Innovative Strategies for Coastal Risk Monitoring, Modelling and Management

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 (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 21590

Special Issue Editors

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e dei Materiali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: coastal hydrodynamics and morphodynamics; pollution in coastal areas; innovative sea-monitoring technology; marine structure design; extreme event risk analysis; renewable energy resource assessment (mini-hydro, wind and wave power); generation and propagation of tsunamis modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Civil, Environmental, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh), Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: hydraulics; maritime constructions; protection of the coasts; coastal water and sediment quality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The management of coastal risk from erosion and flooding in order to ensure protection of the land, the touristic exploitation of beach use, and any possible use in blue economy requires deep knowledge of the drivers and possible mitigation strategies.

The construction of infrastructure (piers, docks, breakwaters, and other conventional hard structures), while protecting the territory, can interfere with the coastal circulation and sediment transport, sometimes shifting the problem of erosion to the neighboring coasts; the destruction of the dunes and other anthropogenic modifications to the beach further limit the adaptability of the beach system and amplify the risk of erosion and flooding of the coastal land.

Besides conventional coastal protection strategies, several new approaches and technologies are being developed to protect the coast in a more sustainable way that can integrate social, economic, and environmental objectives. The availability of high-resolution numerical models helps in enhancing these approaches as well as in selecting the best strategy. The availability of modern, low-cost monitoring technologies also offers useful tools to decision-makers to monitor the effectiveness and relative benefits of each approach in relation to the environmental characteristics and hydrography of the target areas.


In the above context, this Special Issue invites original scientific contributions on topics including:

  • Coastal monitoring technologies.
  • Coastal risk analysis.
  • Unconventional coastal defense strategies (ejectors in the sea, beach reshaping, etc.) and innovative nature-based solutions
  • Unconventional artificial coastal structures, studied by means of numerical modelling, laboratory tests, and prototypes observation.
  • Coastal numerical modelling.
  • Impact assessment in management strategies.
  • Climate change.

Research articles, review articles and case studies are welcome; interdisciplinary contributions considering physical, ecological, and technological aspects are particularly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Renata Archetti
Prof. Dr. Leonardo Damiani
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 monitoring technologies
  • Coastal risk analysis
  • Unconventional coastal defense strategies (ejectors in the sea, beach reshaping, etc.) and innovative nature-based solutions
  • Unconventional artificial coastal structures, studied by means of numerical modelling, laboratory tests, and prototypes observation
  • Coastal numerical modelling
  • Impact assessment in management strategies
  • Climate change

Published Papers (7 papers)

