CHAPTER 28
Constructing a Geomorphological Database of Coastal Change Using
GIS
J. Raper, D. Livingstone, C. Bristow, and T. McCarthy
ABSTRACT: Coastal systems are amongst the most dynamic in geomorphology and
the most troublesome for environmental managers and civil engineers. This is because
their landform and process regimes are characterised by rapid change over the short
term (days and weeks) - making them difficult to predict and manage over the medium
term (periods of months and years). Although there has been significant progress in
the understanding of nearshore processes and landforms on low depositional coasts
over the last 20 years (Carter 1988), physical models have proved difficult to extend
from the timescales of a single tidal cycle to the multi-year prediction periods required
by environmental managers and engineers. By monitoring actual morphological
changes and correlating them with real energy inputs from waves and tides it has been
possible to study the nature of medium term change directly by exploring the
correlations of energy input and morphological change. Birkbeck College and Babtie
Group are currently employing both strategies in parallel in a study of the
morphodynamics of spits and nesses on the East Anglian coast of England as part of
the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) sponsored Coastal Area
Modelling for the Long Term (CAMELOT) programme. This chapter aims to show
how data on morphodynamics can be collected at the coast and how such data can be
integrated for a holistic analysis. Examples of preliminary work in this area will be
presented from spit morphodynamic data at Scolt Head Island on the North Norfolk
coast
399
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-lnformation Systems, 399–413.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Constructing a Geomorphological Database of Coastal Change Using
GIS
J. Raper, D. Livingstone, C. Bristow, and T. McCarthy
ABSTRACT: Coastal systems are amongst the most dynamic in geomorphology and
the most troublesome for environmental managers and civil engineers. This is because
their landform and process regimes are characterised by rapid change over the short
term (days and weeks) - making them difficult to predict and manage over the medium
term (periods of months and years). Although there has been significant progress in
the understanding of nearshore processes and landforms on low depositional coasts
over the last 20 years (Carter 1988), physical models have proved difficult to extend
from the timescales of a single tidal cycle to the multi-year prediction periods required
by environmental managers and engineers. By monitoring actual morphological
changes and correlating them with real energy inputs from waves and tides it has been
possible to study the nature of medium term change directly by exploring the
correlations of energy input and morphological change. Birkbeck College and Babtie
Group are currently employing both strategies in parallel in a study of the
morphodynamics of spits and nesses on the East Anglian coast of England as part of
the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) sponsored Coastal Area
Modelling for the Long Term (CAMELOT) programme. This chapter aims to show
how data on morphodynamics can be collected at the coast and how such data can be
integrated for a holistic analysis. Examples of preliminary work in this area will be
presented from spit morphodynamic data at Scolt Head Island on the North Norfolk
coast
399
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-lnformation Systems, 399–413.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.