CoastalME version 1.0: a coastal modelling environment for simulating decadal to centennial morphological changes

Payo, Andrés, Favis-Mortlock, David, Dickson, Mark, Hall, Jim W., Hurst, Martin David, Walkden, Mike J. A., Townend, Ian H., Ives, Matthew C., Nicholls, Robert J. and Ellis, Michael A. (2016) CoastalME version 1.0: a coastal modelling environment for simulating decadal to centennial morphological changes. Geosci Model Dev. Discuss, 2016. (doi:10.5194/gmd-2016-264).

Abstract

Modelling coastal morphological changes at decadal to centennial time scales is required to support sustainable coastal management world-wide. One approach involves coupling of landform-specific components (e.g. cliff, beach, dunes, estuaries, etc.) that have been independently developed. An alternative, and novel approach explored in this paper is to capture the essential characteristics of the landform-specific models using a common spatial representation within an appropriate software-environment. In the proposed Coastal Modelling Environment (CoastalME), change in coastal morphology is formulated by means of dynamically linked raster and geometrical objects. A grid of raster cells provides the data structure for representing quasi-3D spatial heterogeneity and sediment conservation. Other geometrical objects (lines, areas and volumes) that are consistent with, and derived from, the raster structure represent a library of coastal elements (e.g. shoreline, beach profiles and estuary volumes) as required by different landform-specific models. As a proof-of-concept, we illustrate the potential capabilities of CoastalME by integrating a cliff-beach model. We verify that CoastalME can reproduce behaviours of each individual landform-specific model. Their integration within the framework of CoastalME reveals behaviours that emerge from landforms interaction and which have not previously been captured, such as the influence of the regional bathymetry on the local alongshore sediment transport gradient. This is the first step of the framework development, which provides an alternative to directly coupling existing models.

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Contributors

Author: Ian H. Townend

Author: Robert J. Nicholls

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