South Efford salt-Marsh, Aveton Gifford, South Hams, Devon. UK

Report to support analytics related to Sea Level Rise and Coastal Change for the Maldives

Location: Maldives
Project dates: December 2023鈥揊ebruary 2024
Clients: World Bank
  • Literature review of sea-level rise, erosion and coastal flooding impacts on the Maldives, and potential adaptation strategies (referred to as the 鈥楲iterature Review鈥).
  • Sea-level rise and coastal impacts for the Maldives: review of existing findings, gaps and roadmap for getting toward an information system that enables effective adaptation decision making (referred to as the 鈥楻oad Map鈥).
Report to support analytics related to Sea Level Rise and Coastal Change for the Maldives -  Example of a Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathway (DAPP) for the Transition to Accommodation with nature Based Measures.
Example of a Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathway (DAPP) for the transition to accommodation with nature-based measures.

Satellite Remote Sensing Assessment of Historical Shoreline Change

Location: Hartlepool, UK
Project dates: August 2023鈥揓anuary 2024
Clients: EDF
  • Summary of state-of-the-art developments in satellite-based shoreline detection.
  • Development of a methodology for satellite-derived shoreline extraction.
  • Critical assessment of the applicability of satellite remote sensing to inform site management decisions.
Satellite remote sensing application for the assessment of historical shoreline evolution at the EDF Hartlepool site

Coastal Processes Assessment for Hunterston B Power Station

Location: Hunterston, UK
Project dates: July 2023鈥揓anuary 2024
Clients: EDF
  • Systematic scoping analysis of available data.
  • Site visit.
  • Review of reports and projection studies relevant to the site.
  • Assessment of baseline coastal processes at the site including hydrodynamic characterisation and morphological response.
Coastal assessment for Hunterston B Power Station

Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

Location: Wales
Project dates: November 2023鈥揓anuary 2024
Clients: Natural Resources Wales
  • Characterisation of the sediment size distribution of five key shingle beaches located around Wales.
  • Application of Digital Grain Size Analysis methodology.
  • Assessment of future sources for nourishment.
Evaluation of Welsh coastal shingle and appropriate sources of nourishment material

Lower Otter Restoration Project: post-breach survey

Location: River Otter Estuary
Project dates: November 2023鈥揗arch 2024
Clients: Clinton Devon Estates
  • Mapping of subtidal and intertidal areas of the Lower Otter.
  • Analysis of morphological response of channels post-breach for habitat creation scheme.
  • Shallow water bathymetry and UAV surveys.
Aerial image looking north over the River Otter

B-Scan: Beach bed-level Scanner

Location: West Bay, Dorset, Penzance, Cornwall, and Dawlish, Devon
Project dates: August 2019鈥揗ay 2022
Clients: Environment Agency
  • Proof-of-concept design for autonomous bed-level measurements.
  • Stand-alone sensor providing remote measurements of beach fluctuation in front of sea defences.
  • Daily profile data to improve accuracy of overtopping forecasts.
  • B-Scan can aid beach management operations when beach 鈥榯rigger鈥 levels are reached.
鈥淎lmost anywhere with a Beach Management Plan (BMP) could benefit from this technique, particularly when it can be linked to specific trigger points as defined in the BMP, which automatically feedback alerts to a user base.鈥 Martin Davies, Environment Agency
B-SCAN autonomous bed level sensor being piloted at Dawlish, Devon (left panel), with example scan data (right panel)
B-SCAN autonomous bed level sensor being piloted at Dawlish, Devon (left panel), with example scan data (right panel)

Beach hazards operational forecasting

Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Project dates: May 2018鈥揇ecember 2019
Clients: Auckland Council and Surf Life Saving Northern Regions
  • Analysis of ten years of lifeguard incident records.
  • Field measurements of rip currents on two Auckland beaches.
  • Numerical modelling of rip current hazard under varying wave and tide conditions (X-beach).
  • Analysis of environmental forcing of beach hazards including rip currents.
鈥淥ur increased understanding of beach hazards, has ensured that SLSNZ can effectively communicate the dangers of rip currents and wind conditions to the general public.鈥
Rip current behaviour and velocity simulated in XBeach
Rip current behaviour and velocity simulated in XBeach

