Published in Helgoland Marine Research
In the southern North Sea, coastal people commenced with habitat conversions 1,000 years ago. Partly interrupted in late medieval times by large-scale inundations of marshland, progressive embankments transformed the landward half of the amphibic transition zone between a limno-terrestric and a brackish-marine ecosystem into arable land and freshwa...
This paper analyses the potential impact of sea level rise associated with global climate change along the Colombian Pacific coast, estimated in one meter by the year 2100. Based on the study of coastallandforms, related dynamic processes and their recent evolution, this study evaluates the threat of coastal flooding and associated erosional proces...
This paper brings attention both to characteristics of sea level rise scenarios, to methods used to construct them and to the care it is necessary to have using them as basis for decision making in adaptation and mitigation programs to face this long term phenomenon. The difference between global and regional and local scenarios is showed, pointing...
There is broad consensus that human emissions of greenhouse gases— principally carbon dioxide, but also methane and nitrous oxide—contribute to global warming. Because of water’s high capacity for heat retention, the warming effect is not nearly as clear in the atmosphere as it is in the oceans, which have warmed by approximately 0.5ºC (0.9ºF) over...
Published in Wetlands Ecology and Management
Two explicit landscape simulation models were used to investigate habitat shifts in coastal Louisiana due to varying river forcing and sea level rise scenarios. Wetland conversion to open water and yearly shifts of marsh habitats in two contrasting estuarine regions were examined; the Atchafalaya delta which is a prograding delta area with strong r...
Published in Journal of Coastal Conservation
The use of salt marsh for agricultural use has probably been going on for thousands of years. This paper will look at the situation in southeast England, particularly the Wash. Here enclosure for extended grazing and over the last several hundred years, for arable cultivation, may have taken place since Roman Times. An enclosure of Freiston Shore s...
Published in Journal of Coastal Conservation
Strategic management and planning within estuaries seeks to identify a framework that enshrines sustainability. Any management initiative must address the issues of longterm change; physical, chemical and biological interactions; and system response (including socio-economic interactions). Achieving such a programme will need to take advantage of s...
Published in Wetlands Ecology and Management
In the about 10,000 km2 large Wadden Sea 353 km2 of salt marshes exist. The great majority of these are artificial, i.e. developed through accretion enhancement techniques. Salt marshes in the Wadden Sea have a high coastal defence value as well as ecological significance. High salt marshes in front of sea walls reduce the wave-impact on the dikes ...
The question is often raised as to how long the next generations can continue to live and work in low-Iying Dutch Delta. The system of dikes, combined with the limited space for rivers, should guarantee our safety against inundation for the next hundred years, at least. But what do we do thereafter, wh en the sea level continues to rise, precipitat...
Published in Journal of Coastal Conservation
This paper presents the results from a study which was undertaken to monitor, map and quantify salt marsh change along 440 km of shoreline within the county of Essex, south-east England, between 1973 and 1998. Results indicate that during this 25-yr period, 1000 ha of salt marsh has been lost in Essex, primarily due to coastal erosion. This figure ...
