A Climate Index Optimized for Longshore Sediment Transport Reveals Interannual and Multidecadal Littoral Cell Rotations

A recent 35-year endpoint shoreline change analysis revealed significant counterclockwiserotations occurring in north-central Oregon, USA, littoral cells that extend 10s of kilometers in length.While the potential for severe El Niños to contribute to littoral cell rotations at seasonal to interannual scalewas previously recognized, the dynamics resulting in persistent (multidecadal) rotation were unknown,largely due to a lack of historical wave conditions extending back multiple decades and the difficulty ofseparating the timescales of shoreline variability in a high energy region. This study addresses this questionby (1) developing a statistical downscaling framework to characterize wave conditions relevant for longshoresediment transport during data-poor decades and (2) applying a one-line shoreline change model toquantitatively assess the potential for such large embayed beaches to rotate. A climateINdex was optimizedto capture variability in longshore wave power as a proxy for potentialLOngshore Sediment Transport(LOST_IN), and a procedure was developed to simulate many realizations of potential wave conditions fromthe index. Waves were transformed dynamically with Simulating Waves Nearshore to the nearshore asinputs to a one-line model that revealed shoreline rotations of embayed beaches at multiple time and spatialscales not previously discernible from infrequent observations. Model results indicate that littoral cellsrespond to both interannual and multidecadal oscillations, producing comparable shoreline excursions toextreme El Niño winters. The technique quantitatively relates morphodynamic forcing to specific climatepatterns and has the potential to better identify and quantify coastal variability on timescales relevant to achanging climate.This work would not have been possible without funding from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) through NSF grant DGE-1314109, the Coastal and Ocean Climate Applications (COCA) program through NOAA grant NA15OAR4310243, NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program (RISA), under NOAA grant NA15OAR4310145, and the Spanish Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte FPU (Formación del Profesorado Universitario) studentship BOE-A-2013-12235. Beach survey data collection undertaken on the Oregon coast was made possible by the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) through NOAA grant NA16NOS0120019

Bad Practice in Erosion Management: The Southern Sicily Case Study

This case study from Sicily illustrates a common sequence of events where one unwise action was countered with another, which in turn created additional problems. The situation arose through strong political interference and ignorance (or lack of concern) regarding the environmental impacts of human interventions on the shoreline and by the public perception that government has a duty to protect private property. The poor design and location of ports and harbours produced infilling problems and huge updrift accretion with concomitant downdrift erosion. The human-induced coastal retreat was counteracted by the progressive emplacement of breakwaters creating a “domino” effect. On many occasions these were constructed to protect unplanned and illegal (in the sense that they do not conform to planning regulations) beachfront summer houses. Without the presence of these structures, there would have been no need for publicly funded intervention. Furthermore, only a narrow coastal belt close to the shoreline is used by bathers on the wide beaches formed updrift of ports and harbours and in the lee of breakwaters, most of the accreted beach being unused or partially occupied by tourist developments. Thus beach users and municipalities acquired some benefits from beach accretion at specific sites, the opposite being true in eroding areas

Benthic ecology of semi-natural coastal lagoons, in the Ria Formosa (Southern Portugal), Exposed to different water renewal regimes

Several studies in semi-natural coastal lagoons in the Ria Formosa lagoonal system have been carried out. These man-made water reservoirs behave as small lagoons with one opening to the tidal channels, which may be intermittent. Because of their size, these reservoirs are ideal sites for ecological studies. Water quality and macrobenthic fauna were analysed in five water reservoirs. All reservoirs received the same incoming water through a tidal channel, but they differed in water renewal regime. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Discriminant Analysis were used to evaluate the similarity among sites, stations and sampling occasions. Different levels of taxonomic resolution (family, large taxonomic groups and phylum level) were also evaluated. The separation of sites and stations became unclear using high taxonomic levels. Results from the multivariate analyses suggest a slight differentiation of the stations according to sampling occasion but a clear differentiation of the several water reservoirs. Some of the lagoons studied with low water renewal rates showed strong environmental variations. They were characterised by low diversity indexes and abundance of small-sized organisms. Other lagoons, with high water renewal rates, showed low environmental variation and well diversified and structured benthic communities. The main environmental factor that seems to affect the benthic communities was the variation in salinity between neap and spring tides, which is related with the water renewal regime. Coastal lagoons offer a protected shallow habitat, which can be highly productive. Well structured communities, controlled by k-strategists, can develop and settle in leaky lagoons, that is, lagoons with wide entrance channels and tidal currents which guarantee a good water renewal. In these lagoons, biomass can accumulate in large organisms. In contrast, lagoons with a single narrow entrance, that may be closed for long periods, are characterised by persistent physical stress and are dominated by communities of small-sized r-strategists

Index-based approach for estimating vulnerability of Arctic biota to oil spills

Risk of an Arctic oil spill has become a global matter of concern. Climate change induced opening of shipping routes increases the Arctic maritime traffic which exposes the area to negative impacts of potential maritime accidents. Still, quantitative analyses of the likely environmental impacts of such accidents are scarce, and our understanding of the uncertainties related to both accidents and their consequences is poor. There is an obvious need for analysis tools that allow us to systematically analyze the impacts of oil spills on Arctic species, so the risks can be taken into account when new sea routes or previously unexploited oil reserves are utilized. In this paper, an index‐based approach is developed to study exposure potential (described via probability of becoming exposed to spilled oil) and sensitivity (described via oil‐induced mortality and recovery) of Arctic biota in the face of an oil spill. First, a conceptual model presenting the relevant variables that contribute to exposure potential and sensitivity of key Arctic marine functional groups was built. Second, based on an extensive literature review, a probabilistic estimate was assigned for each variable, and the variables were combined to an index representing the overall vulnerability of Arctic biota. The resulting index can be used to compare the relative risk between functional groups and accident scenarios. Results indicate that birds have the highest vulnerability to spilled oil, and seals and whales the lowest. Polar bears’ vulnerability varies greatly between seasons, while ice seals’ vulnerability remains the same in every accident scenario. Exposure potential of most groups depends strongly on type of oil, whereas their sensitivity contains less variation.Peer reviewe