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18 pages, 3413 KiB  
Article
The Environmental Effects of the Innovative Ejectors Plant Technology for the Eco-Friendly Sediment Management in Harbors
by Barbara Mikac, Marco Abbiati, Michele Adda, Marina Antonia Colangelo, Andrea Desiderato, Marco Pellegrini, Cesare Saccani, Eva Turicchia and Massimo Ponti
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(2), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020182 - 28 Jan 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2039
Abstract
A sediment bypassing plant based on innovative jet pump, ejectors, has been tested in the first-of-a-kind demo application at the harbor of Cervia (Italy, Northern Adriatic Sea). The ejector is a jet pump aimed to reduce sediment accumulation in navigation channels and coastal [...] Read more.
A sediment bypassing plant based on innovative jet pump, ejectors, has been tested in the first-of-a-kind demo application at the harbor of Cervia (Italy, Northern Adriatic Sea). The ejector is a jet pump aimed to reduce sediment accumulation in navigation channels and coastal areas. Herein we present results of the first study assessing the potential ecological effects of the ejectors plant. Sediment characteristics, benthic, and fish assemblages before and after the plant activation have been analyzed in the putatively impacted (the sediment removal and discharge) areas and four control locations, one time before and two times after plant activation. Ejectors plant operation resulted in a reduction of the mud and organic matter content in the sediment, as well as in changes in shell debris amount in the impacted areas. Abundance and species richness of benthic macroinvertebrates, initially reduced in the impacted areas, probably due to the previous repeated dredging, returned to higher values during demo plant continuous operation. Higher diversity of fish fauna was observed in the study area during plant operation period. Observed dynamics of the ecological status of the marine habitat suggest that an ejectors plant could represent an eco-friendly solution alternative to dredging operations to solve harbor siltation problems. Full article
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25 pages, 8068 KiB  
Article
Beach Monitoring and Morphological Response in the Presence of Coastal Defense Strategies at Riccione (Italy)
by Claudia Romagnoli, Flavia Sistilli, Luigi Cantelli, Margherita Aguzzi, Nunzio De Nigris, Maurizio Morelli, Maria Gabriella Gaeta and Renata Archetti
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(8), 851; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9080851 - 07 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2501
Abstract
The coastal area at Riccione, in the southern Emilia-Romagna littoral region, is exposed to erosive processes, which are expected to be enhanced by climate change. The beach, mostly composed of fine sand, is maintained through various defense strategies, including frequent nourishment interventions for [...] Read more.
The coastal area at Riccione, in the southern Emilia-Romagna littoral region, is exposed to erosive processes, which are expected to be enhanced by climate change. The beach, mostly composed of fine sand, is maintained through various defense strategies, including frequent nourishment interventions for balancing the sediment deficit and other experimental solutions for reducing coastal erosion. Artificial reshaping of the beach and “common practices” in the sediment management redefine the beach morphology and the sediment redistribution almost continuously. These activities overlap each other and with the coastal dynamics, and this makes it very difficult to evaluate their effectiveness, as well as the role of natural processes on the beach morphological evolution. Topo-bathymetric and sedimentological monitoring of the beach has been carried out on a regular basis since 2000 by the Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment and Energy of Emilia-Romagna (Arpae). Further monitoring of the emerged and submerged beach has been carried out in 2019–2021 in the framework of the research project STIMARE, focusing on innovative strategies for coastal monitoring in relation with erosion risk. The aim of this study is to assess the coastal behavior at the interannual/seasonal scale in the southern coastal stretch of Riccione, where the adopted coastal defense strategies and management actions mostly control the morphological variations in the emerged and submerged beach besides the wave and current regime. The topo-bathymetric variations and erosion/accretion patterns provided by multitemporal monitoring have been related to natural processes and to anthropogenic activities. The morphological variations have been also assessed in volumetric terms in the different subzones of the beach, with the aim of better understanding the onshore/offshore sediment exchange in relation with nourishments and in the presence of protection structures. The effectiveness of the adopted interventions to combat erosion, and to cope with future climate change-related impacts, appears not fully successful in the presence of an overall sediment deficit at the coast. This demonstrates the need for repeated monitoring of the emerged and submerged beach in such a critical setting. Full article
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15 pages, 7101 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Cognitive Components of Coastal Risk Assessment
by Maria Francesca Bruno, Giulia Motta Zanin, Angela Barbanente and Leonardo Damiani
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 780; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070780 - 18 Jul 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3147
Abstract
Nowadays, erosion and flooding risks represent a serious threat to coastal areas and this trend will be worsened due to climate change. The increasing concentration of population in coastal areas has a negative impact on the coastal ecosystem due to change in land [...] Read more.
Nowadays, erosion and flooding risks represent a serious threat to coastal areas and this trend will be worsened due to climate change. The increasing concentration of population in coastal areas has a negative impact on the coastal ecosystem due to change in land use and the exploitation of natural resources, which has also increased exposure to coastal hazards. Risk assessment is hence a primary topic in coastal areas and are often affected by mismanagement and competition of interest between stakeholders. This paper presents an integrated model for coastal risk assessment as well as its application on a test site in the Puglia Region (Southern Italy). An innovative approach has been developed combining a traditional index-based model, exploiting a Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response framework (DPSIR), with stakeholder’s and policy makers’ engagement by using the Future Workshop method and complementary individual working sessions structured through the use of Fuzzy-Cognitive Maps. The study shows that stakeholders’ and policy makers’ risk perception play a key role in coastal risk management and that the integration of physical risk with social perception is relevant to develop more effective management following the basics of Integrated Coastal Zone Management. Full article
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20 pages, 89495 KiB  
Article
Remote Sensing-Based Automatic Detection of Shoreline Position: A Case Study in Apulia Region
by Anna Spinosa, Alex Ziemba, Alessandra Saponieri, Leonardo Damiani and Ghada El Serafy
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(6), 575; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060575 - 26 May 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3945
Abstract
