Extreme Events in Coastal and Offshore Environments (IAHR_4_S2)

Topic

Coastal areas and offshore environments are vulnerable to extreme weather events, related to climate change, as well as multiple anthropogenic impacts, due to the development of human socio-economics. As a result of climate change, it has been acknowledged that extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, river floods, storm surges, and marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and frequent. At differing time and spatial scales, these will interact with diverse ocean processes, including waves, tides, ocean currents, and river runoffs; and furthermore, they will influence coastal sediment dynamics. To understand that, continuous, regular, and sustainable coastal and offshore monitoring actions and studies are required. High-quality data, cutting-edge technology and in-depth analyses are strongly advisable to predict and quantitatively analyse both the short-term changes and long-term evolution of the coastal and offshore environments. In order to address the possible driving forces for evolution, resilience, and even regime shifts in coastal systems, it is crucial to understand how extreme weather events, and inherent uncertainties, should be managed for resilient navigation infrastructures and for sustainable coastal development. This session will focus, thus, on the role of extreme weather events in both long- and short-term changes to coastal ocean processes, including hydrodynamics, sediment transport, scour phenomena at offshore foundations, and ecological processes, as well as adaption and monitoring measures to realize the goals of sustainable development, analysing possible causes of either local or global nature.