Publications

An accelerating global rate of sea level rise (SLR), coupled with direct human impacts to coastal watersheds and shorelines, threatens the continued survival of salt [Read more…] about Modeling long-term salt marsh response to sea level rise in the sediment-deficient Plum Island Estuary, MA

Predicting the morphodynamics of sedimentary landscapes due to fluvial and aeolian flows requires answering the following questions: Is the flow strong enough to initiate sediment transport, is the flow strong enough to sustain sediment transport once initiated, and how much sediment is transported by the flow in the saturated state (i.e., what is the transport capacity)? [Read more…] about The Physics of Sediment Transport Initiation, Cessation, and Entertainment Across Aeolian and Fluvial Environments

The sustainability of dynamic natural systems often depends on their capacity to adapt to uncertain climate-related changes, where different management options [Read more…] about Coastal dynamics and adaptation to uncertain sea level rise: Optimal portfolios for salt marsh migration

Dry, wet, dense, and dilute granular flows have been previously considered fundamentally different and thus described by distinct, and in many cases incompatible, rheologies. [Read more…] about Local Rheology Relation with Variable Yield Stress Ratio across Dry, Wet, Dense, and Dilute Granular Flows

Worldwide, sand dunes and hard coastal structures help to minimize loss of lives and property from storm impact and flooding along or behind coastlines. Both sand dunes and hard coastal structures have their benefits and shortfalls in terms of protective capacity, cost, flexibility, and impact to coastal systems. Combining these two inherently different coastal risk reduction measures into a single hybrid system can preserve some of the individual benefits of each while creating an Engineering-with-Nature™ system that fulfills the requirements of high levels of protection, adaptability to future challenges related to climate change, sustainability, and pleasing natural aesthetics. [Read more…] about Innovative Coastal Risk Reduction through Hybrid Design: Combining Sand Cover and Structural Defenses

Subaqueous and aeolian bedforms are ubiquitous on Earth and other planetary environments. However, it is still unclear which hydrodynamic mechanisms lead to the observed variety of morphologies of self-organized natural patterns such as ripples, dunes or compound bedforms. [Read more…] about A unified model of ripples and dunes in water and planetary environments

Coastal dunes are often the first and only line of physical defense for communities subjected to damaging storms and waves. Planting vegetation on them has been proposed as one way to increase their protective capacity, but it is unknown how dune plant architecture reduces erosion. We conducted wave flume and field experiments to address this question and found that dune plants primarily reduced erosion by attenuating wave swash and run up bores with their stems and leaves, while their roots initially enhanced erosion through uprooting.
[Read more…] about The role of beach and sand dune vegetation in mediating wave run up erosion

Coastal foredunes provide the first line of defense against rising sea levels and storm surge and for this reason there is increasing interest in understanding and [Read more…] about Investigating dune-building feedback at the plant level: Insights from a multispecies field experiment

Coastal landscape change represents aggregated sediment transport gradients from spatially and temporally variable marine and aeolian forces. Numerous tools exist that independently simulate subaqueous and subaerial coastal profile change in response to these physical forces on a range of time scales. [Read more…] about Exploring Marine and Aeolian Controls on Coastal Foredune Growth Using a Coupled Numerical Model

The City of Galveston is protected from extreme storm impact by a 17-km concrete seawall facing the Gulf of Mexico. Recent studies have shown that the seawall may not be sufficient to protect against a 100-year design storm. Since raising the seawall disconnects the city from the beach and may be very costly, a hybrid approach is explored in which the existing hard structure is fronted and covered by a layer of sand. [Read more…] about XBEACH SIMULATION OF HYBRID COASTAL PROTECTION: A GALVESTON SEAWALL TEST CASE