Remote sensing and satellite imagery have become commonplace in efforts to monitor and model various biological and physical characteristics of the Earth. The land/water interface is a continually evolving landscape of high scientific and societal interest, making the mapping and monitoring thereof particularly [...] Read more.
Remote sensing and satellite imagery have become commonplace in efforts to monitor and model various biological and physical characteristics of the Earth. The land/water interface is a continually evolving landscape of high scientific and societal interest, making the mapping and monitoring thereof particularly important. This paper aims at describing a new automated method of shoreline position detection through the utilization of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images derived from European Space Agency satellites, specifically the operational SENTINEL Series. The resultant delineated shorelines are validated against those derived from video monitoring systems and in situ monitoring; a mean distance of 1 and a maximum of 3.5 pixels is found. Full article
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27 pages, 10308 KiB  
Article
An Interactive WebGIS Framework for Coastal Erosion Risk Management
by Alessandra Capolupo, Cristina Monterisi, Alessandra Saponieri, Fabio Addona, Leonardo Damiani, Renata Archetti and Eufemia Tarantino
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(6), 567; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060567 - 24 May 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3788
Abstract
The Italian coastline stretches over about 8350 km, with 3600 km of beaches, representing a significant resource for the country. Natural processes and anthropic interventions keep threatening its morphology, moulding its shape and triggering soil erosion phenomena. Thus, many scholars have been focusing [...] Read more.
The Italian coastline stretches over about 8350 km, with 3600 km of beaches, representing a significant resource for the country. Natural processes and anthropic interventions keep threatening its morphology, moulding its shape and triggering soil erosion phenomena. Thus, many scholars have been focusing their work on investigating and monitoring shoreline instability. Outcomes of such activities can be largely widespread and shared with expert and non-expert users through Web mapping. This paper describes the performances of a WebGIS prototype designed to disseminate the results of the Italian project Innovative Strategies for the Monitoring and Analysis of Erosion Risk, known as the STIMARE project. While aiming to include the entire national coastline, three study areas along the regional coasts of Puglia and Emilia Romagna have already been implemented as pilot cases. This WebGIS was generated using Free and Open-Source Software for Geographic information systems (FOSS4G). The platform was designed by combining Apache http server, Geoserver, as open-source server and PostgreSQL (with PostGIS extension) as database. Pure javascript libraries OpenLayers and Cesium were implemented to obtain a hybrid 2D and 3D visualization. A user-friendly interactive interface was programmed to help users visualize and download geospatial data in several formats (pdf, kml and shp), in accordance with the European INSPIRE directives, satisfying both multi-temporal and multi-scale perspectives. Full article
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26 pages, 13490 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness Assessment of an Innovative Ejector Plant for Port Sediment Management
by Marco Pellegrini, Arash Aghakhani, Maria Gabriella Gaeta, Renata Archetti, Alessandro Guzzini and Cesare Saccani
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020197 - 12 Feb 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2407
Abstract
The need to remove deposited material from water basins is common and has been shared by many ports and channels since the earliest settlements along coasts and rivers. Dredging, the most widely used method to remove sediment deposits, is a reliable and wide-spread [...] Read more.
The need to remove deposited material from water basins is common and has been shared by many ports and channels since the earliest settlements along coasts and rivers. Dredging, the most widely used method to remove sediment deposits, is a reliable and wide-spread technology. Nevertheless, dredging is only able to restore the desired water depth but without any kind of impact on the causes of sedimentation and so it cannot guarantee navigability over time. Moreover, dredging operations have relevant environmental and economic issues. Therefore, there is a growing market demand for alternatives to sustainable technologies to dredging able to preserve navigability. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of guaranteeing a minimum water depth over time at the port entrance at Marina of Cervia (Italy), wherein the first industrial scale ejector demo plant has been installed and operated from June 2019. The demo plant was designed to continuously remove the sediment that naturally settles in a certain area through the operation of the ejectors, which are submersible jet pumps. This paper focuses on a three-year analysis of bathymetries realized at the port inlet before and after ejector demo plant installation and correlates the bathymetric data with metocean data (waves and sea water level) collected in the same period. In particular, this paper analyses the relation between sea depth and sediment volume variation at the port inlet with ejector demo plant operation regimes. Results show that in the period from January to April 2020, which was also the period of full load operation of the demo plant, the water depth in the area of influence of the ejectors increased by 0.72 mm/day, while in the whole port inlet area a decrease of 0.95 mm/day was observed. Furthermore, in the same period of operation, the ejector demo plant’s impact on volume variation was estimated in a range of 245–750 m3. Full article
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14 pages, 6672 KiB  
Case Report
GNSS and Photogrammetric UAV Derived Data for Coastal Monitoring: A Case of Study in Emilia-Romagna, Italy
by Enrica Vecchi, Luca Tavasci, Nunzio De Nigris and Stefano Gandolfi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(11), 1194; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111194 - 28 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1983
Abstract
GNSS real-time techniques and UAV photogrammetry can be alternative methods for the monitoring of sand beaches. This activity is particularly important in environments such as the Emilia-Romagna coastline. In this paper, two couples of surveys (year 2019 and 2020) performed using GNSS or [...] Read more.
GNSS real-time techniques and UAV photogrammetry can be alternative methods for the monitoring of sand beaches. This activity is particularly important in environments such as the Emilia-Romagna coastline. In this paper, two couples of surveys (year 2019 and 2020) performed using GNSS or a low-cost UAV equipment over a common area were compared in order to analyse: point-wise height differences, profile shapes along defined sections, and volumes variations over time. Both surveys were aligned to the same reference benchmark through GNSS measurements. The highest discrepancies between the two surveying methods (tens of cm) were found in vegetated areas and along the shoreline, otherwise, the height differences are mainly within the 10 cm level. In terms of volumes, excluding the most critical areas, differences close to zero can be found. Obtained results show that GNSS and UAV photogrammetry provides similar results, at least for quite flat terrains and when decimetre-level accuracy is required. Full article
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