climate and sea-level change. Historical geomorphological evolution of these estuaries and their adjacent shorelines are examined to evaluate morphodynamic connectivity through the application of shoreline analysis tools (such as Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) and Location Probability Analysis). This study showed that low shoreline recession along the north Cornwall coast, where sediments are present, has attributed most to the significant sea-level rise in this region (no significant change was observed on rocky low water shorelines). The high water shoreline imposes a different pattern of change in response to constraining factors which are triggered by both environmental factors and historical human activities. Changes over contemporary time scales are focused on bedform movement into, within and landward of inlets and are primarily driven both by waves in the outer estuary/ebb delta region and by tides in the channels/flood delta region. The inlets, however, are largely fixed in position by the bedrock valley, and channel dynamics within the estuary are dependent on the accommodation space provided by the valley. Sedimentary linkages are also explored through the sedimentological and geochemical analysis of sediments sampled from the intertidal zone of these systems. Based on grain-size parameters, there is considerable homogeneity in the sediment populations specific to the sub-environments sampled and analysed. There is evidence of sediment mixing between estuarine and beach environments. Geochemical (XRF) and mineraological composition of sediment indicate contamination by mine waste tailings in the estuaries resulting from major historical mining activities in the region with Sn, Cu, As and Zn as predominant in the Hayle, Pb and Zn in the Gannel and Sn, W, and Zr in the Camel estuaries. This research presents a multidisciplinary approach that employs a range of computer and lab-based analyses to integrate geospatial resources (including published maps, chart archives, etc) and sedimentological characteristics (including grain size and XRF analyses). The thesis is the first comprehensive comparative investigation of the morphodynamic behaviour and sedimentology of these north Cornwall estuaries