Soft Shore Protection

Global warming, melting polar caps, rising sea levels and intensifying wave-current action, factors responsible for the alarming phenomena of coastal erosion on the one hand and adverse environmental impacts and the high cost of 'hard' protection schemes, on the other, have created interest in the detailed examination of the potential and range of applicability of the emerging and promising category of 'soft' shore protection methods. 'Soft' methods such as beach nourishment, submerged breakwaters, artificial reefs, gravity drain systems, floating breakwaters, plantations of hydrophylous shrubs or even dry branches, applied mostly during the past 20 years, are recognised as possessing technical, environmental and financial advantageous properties deserving more attention and further developmental experimentation than has occured hitherto. On the other hand, 'hard' shore protection methods such as seawalls, groins and detached breakwaters, artefacts borrowed from port design and construction technology, no matter how well designed and well implemented they may be, can hardly avoid intensification of the consequential erosive, often devastating, effects on the down-drift shores. Moreover, they often do not constitute environmentally and financially attractive solutions for long stretches of eroding shoreline. Engineers and scientists practising design and implementation of shore defence schemes have been aware for many years of the public demand for improved shore protection technologies. They are encouraging efforts that promise enrichment of those environmentally sound and financially attractive methods that can be safely applied.

This new Encyclopedia of Coastal Science stands as the latest authoritative source in the field of coastal studies, making it the standard reference work for specialists and the interested lay person. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach. This Encyclopedia features contributions by 245 well-known international specialists in their respective fields and is abundantly illustrated with line-drawings and photographs. Not only does this volume offer an extensive number of entries, it also includes various appendices, an illustrated glossary of coastal morphology and extensive bibliographic listings.

Like ocean beaches, sheltered coastal areas experience land loss from erosion and sea level rise. In response, property owners often install hard structures such as bulkheads as a way to prevent further erosion, but these structures cause changes in the coastal environment that alter landscapes, reduce public access and recreational opportunities, diminish natural habitats, and harm species that depend on these habitats for shelter and food. Mitigating Shore Erosion Along Sheltered Coasts recommends coastal planning efforts and permitting policies to encourage landowners to use erosion control alternatives that help retain the natural features of coastal shorelines.

Coast lines have been and still are the central lines of civilization around the world with still increasing pressure from both sides – the hinterland and the sea – with all its foreseeable and unforeseeable impacts by means of nature or mankind. While the response of nature to such impacts is flexible in the way that all morphological changes with all the consequences are tolerated as part of the system, humanity cannot tolerate short-term or long-term changes without being threatened in its physical and economical existence. The objectives of this Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Environmentally Friendly Coastal Structures were: - to contribute to the critical assessment of existing knowledge in the field of coastal and environmental protection; - to identify directions for future research in that area; - to promote close working relationships between scientists from different countries and with different professional experience. The latest trends in research on coastal and environmental protection were summarized and developed during the meeting. Seventeen papers are presented in this book, attempting to cover all related aspects as completely as possible – coast, engineering structures, water, sediments, ecosystems in their complicated interaction.

With today's problems surrounding shoreline protection, this book should be of great assistance. This manual contains a compilation of 2 Navy and 2 Corps manuals all relative to the subject of coastal protection and the affects tidal action has on our shorelines. The titles included are: Coastal Protection is a U.S. Navy publication which deals specifically with waves and their characteristics. In order to prepare safe designs, the normal and extreme waves which will act against the structure must be evaluated so that a design wave can be selected. Pilebuck takes the user through this phase into the application of data to actual design of breakwaters and seawalls. Storm Surge Analysis: High tides and wind-generated waves combine to provide a potential for abnormally high water levels and flooding during hurricanes or other serious storms. An understanding of this phenomena is essential in order to plan control structures or design others.

The purpose of this book is to familiarize engineers and contractors with various established methods of low cost shore protection. It is written for the individual who is knowledgeable in general civil engineering design and construction, but not a specialist in coastal engineering or shoreline protection. The methods described in this book are usually appropriate for use only in sheltered waters. That is, they are generally not intended for open coast sites where they would be exposed to the undiminished attack of large oceanic waves.