Dynamics of coastline changes in Mexico

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The goal of our work was to locate and quantify changes that occurred in 66% of the Mexican coastline, based on four land cover maps generated by the Mexican...     

岬湾海岸中人工岛建设对岬角涡旋及海湾地形冲淤的影响——以海南岛铺前湾为例

岬湾海岸中一般在岬角的右侧与左侧（面向大海方向）分别发育顺时针与逆时针涡流。这些涡流的存在对泥沙输运、海底地形演变、污染物扩散等都具有重要影响。而在海洋中岛屿的存在将产生局部的岛后尾流。如岛屿与岬角距离较近,岛后尾流可能与岬角涡旋相互作用,反之则相互影响较小。本文以海南岛铺前湾为例,研究在岬湾海岸中湾口处的人工岛建设对湾内涡旋的影响,并进一步分析人工岛建设对整个海湾海底冲淤变化的效应。本项研究主要采用COAWST模型进行研究。结果表明,大潮期在海湾内发育大范围的顺时针涡旋,小潮期涡旋发育不明显,以东向余流为主。人工岛建设并未影响整个海湾的涡旋结构,但人工岛分隔了湾内顺时针涡旋,且在周围产生局部的逆时针与顺时针涡旋。海底冲淤变化的基本格局为湾内以淤积为主,人工岛建设加强了这种趋势,但在人工岛与岸线之间的狭窄通道内,海底出现冲刷。本项研究对岬湾海岸的科学开发管理具有一定意义。     

台风作用下淤泥质海岸动力地貌响应

基于200509号麦莎台风(近似百年一遇)作用前后杭州湾北岸龙泉-南竹港实测的海岸地形和水文资料,利用分形技术、冲刷深度和闭合水深等相关概念分析淤泥质海岸的剖面变化、岸线进退以及地形冲淤,进而探讨海岸响应台风作用的动力地貌行为.结果表明:1)台风作用前后的海岸动力地貌过程表现为水下类似沙坝的堆积体削平、凹处填洼,水下平台发育锯齿或较小的坝--槽,海岸剖面的分维数降低,剖面坡度处于平缓;2)麦莎台风对海床的整体冲淤幅度不大,这可能是由于研究区大潮讯的增水致使波浪对海床的塑造能力减弱以及码头的遮蔽作用造成;3)台风作用对海岸的冲刷深度约为0.8 m,闭合水深为9.5 m,近岸-1 m邻近区成为海岸响应台风作用最敏感的地带;泥沙主要在0 m到闭合水深区间的海床发生纵、横向运移.     

苏北废黄河三角洲海岸时空演变遥感分析

基于遥感与地理信息系统技术,使用苏北废黄河三角洲海岸地区1978,1987和2000年的Landsat卫星遥感数据,选取岸线指标与波段,提取岸线信息,生成1978-1987年和1987-2000年海岸土地增减时空变化分布图,建立岸线变化距离及增速衡量指标,定量分析了废黄河三角洲海岸面积变化特征,以及灌河口-中山河口、中山河口-扁担港口和扁担港口-双洋河口以南岸段的时空变化格局与分布特征.研究结果表明,废黄河三角洲海岸的自然侵蚀速率呈减小趋势,但侵蚀作用仍在继续.侵蚀强度以废黄河口地区为中心,向南北两侧逐渐减弱.人工保滩护岸措施在一定程度上影响着自然侵蚀格局.其内部各岸段分别呈现缓蚀、侵蚀和基本侵淤平衡的变化格局.     

Sun and landscape orientation in adult and juvenile sandhoppers Orchestoidea tuberculata (Amphipoda, Talitridae) from two beaches in south central Chile

