CMAR - Coastal Marine Applied Research: Projects

Report to support analytics related to Sea Level Rise and Coastal Change for the Maldives

• Literature review of sea-level rise, erosion and coastal flooding impacts on the Maldives, and potential adaptation strategies (referred to as the ‘Literature Review’).
• Sea-level rise and coastal impacts for the Maldives: review of existing findings, gaps and roadmap for getting toward an information system that enables effective adaptation decision making (referred to as the ‘Road Map’).

Satellite Remote Sensing Assessment of Historical Shoreline Change

• Summary of state-of-the-art developments in satellite-based shoreline detection.
• Development of a methodology for satellite-derived shoreline extraction.
• Critical assessment of the applicability of satellite remote sensing to inform site management decisions.

Coastal Processes Assessment for Hunterston B Power Station

• Systematic scoping analysis of available data.
• Site visit.
• Review of reports and projection studies relevant to the site.
• Assessment of baseline coastal processes at the site including hydrodynamic characterisation and morphological response.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

• Characterisation of the sediment size distribution of five key shingle beaches located around Wales.
• Application of Digital Grain Size Analysis methodology.
• Assessment of future sources for nourishment.

Lower Otter Restoration Project: post-breach survey

• Mapping of subtidal and intertidal areas of the Lower Otter.
• Analysis of morphological response of channels post-breach for habitat creation scheme.
• Shallow water bathymetry and UAV surveys.

B-Scan: Beach bed-level Scanner

• Proof-of-concept design for autonomous bed-level measurements.
• Stand-alone sensor providing remote measurements of beach fluctuation in front of sea defences.
• Daily profile data to improve accuracy of overtopping forecasts.
• B-Scan can aid beach management operations when beach ‘trigger’ levels are reached.

“Almost anywhere with a Beach Management Plan (BMP) could benefit from this technique, particularly when it can be linked to specific trigger points as defined in the BMP, which automatically feedback alerts to a user base.” Martin Davies, Environment Agency

Beach hazards operational forecasting

• Analysis of ten years of lifeguard incident records.
• Field measurements of rip currents on two Auckland beaches.
• Numerical modelling of rip current hazard under varying wave and tide conditions (X-beach).
• Analysis of environmental forcing of beach hazards including rip currents.

“Our increased understanding of beach hazards, has ensured that SLSNZ can effectively communicate the dangers of rip currents and wind conditions to the general public.”

Feasibility study for intertidal habitat creation scheme

• UAV topographic survey, in situ tide measurements.
• Analysis of tidal flows and hydrodynamic model analysis.
• Quantification of inundation rates and habitat colonisation.
• Proposal of scheme options.

Boscastle 'Mole' hydrodynamic study

• Determine the effect of the harbour ‘Mole’ on hydrodynamics.
• In situ measurement of wave climate around harbour structures.
• Numerical modelling of waves and hydrodynamics within the harbour.
• Model comparison with and without the presence of the harbour Mole.

“CMAR was the perfect organisation for this project. The research has delivered tangible results which we can use to inform our management of this property in the face of future climate change.” 

Geomorphological assessment of the gravel barrier at Westward Ho! 

• Assessment of geomorphological processes at Westward Ho! 
• Impact of storm events on the gravel barrier.
• Assessment of current management practices.
• Prediction of gravel barrier behaviour given projected climate change impacts.

“This report has provided us and others with robust evidence to base future positive coastal management decisions on. The monitoring and data presented has helped advance the understanding of this feature and what likely change will happen in future epochs.”

Coastal cliff retreat study

• Assessment of historic coastline positions from historic mapping.
• Response to relative sea level rise.
• LiDAR analysis of contemporary cliff response.
• Prediction of future cliff position under future sea-level rise scenarios.

“Many thanks for your expert, comprehensive and fast response to my request, I'm very grateful to you for turning the report around so quickly.” 

Beach hazard assessment and expert witness services

• Assessment of beach morphology and associated bathing hazards.
• Investigation of forcing conditions (wind, waves, tide, and currents).
• Spatial and temporal mapping of key hazards.
• Expert witness statements for coroners inquests.

