New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences - New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences - page 72

for human occupation of coastal environments (Feagin et al., 2010); and to consider
the role of human adaptation in scenarios of future coastal change (Nicholls and
Cazanave, 2010).
Technical and methodological advances are also shedding new light on coastal
processes. Methods that were in their infancy a decade ago, such as Acoustic Doppler
Current Profilers (ADCPs), have matured to the point where they are now available as
off-the-shelf technology. Near-shore currents were previously measured at discreet
points that were interpolated and modeled to infer the flow field. The advent of
ADCPs allows true three-dimensional flow fields to be measured for the first time
and is leading to significant advances in coastal science. These technical advances
and coupled ecogeomorphological-economic models represent first steps in what
must be a transdisciplinary effort among scientists studying coastal processes and
ecosystems, engineers, economists, and other social scientists to address the pressing
problems facing coastal environments. Advances in coastal sciences would be
accelerated by a dedicated NSF initiative that integrates physical, chemical, and
biological processes with human activities and their interconnections across coastal
watersheds, into the coastal zone, and beyond to the near-shore zone. This effort will
necessarily involve several GEO divisions but is most naturally led by EAR because
the majority of processes in question are solid-earth processes.
Figure 2.22 Aerial photo comparison of developed ( right images ) and undeveloped
( left images ) sections of a barrier island response to Hurricane Katrina. While areas
on Dauphin Island, Alabama, covered by native vegetation ( left ) appear to have been
less impacted by overwash than developed areas ( right ) during Hurricane Katrina,
Feagin et al. question whether the decrease in erosion and overwash was due to the
direct effects of vegetation cover or to the presence of higher coastal dunes that was
indirectly built through vegetation interactions with wind-blown sediment transport
processes. As noted by Feagin et al., the answer has important management
implications. SOURCE: Feagin et al. (2010).