The behaviour of a talitrid amphipod, Orchestoidea tuberculata Nicolet 1849, was investigated for populations inhabiting two exposed sandy beaches in south central Chile to evaluate orientation capabilities with respect to sun azimuthal changes and landscape. The study beaches (Calfuco and La Misión) were backed by high cliffs but differed in shoreline orientation. Under test conditions of dry substrate, both populations oriented seawards using celestial cues when landscape vision was screened off and showed a higher concentration seawards when they could see the landscape suggesting additive effects of these cues. The absence of a phototactic response to the sun implies the involvement of an inner circadian clock, as the experiments were conducted at different times of the day. The distribution of juveniles was more concentrated than adults in the trials, a result in accordance with their tendency to occupy a zone located closer to the water than adults. Our results suggest that the Calfuco population was oriented to its shoreline, while animals at La Misión tended to deviate from the expected direction and their distribution was more scattered. This observed difference between the populations may be related to the higher human impact on the latter beach, which was more intensively used for recreation and periodically cleaned, removing the wrack. The comparison of results on orientation of O. tuberculata with those of different sandhopper species contributes new phylogenetic insight concerning this important adaptation. This study not only represents an extension of contemporary knowledge of behavioural adaptations of beach amphipods to coasts differing geographically and ecologically, but also analyses orientation in a southern Pacific species of talitrid amphipod for the first time.     

Coastal and estuarine habitat mapping, using LIDAR height and intensity and multi-spectral imagery

The airborne laser scanning LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) provides high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTM) that have been applied recently to the characterization, quantification and monitoring of coastal environments. This study assesses the contribution of LIDAR altimetry and intensity data, topographically-derived features (slope and aspect), and multi-spectral imagery (three visible and a near-infrared band), to map coastal habitats in the Bidasoa estuary and its adjacent coastal area (Basque Country, northern Spain). The performance of high-resolution data sources was individually and jointly tested, with the maximum likelihood algorithm classifier in a rocky shore and a wetland zone; thus, including some of the most extended Cantabrian Sea littoral habitats, within the Bay of Biscay. The results show that reliability of coastal habitat classification was more enhanced with LIDAR-based DTM, compared with the other data sources: slope, aspect, intensity or near-infrared band. The addition of the DTM, to the three visible bands, produced gains of between 10% and 27% in the agreement measures, between the mapped and validation data (i.e. mean producer's and user's accuracy) for the two test sites. Raw LIDAR intensity images are only of limited value here, since they appeared heterogeneous and speckled. However, the enhanced Lee smoothing filter, applied to the LIDAR intensity, improved the overall accuracy measurements of the habitat classification, especially in the wetland zone; here, there were gains up to 7.9% in mean producer's and 11.6% in mean user's accuracy. This suggests that LIDAR can be useful for habitat mapping, when few data sources are available. The synergy between the LIDAR data, with multi-spectral bands, produced high accurate classifications (mean producer's accuracy: 92% for the 16 rocky habitats and 88% for the 11 wetland habitats). Fusion of the data enabled discrimination of intertidal communities, such as Corallina elongata, barnacles (Chthamalus spp.), and stands of Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis, which presented misclassification when conventional visible bands were used alone. All of these results were corroborated by the kappa coefficient of agreement. The high classification accuracy found here, selecting data sources, highlights the value of integrating LIDAR data with multi-spectral imagery for habitat mapping in the intertidal complex fringe.     

Circulation and dispersion in a cancellate coast: The rivers,bays and estuaries of central Maine

The glacially carved central coast of Maine is incised by river systems with interconnecting channels, offshore-trending submarine ridges, and narrow passages between nearshore islands and headlands. The tidal range exceeds 3 m, leading to complex and vigorous circulation patterns with strong flows in narrow channels, near river mouths, and between islands. The spongiform coastal morphology allows enhanced exchange between offshore waters, estuaries and internecine bays, resulting in rapid dispersal of nutrients, larvae and contaminants throughout the region. A fine-grid numerical circulation model has been used to examine the influences of the tides, river flows and winds on the dispersion of lobster larvae and pollutants in the nearshore and riverine environment. This paper describes the model application, presents a few salient features of the circulation patterns, and examines some implications for the coastal environment. For example, under realistic tides and variable southwest summer winds, about 80% of neutral near-surface particles introduced near the offshore islands (a proxy for stage IV lobster larvae from offshore sources) remain within a few km of the islands over a two-week period. On the other hand, a persistent, periodic sea breeze can remove more than two-thirds of the particles from the domain over the same period. Tidal mixing disperses pollutants entering the upper Kennebec River to the offshore and through internecine passages in about one week.     