Chiswell Storm flood analysis

• Historical Flood Event Analysis.
• Analysis of in-situ groundwater data.
• XBeach-G model simulations of storm events.
• Development of flood ensemble criteria using forcing conditions.

‘‘The work produced by CMAR was well presented and considered excellent value for money. It has enabled the Environment Agency to better understand the flood impacts at Chiswell, improve our incident management training and provide the evidence base to improve our flood forecasting criteria.’’

Coastal Processes Impact Assessment for Ireland’s ‘Westwave’ Wave Energy Test Site

• Assessment of background wave climate and coastal processes.
• Numerical modelling of nearshore wave conditions and tidal currents.
• Numerical modelling of wave energy converters and potential wave shadow.
• Numerical modelling of beach morphology under an altered wave climate.

Mapping of Exmouth seafront using shallow water vessel and single beam echo sounder

• Single beam bathymetric survey for 400m section of seafront.
• Specialist shallow survey vessel used to overlap with intertidal data.
• Data provided for coastal sea defence.

Evaluation of waves and water levels in the Tamar estuary  

• Compute design wave and water levels in the Tamar estuary.
• Hindcast fetch- and depth-limited historic wave time series from wind data.
• Compute maximum wave runup and still water level in the estuary.
• Conduct Extreme Value Analysis (EVA) on wave height and total water level.

Mapping of nearshore current circulation around Ventnor Haven entrance

• GPS drifter study of nearshore currents.
• Analysis of contrasting wave and tide conditions.
• Quantification of current speed and flow direction.
• Data provided to help validate a numerical model.

“Great work you did there CMAR and great to work with you on such a complex issue.”

Improving SEPA’s national coastal flood hazard dataset

• Desk-based study to investigate ways to better incorporate wave setup and runup, and wind setup components in SEPA's coastal flood risk maps. 
• Review of scientific, peer-reviewed literature on coastal flood modelling.

“CMAR provided us with high quality advice with an excellent understanding of our requirements. The work was delivered on time and to a high standard. I would have no hesitation in recommending the team. Many thanks!”

Quantification of beach risk in The UK and Republic of Ireland

• Generation of an agreed list of British beaches.
• Identification and collation of relevant and feasible risk-related beach parameters.
• Statistical predictions of beach user numbers, beach hazard, and overall life risk at 644 beaches.

Topographic rip currents around coastal groyne structures

• Ten day field experiment.
• Observation from both fixed instruments (wave, tide and current meters) and GPS-drifters.
• Quantification of topographic rip currents and rip circulation patterns.
• Calibration and validation of a numerical model (XBeach).

Analysis of wave loading on sea defences

• Estimation of wave set-up at the structure from nearshore wave buoy measurements.
• Prediction of tidal elevation using a calibrated harmonic method.
• Estimation of 1 per cent exceedance atmospheric (wind and inverse barometric effect) surge statistics using tide gauge data and a Monte Carlo method.
• Weibull analysis of a peak wave height time series to predict the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 year return significant wave heights at the structure toe for different toe depth scenarios.

South Efford marsh monitoring

• Modelling frequency and duration of tidal inundation.
• Regular terrestrial laser scanning of entire salt marsh.
• Analysis of sediment and seed deposition.
• Ecological monitoring including plant survey.
• Marsh surface samples for foraminiferal analysis.

Perranporth beach bathymetry survey

• Combined supratidal and subtidal survey.
• Single-beam bathymetric survey.
• RTK-GPS topographic survey.

Assessing the performance of Boscombe artificial surfing reef

• Wave refraction modelling over the measured reef bathymetry to examine wave focusing and breaking on the reef.
• Surfer mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) data recorded during surfing sessions at the reef and the beaches next to Boscombe pier.
• Tidal height predictions, providing estimates of water level on the reef during observations.
• Observation of surfer numbers on the reef and pier beaches taken by Seafront Rangers.