Feasibility study for intertidal habitat creation scheme

Location: River Tamar, UK
Project dates: April 2017鈥揇ecember 2017
Clients: National Trust
  • UAV topographic survey, in situ tide measurements.
  • Analysis of tidal flows and hydrodynamic model analysis.
  • Quantification of inundation rates and habitat colonisation.
  • Proposal of scheme options.
Reclaimed saltmarsh in river Tamar, UK

Boscastle 'Mole' hydrodynamic study

Location: Boscastle, Cornwall
Project dates: October 2019鈥揗arch 2020
Clients: National Trust
  • Determine the effect of the harbour 鈥楳ole鈥 on hydrodynamics.
  • In situ measurement of wave climate around harbour structures.
  • Numerical modelling of waves and hydrodynamics within the harbour.
  • Model comparison with and without the presence of the harbour Mole.
鈥淐MAR was the perfect organisation for this project. The research has delivered tangible results which we can use to inform our management of this property in the face of future climate change.鈥
The Outer Mole, Boscastle Harbour
The Outer Mole, Boscastle Harbour

Geomorphological assessment of the gravel barrier at Westward Ho!

Location: Westward Ho!, North Devon
Project dates: December 2019鈥揓anuary 2020
Clients: Natural England
  • Assessment of geomorphological processes at Westward Ho!
  • Impact of storm events on the gravel barrier.
  • Assessment of current management practices.
  • Prediction of gravel barrier behaviour given projected climate change impacts.
鈥淭his report has provided us and others with robust evidence to base future positive coastal management decisions on. The monitoring and data presented has helped advance the understanding of this feature and what likely change will happen in future epochs.鈥
Westward Ho! Gravel barrier during a storm聽
Westward Ho! Gravel barrier during a storm in 2014

Coastal cliff retreat study

Location: South Hams, Devon
Project dates: May 2020
Client: private homeowner
  • Assessment of historic coastline positions from historic mapping.
  • Response to relative sea level rise.
  • LiDAR analysis of contemporary cliff response.
  • Prediction of future cliff position under future sea-level rise scenarios.
鈥淢any thanks for your expert, comprehensive and fast response to my request, I'm very grateful to you for turning the report around so quickly.鈥
South Devon beach coastal cliff

Beach hazard assessment and expert witness services

Location: various
Project dates: 2014鈥損resent
Clients: local councils, land owners, coroners
  • Assessment of beach morphology and associated bathing hazards.
  • Investigation of forcing conditions (wind, waves, tide, and currents).
  • Spatial and temporal mapping of key hazards.
  • Expert witness statements for coroners inquests.
Beach hazard map
Example beach hazards map

Chiswell Storm flood analysis

Location: Chiswell Beach, Portland, UK
Project dates: December 2017鈥揗arch 2018
Clients: Environment Agency
  • Historical Flood Event Analysis.
  • Analysis of in-situ groundwater data.
  • XBeach-G model simulations of storm events.
  • Development of flood ensemble criteria using forcing conditions.
鈥樷楾he work produced by CMAR was well presented and considered excellent value for money. It has enabled the Environment Agency to better understand the flood impacts at Chiswell, improve our incident management training and provide the evidence base to improve our flood forecasting criteria.鈥欌
XBeach-G numerical model of Chiswell beach
XBeach-G numerical model of Chiswell beach

Coastal Processes Impact Assessment for Ireland鈥檚 鈥榃estwave鈥 Wave Energy Test Site

Location: Co. Clare, Ireland
Project dates: August 2016鈥揙ctober 2017
Clients: Electricity Supply Board of Ireland
  • Assessment of background wave climate and coastal processes.
  • Numerical modelling of nearshore wave conditions and tidal currents.
  • Numerical modelling of wave energy converters and potential wave shadow.
  • Numerical modelling of beach morphology under an altered wave climate.
Modelled wave shadow from offshore wave energy converter array at Westwave, Co. Clare Ireland