The divergent environmental characteristics of permanently-open,seasonally-open and normally-closed estuaries of south-western Australia

This study has compared the environmental characteristics of the basins and saline lower reaches of the tributaries of eight estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia, which differ in their degree of connectivity with the ocean. Although four estuaries between 115.1° and 121.8° E along that coast remain permanently open to the ocean, the others only become open when the volume of river discharge is sufficient to breach the prominent sand bars at their mouths, which occurs annually following heavy winter and early spring rainfall in some estuaries (seasonally open) and infrequently in others (normally closed). Estuaries to the west of 118.5° E are predominantly permanently open, e.g. Oyster Harbour, or seasonally open, e.g. Broke, Irwin and Wilson inlets, whereas those further east, e.g. Wellstead Estuary and Hamersley, Culham and Stokes inlets, where annual rainfall and thus discharge are much lower, only become open after exceptionally heavy discharge. In permanently and seasonally-open estuaries, pronounced haloclines and oxyclines are present in the narrow rivers but not the wide basins where the waters are subjected to wind-driven mixing. The extent of cyclical seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions differed markedly among the three seasonally-open estuaries and between years in one of those systems. These differences reflected variations in the relationship between the volume of fluvial discharge, which is determined by a combination of the amount of local rainfall, catchment size and extent of clearing of native vegetation, and the amount of intrusion by marine waters, which is largely controlled by the size and duration of the opening of the estuary mouth. The mean seasonal salinities in the basins of the three normally-closed estuaries increased over three years of very low rainfall to 64 in the deepest of these estuaries (Stokes Inlet) to 145 in Hamersley Inlet and to 296 in the shallowest estuary (Culham Inlet). These results demonstrate that the environmental characteristics of estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia differ markedly, even among those of the same type, e.g. seasonally-open estuaries or normally-closed estuaries.     

江苏吕四海岸沉积动力特征及侵蚀过程

海岸侵蚀与水动力之间有着密切的关系.基于现场调查和资料收集,探讨了吕四海岸地貌、水动力、泥沙运动以及沉积与动力之间的响应.研究结果表明,风浪和潮流是塑造吕四海岸的主要动力.风浪年内变化按向岸风频率可分为高频期(10 月至翌年 1月)、转频期(2 月、3 月和 9 月)和低频期(4～8月)三个时期.风浪高频期,潮滩冲蚀,物质粗化;低频期,潮滩淤积,物质细化;转频期,时冲时淤,动态稳定.潮流作用主要表现为输沙淤滩和侧蚀滩脚.在风浪高频期,滩脚同时受到风浪冲蚀和潮流侧蚀,向岸后退,使吕四岸段成为隐性侵蚀型海岸.岸滩塑造对沉积动力响应显著,东部处于滨岸环境,在潮流和风浪的作用下,沉积物由岸向海变粗;西部还受径流影响,处于滨岸-河口环境,物质由岸向海变细.在水动力要素中,风浪是导致岸滩侵蚀的主控动力,而潮流则是近岸泥沙进行滩槽滩槽交换和循环输运的输运动力.     

Preliminary comparison of trace metals in coastal aerosols between Qingdao and Liverpool

Aerosol samples were collected at two coastal suburban stations, Qingdao （China） in 1995-1996 and Liverpool （U.K.） in 1995, respectively. The samples were analyzed to determine the concentrations of trace metals （Cr, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Pb, V, and Cd） as well as A1, Fe and Mn. Data were examined to understand the difference of trace metals in aerosols between coastal zones downwind the developing area （near the Yellow Sea） and developed region （near the Irish Sea）. The results show that most elements at Qingdao have levels 4-5 times higher than those at Liverpool, particularly for the crust-dominated elements （e.g. Al, Fe and Mn）. Moreover, the aerosol composition at Qingdao is higher in spring than in summer, underlying the influence of westerlies and local emissions in combination, whereas seasonal change of aerosol composition is not significant at Liverpool. The enrichment factors for the crustal source elements （EFcrust） at Liverpool are much higher than those at Qingdao. The contributions from the pollutant source （Rp） for some trace metals like Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd are 〉90% at Qingdao and Liverpool, suggesting overwhelming anthropogenic contributions to these metals. The contributions from crustal source （Re） for trace metals tend to increase with higher aerosol levels and Al concentration at Qingdao, indicating a good correlation between the crust-dominated component and the air mass. At Liverpool, the Rc values for trace metals are positively correlated with Al concentrations instead of with aerosol mass, suggesting that Al in aerosols represents the crustal component even though the aerosols come from different sources.