Coasts and Estuaries: The Future provides valuable information on how we can protect and maintain natural ecological structures while also allowing estuaries to deliver services that produce societal goods and benefits. These issues are addressed through chapters detailing case studies from estuaries and coastal waters worldwide, presenting a full range of natural variability and human pressures. Following this, a series of chapters written by scientific leaders worldwide synthesizes the problems and offers solutions for specific issues graded within the framework of the socio-economic-environmental mosaic. These include fisheries, climate change, coastal megacities, evolving human-nature interactions, remediation measures, and integrated coastal management. The problems faced by half of the world living near coasts are truly a worldwide challenge as well as an opportunity for scientists to study commonalities and differences and provide solutions. This book is centered around the proposed DAPSI(W)R(M) framework, where drivers of basic human needs requires activities that each produce pressures. The pressures are mechanisms of state change on the natural system and Impacts on societal welfare (including well-being). These problems then require responses, which are the solutions relating to governance, socio-economic and cultural measures (Scharin et al 2016). - Covers estuaries and coastal seas worldwide, integrating their commonality, differences and solutions for sustainability - Includes global case studies from leading worldwide contributors, with accompanying boxes highlighting a synopsis about a particular estuary and coastal sea, making all information easy to find - Presents full color images to aid the reader in a better understanding of details of each case study - Provides a multi-disciplinary approach, linking biology, physics, climate and social sciences

Coastal Zones and Estuaries is a component of Encyclopedia of Environmental and Ecological Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources which is part of the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme deals with important links of water, sediment, and nutrients between continents and oceans. The present behavior of sea level, ice sheets, and coral reefs is still a matter of controversy and concern. Coastal experiences learned in developed countries should be used to improve coastal policies world wide. Within the Global Change Programme, it is recognized that the earth system is characterized by critical limits and abrupt changes. The coastal systems are particularly sensitive to these changes. This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students, Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers and NGOs.

Egyptian coastal lakes and wetlands are among the most productive wetland ecosystems in the world. This volume explores their current status and how it can be maintained and improved. It describes the five Northern coastal lakes, their origin, physical and chemical properties and current development activities, and discusses the challenges facing these lakes, such as shrinking, pollution, degradation, and adaptive management. Further topics include hydrodynamics and modeling techniques, as well as strategies for the sustainable development of these valuable resources. The book closes with a concise summary of the conclusions and recommendations presented in the chapters. As such, it offers an invaluable resource for the academic community and postgraduate students, as well as for environmental managers and policymakers.

Climate change is having an increasing impact on coastal, estuarine, and marine environments worldwide. This book provides state-of-the-art coverage of climate change effects on estuarine ecosystems from local, regional, and global perspectives. With editors among the most noted international scholars in coastal ecology and estuarine science and contributors who are world-class in their fields, the chapters in this volume consist of comprehensive studies in coastal, estuarine and marine sciences, climate change, and coastal management and provide an extensive international collection of data in tabular, illustrated, and narrative formats useful for coastal scientists, planners, and managers. Comprised of three sections: (1) physical-chemical aspects; (2) biological aspects; and (3) management aspects, the book not only examines climatic and non-climatic drivers of change affecting coastal, estuarine, and marine environments but also their interactions and effects on populations of organisms, communities, habitats, and ecosystem structure and function. Pulling together today’s most salient issues and key literature advances for those concerned with coastal management, it allows the reader to see across direct and indirect interactions among disciplinary and ecosystem boundaries. Climate Change and Estuaries meets the research needs of climate scientists, estuarine and marine biologists, marine chemists, marine geologists, hydrologists, and coastal engineers, while students, professors, administrators, and other professionals will also find it an exhaustive reference.

A stunningly illustrated atlas of the world’s rivers, estuaries, and deltas, and their ecosystems From the Congo and the Mekong to the Seine and the Mississippi, Earth’s rivers carve through landscapes before coursing into the world’s oceans through estuaries and deltas. Their inexorable flow carries sediment and more, acting as lifeblood for a variety of ecosystems and communities. More than any other surface feature of Earth, rivers, estuaries, and deltas are vitally important to our economic and social well-being, and our management of them often sits at the sharp edge of today’s most pressing environmental challenges. The World Atlas of Rivers, Estuaries, and Deltas takes readers on an unforgettable tour of these dynamic bodies of water, explaining how they function at each stage of their flow. Combining maps and graphics with informative essays and beautiful photos, this invaluable reference book will give you a new appreciation for the power that rivers, estuaries, and deltas wield. Features a wealth of color photos, maps, and infographics Brings together invaluable perspectives from leading experts Describes the rich biodiversity associated with the world’s rivers, estuaries, and deltas Explains how rivers, estuaries, and deltas work, from river networks to deltaic floodplains, and sheds light on the erosion, movement, and deposition of sediment Describes the anatomy of rivers, estuaries, and deltas, from channel geometry and river planforms to estuarine shape and delta morphology Examines the ecology and ecosystems of rivers, estuaries, and deltas and how humans interact with these environments Additional topics include damming, climate change, water use, pollution, resource management, and planetary health, as well as future perspectives on these vital landscapes

Approx.470 pages

Coastlines, like many things around us, are constantly evolving. Keeping pace with the changes and their development is necessary to ensure their stability and to maintain eco-equilibrium for nearshore hydrodynamics and morphodynamics. Supported with field measurements for model validation, several numerical and analytical tools are available to us to understand the physical processes in the vicinity of these water bodies.This book encompasses the engineering principles involved in field data observation, measurement, collection, and processing; the prediction of wave climate and sediment transport using measured field data; numerical modelling involving calibration and validation of the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes; and the study of the underlying physical processes and the application of sustainable engineering measures to combat coast- and estuary-related problems.The book has three sections: The first section is an elaboration on the need for and framework of the existing management and engineering notions. The second section details the measurement of the various parameters such as wave climate (offshore and nearshore), shoreline changes, beach profile variation, and sediment transport rates. The third section describes the aspects of wave prediction to arrive at design characteristics and modelling of the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes along open coasts and tidal inlets.This book is designed to benefit students pursuing coastal engineering as their field of specialization. It could also serve as a guidebook to engineers, planners, and decision makers working in the fields of coastal, estuarine, and harbour engineering, governmental and private agencies that plan the financial outlay for coastal development projects, and private consultants dealing with maritime hydraulics.