Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Protection

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Coastal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 4569

Special Issue Editors

Great Lakes Research Center, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
Interests: coastal processes; coastal and offshore structures; fluid–structure interaction; flow-vegetation interaction; numerical modeling
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
Interests: coastal nature-based solutions; wave-current interaction; sediment transport; field observations; numerical modeling
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: coastal engineering; fluid mechanics; physical oceanography; hydraulic engineering; sediment transport; physical modelling; risk assessment; climate change; nature-based-solutions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal communities are facing many hazards including erosion, storms, flooding, tsunamis, sea level rise, and other markers of climate change. These coastal hazards are also becoming more frequent and severe, leading to continual and costly maintenance, reconstruction, and reinforcement of conventional coastal defence structures such as jetties, groins, and seawalls. Sea level rise and intensified storms may also necessitate new or improved coastal protection for increasingly vulnerable communities. Relying on conventional coastal defence structures, i.e., physical barriers made of concrete and other hard materials may cause unforeseen ecological and environmental consequences as the climate changes. Moreover, hard coastal defence alone can only be designed for a specific climate target, and the uncertainties in climate projections along the coast may be too high to allow for sufficient design safety. Natural and nature-based solutions have the potential to protect coastlines without unintentionally adverse environmental impact and have the potential (with careful design and maintenance ) to adaptively accommodate an uncertain climate future. This Special Issue intends to collect novel research and reviews on natural and nature-based solutions for coastal protection including but not limited to the following topics:

  1. Coastal processes and potential coastal hazards, especially under climate change
  2. Studies of the efficacy of natural and nature-based solutions (e.g., vegetation, kelp, reefs, aquaculture structures, etc.) for coastal protection
  3. Comparative reviews of the state-of-the-art in natural and nature-based solutions
  4. Interdisciplinary research on ecological, social, and economic benefits from nature-based solutions
  5. Interdisciplinary research on natural and nature-based solutions combined with existing and future hard structures

Dr. Longhuan Zhu
Dr. Julia Hopkins
Dr. Rosaria E. Musumeci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • coastal processes
  • coastal hazards
  • coastal defense
  • nature-based solutions
  • vegetation
  • kelp
  • reefs
  • climate change
  • sea level rise
  • living shorelines

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 41727 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Dune Reconstruction and Beach Nourishment to Mitigate Coastal Erosion of the Ebro Delta (Spain)
by Giuseppe Pio Costa, Massimiliano Marino, Iván Cáceres and Rosaria Ester Musumeci
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(10), 1908; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11101908 - 02 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1052
Abstract
Coastal areas facing increasing erosion are resorting to sand displacement strategies to mitigate the erosive impact, which is exacerbated by climate change. In the face of climate change, coastal managers are more frequently resorting to sand displacement strategies to recover eroding coastlines. These [...] Read more.
Coastal areas facing increasing erosion are resorting to sand displacement strategies to mitigate the erosive impact, which is exacerbated by climate change. In the face of climate change, coastal managers are more frequently resorting to sand displacement strategies to recover eroding coastlines. These vulnerable coastal zones require innovative approaches to minimize the need for frequent sand replenishment, extend their effectiveness and lower their maintenance expenses. This study undertakes a comparison of four primary nourishment strategies—a conventional uniform nourishment technique and the placement of a single sand dune evaluated at three different positions—in contrast to a scenario where no intervention is carried out. The investigation employs the XBeach numerical model to assess the outcomes of these diverse strategies under both low- and high-energetic storm conditions. The case study is a degraded coastal beach in the Ebro Delta (Spain). The results reveal a significant decrease in erosion when the dune is positioned closest to the shoreline. However, this erosion mitigation effect diminishes as the dune is situated further inland. Conversely, the sand nourishment measure exhibits minimal fluctuations in the volume of eroded sand when compared to the scenario with no intervention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Protection)
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 4908 KiB  
Article
Potential of Transplanted Seagrass Meadows on Wave Attenuation in a Fetch-Limited Environment
by Joan Pau Sierra, Vicente Gracia, Xavier Castell, Manuel García-León, César Mösso and Jue Lin-Ye
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(6), 1186; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11061186 - 07 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1189
Abstract
In this paper, the effectiveness of transplanted (either created or restored) seagrass meadows as a coastal protection measure is assessed through a five-step methodology. The analysis is focused on a stretch of the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean) which is a fetch-limited environment. The [...] Read more.
In this paper, the effectiveness of transplanted (either created or restored) seagrass meadows as a coastal protection measure is assessed through a five-step methodology. The analysis is focused on a stretch of the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean) which is a fetch-limited environment. The results show that even considering conservative values for the meadow parameters (plant diameter, meadow density and canopy height), significant reductions of the annual average wave heights reaching the beach may be obtained, reducing flooding and erosion risks. Therefore, the investment in the conservation and restauration of seagrass meadows for protecting coastal areas from erosion and flooding is a measure that must be considered, due to the multiple benefits that they provide including ecosystem services. In addition, the proposed methodology may be a useful tool for coastal managers to help them in the design of seagrass meadows for coastal protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Protection)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop