Sea level is rising due to climate change and is expected to influence the development and dynamics of coastal dunes. However, the anticipated changes to coastal dunes have not yet been demonstrated using field data. Here, we provide evidence of dune translation that is characterized by a linear increase of the dune toe elevation on the order of 13–15 mm/year during recent decades along the Dutch coast. This rate of increase is a remarkable 7–8 times greater than the measured sea level rise. The observed vertical dune toe translation coincides with seaward movement of the dune toe (i.e., progradation), which shows similarities to prograding coasts in the Holocene both along the Dutch coast and elsewhere. Thus, we suspect that other locations besides the Dutch coast might also show such large ratios between sea level rise and dune toe elevation increase. This phenomenon might significantly influence the expected impact of sea level rise and climate change adaptation measures.
In sandy beach systems, the aeolian sediment transport can be governed by the vertical structure of the sediment layers at the bed surface. Here, data collected with a newly developed sand scraper is presented to determine high-resolution vertical grain size variability and how it is affected by marine and aeolian processes. Sediment samples at up to 2 mm vertical resolution down to 50 mm depth were collected at three beaches: Waldport (Oregon, USA), Noordwijk (the Netherlands) and Duck (North Carolina, USA). The results revealed that the grain size in individual layers can differ considerably from the median grain size of the total sample. The most distinct
Coastal aeolian sediment transport is influenced by supply-limiting factors caused by sediment sorting by grain size. Sorting processes can lead to coarsening of the bed surface and influence the formation of aeolian ripples. However, the influence sorting processes and bedforms might have on the magnitude of the transport is not fully understood. This study explores sorting processes and their influence on the magnitude and mode of aeolian transport by using sediment tracers. Sand was painted in different colors according to particle size and placed on a supratidal beach in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Several experiments were conducted with varying wind
Vast coastal stretches around the world rely on dunes for flood protection. At the same time, the protection level of many dune systems can be undermined due to coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and greater population densities. To enhance dune building processes and the growth of coastal dunes, nature-based solutions, such as multi-purpose sand nourishments, are increasingly being implemented. However, the performance of the nourishment projects in terms of dune growth do not always match the expectations due to unforeseen supply-limiting factors (Hoonhout and de Vries, 2019). Sediment on a beach should be within a site-specific range of grain sizes to be available for pick up by the wind and deposition in the dunes. However, the grain-size characteristics do also influence several other supply-limiting factors, e.g., surface moisture, crust development, and beach slope, making nourishment design complicated. The process-based model Aeolis has been developed to predict aeolian transport rates considering several supply limiting factors. In this study, we introduce a new surface moisture functionality in Aeolis and demonstrate how the model can be used to optimize nourishment designs with respect to dune build-up. A number of test cases are presented to illustrate how grain size, sorting, and beach morphology are influencing aeolian transport rates.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/K_eiZ5kPk2g
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.