Thesis: Ribble Estuary

Sample Thesis Paper

The shoreline displacement and the severe impacts on the coastal morphology of western France secondary to increased intensity of waves and winds have been discussed by Regnauld et al (2004). Dingler and Reiss (2002) studied the significant impacts of two major El Nino storms in 1982-83 and 1997-98 on the shoreline of Monterey Bay, USA. Nine beaches were profiled between 1983 and 1998 revealing serious beach erosion, coastal cliff retreat, and sand loss from coastal dunes, as well as extensive damage to coastal structures along the study area. Robertson et al (2007) measured coastal erosion across Panama beaches as a response to Hurricane Ivan using five airborne laser data sets. His study concluded that Hurricane Ivan caused 16 m of landward shoreline erosion across the study area and similar erosion in subaerial beach volume. Although the shoreline position recovered by 10m in the 20-day period following the hurricane, no recovery in the subaerial beach volume was observed.

Van der Wal et al (2002) studied the major physical changes at the Ribble Estuary in Northwest England following reclamation of land for agriculture, sand extraction from the estuary for industrial purposes and major engineering works such as channel dredging. Ground survey data, aerial photographs, LIDAR data and digitised bathymetric chart data were used in this study which showed that the Ribble Estuary has undergone significant accretion over the last 150 years. Andriotis (2003) studied the morphological changes occurring on the coastal landscape of Crete, Greece drawing historical data from mass-developed coastal resorts in Crete. This paper highlighted that the development of tourism on the island of Crete post World War II, has imposed a new morphology on the coastal landscape. Man-made hard engineering structures built to protect seafront from erosion and coastal developments from storms and tides remain an area of controversy amongst coastal scientists. Many articles in the literature have advocated that human intervention along the coastlines aiming to defend near shore infrastructure from waves and storms cause erosion and accretion.

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