Bed level dynamics at the interface of the salt marsh and tidal flat have been highlighted as a key factor connecting the long‐term biogeomorphological development of the marsh to large‐scale physical forcing. Hence, we aim to obtain insight into the factors confining the location of the marsh edge (i.e., boundary between tidal flat and salt marsh). A unique data set was collected, containing measurements of daily bed level changes (i.e., integrative result of physical forcing and sediment properties) at six intertidal transects in the North Sea area. Moreover, various biophysical parameters were measured, such as sediment characteristics, waves, inundation time, and chlorophyll‐a levels. The data show that both bed level change and waves decreased from the lower intertidal flat toward the marsh edge and further diminished inside the marsh. However, no direct general relation was found between waves and bed level change. Bed level change inside the marsh was always small, regardless of wave energy. By combining the data sets, we demonstrate that the location of the lower marsh edge is restricted by two interacting factors: inundation time and bed level change. For vegetation establishment to withstand longer inundation stress, which slows down plant growth, more stable bed levels are required so that plants are not heavily disturbed. Conversely, to withstand more dynamic bed levels that disturbs plant growth, lower inundation stress is needed, so that plants grow fast enough to recover from the stress. The results suggest that bed level change is important in determining the position of the marsh edge.

[1] In this paper we present a detailed comparison between measured features of the Golden Gate sand wave field and the results of a nonlinear sand wave model. Because the Golden Gate sand waves exhibit large variation in their characteristics and in their environmental physics, this area gives us the opportunity to study sand wave variation between locations, within one well-measured, large area. The nonlinear model used in this paper is presently the only tool that provides information on the nonlinear evolution of large-amplitude sand waves. The model is used to increase our understanding of the coupling between the variability in environmental conditions and the sand wave characteristics. Results show that the model is able to describe the variation in the Golden Gate sand waves well when both the local oscillating tidal current and the residual current are taken into account. Current and water depth seem to be the most important factors influencing sand wave characteristics. The simulation results give further confidence in the underlying model hypothesis and assumptions.

Biological activity is known to influence sediment strength at bedewater interfaces. However, its precise effect on geomorphology and on bed composition is not known. This paper proposes a parameterization of sediment destabilizing and stabilizing organisms on three parameters that describe the erosion and mixing processes of the sediment bed, namely the critical bed shear stress, the erosion coefficient and the bioturbation coefficient. This parameterization is included in a 3D sandemud morphodynamic model to form the sandemudebio model. The performance of the sandemudebio model is demonstrated by testing it on the Paulinapolder intertidal flat in the Western Scheldt estuary of The Netherlands. Model results show that biological influences on sediment strength result in significant morphological change and bed composition variations. Destabilizing organisms always cause a significant decrease in mud content in the bed and an increase of erosion. On the other hand, stabilizing organisms can, but do not necessarily, cause an increase of mud content and additional sedimentation.

To obtain site-specific wave and wind climate averaged sand wave dynamics, we combine an idealized linear stability model with 20 years of wave and wind data taken from the Euro Platform in the North Sea. The model output results in a wave and wind climate-averaged growth and migration rate. The results show that waves and wind affect particularly migration and to a much smaller extent the growth rate. Seasonal variations in wave and wind conditions during winter and summer periods result in seasonal variations in sand wave dynamics, in particular during winter the migration rate is larger, the growth rates are lower and the preferred wavelength is larger compared to summer. Medium wave and wind conditions are responsible for two thirds of the migration rate, while these conditions occur roughly only one third of the time. Extreme wave and wind conditions result in only a moderate contribution to the migration rate. Furthermore, we see a seasonal variation in migration as well as reasonable correlation with observed migration rates for the intervals between surveys in the period 1996-2010. Our work shows that storms are able to affect sand wave migration, and cause variability in migration rate.

[1] We investigate how a local topographic disturbance of a flat seabed may become morphodynamically active, according to the linear instability mechanism which gives rise to sandwave formation. The seabed evolution follows from a Fourier integral, which can generally not be evaluated in closed form. As numerical integration is rather cumbersome and not transparent, we propose an analytical way to approximate the solution. This method, using properties of the fastest growing mode only, turns out to be quick, insightful, and to perform well. It shows how a local disturbance develops gradually into a sandwave packet, the area of which increases roughly linearly with time. The elevation at the packet's center ultimately tends to increase, but this may be preceded by an initial stage of decrease, depending on the spatial extent of the initial disturbance. In the case of tidal asymmetry, the individual sandwaves in the packet migrate at the migration speed of the fastest growing mode, whereas the envelope moves at the group speed. Finally, we apply the theory to trenches and pits and show where results differ from an earlier study in which sandwave dynamics have been ignored.