Mapping of Exmouth seafront using shallow water vessel and single beam echo sounder

Location: Exmouth Seafront, UK
Project dates: March 2018
Clients: Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors
  • Single beam bathymetric survey for 400m section of seafront.
  • Specialist shallow survey vessel used to overlap with intertidal data.
  • Data provided for coastal sea defence.
Exemouth single beam survey

Evaluation of waves and water levels in the Tamar estuary

Location: Tamar estuary, 麻豆传媒, UK
Project dates: October 2017
Clients: Geo Consulting Engineering Ltd.
  • Compute design wave and water levels in the Tamar estuary.
  • Hindcast fetch- and depth-limited historic wave time series from wind data.
  • Compute maximum wave runup and still water level in the estuary.
  • Conduct Extreme Value Analysis (EVA) on wave height and total water level.
Tamar estuary wave rose

Mapping of nearshore current circulation around Ventnor Haven entrance

Location: Ventnor Haven, UK
Project dates: December 2016鈥揊ebruary 2017
Clients: Royal Haskoning DHV
  • GPS drifter study of nearshore currents.
  • Analysis of contrasting wave and tide conditions.
  • Quantification of current speed and flow direction.
  • Data provided to help validate a numerical model.
鈥淕reat work you did there CMAR and great to work with you on such a complex issue.鈥
Coastal Marine Applied Research -聽Mapping of nearshore current circulation around Ventnor Haven entrance

Improving SEPA鈥檚 national coastal flood hazard dataset

Location: Scotland, UK
Project dates: June 2016鈥揂ugust 2016
Clients: CREW, Scotland鈥檚 Centre of Expertise for Waters, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
  • Desk-based study to investigate ways to better incorporate wave setup and runup, and wind setup components in SEPA's coastal flood risk maps.
  • Review of scientific, peer-reviewed literature on coastal flood modelling.
鈥淐MAR provided us with high quality advice with an excellent understanding of our requirements. The work was delivered on time and to a high standard. I would have no hesitation in recommending the team. Many thanks!鈥
image courtesy of Scotland鈥檚
Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW),
and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Quantification of beach risk in The UK and Republic of Ireland

Location: Desk-based study
Project dates: October 2014鈥揓uly 2015
Client: Royal National Lifeboat Institution
  • Generation of an agreed list of British beaches.
  • Identification and collation of relevant and feasible risk-related beach parameters.
  • Statistical predictions of beach user numbers, beach hazard, and overall life risk at 644 beaches.
Quantification of Beach Risk in The UK and ROI

Topographic rip currents around coastal groyne structures

Location: Bournemouth, UK
Project dates: October 2012
Clients: Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the UK Met Office
  • Ten day field experiment.
  • Observation from both fixed instruments (wave, tide and current meters) and GPS-drifters.
  • Quantification of topographic rip currents and rip circulation patterns.
  • Calibration and validation of a numerical model (XBeach).
Topographic Rip Currents Around Coastal Groyne Structures

Analysis of wave loading on sea defences

Location: Fistral beach, Newquay, UK
Project dates: December 2014
Client: Geo Consulting Engineering
  • Estimation of wave set-up at the structure from nearshore wave buoy measurements.
  • Prediction of tidal elevation using a calibrated harmonic method.
  • Estimation of 1 per cent exceedance atmospheric (wind and inverse barometric effect) surge statistics using tide gauge data and a Monte Carlo method.
  • Weibull analysis of a peak wave height time series to predict the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 year return significant wave heights at the structure toe for different toe depth scenarios.
Do not use. Newquay wave damage.

South Efford marsh monitoring

Location: South Efford
Project dates: 2012鈥2016
Client: Environment Agency
  • Modelling frequency and duration of tidal inundation.
  • Regular terrestrial laser scanning of entire salt marsh.
  • Analysis of sediment and seed deposition.
  • Ecological monitoring including plant survey.
  • Marsh surface samples for foraminiferal analysis.
South Efford Marsh Monitoring

Perranporth beach bathymetry survey

Location: Perranporth, Cornwall, UK.
Project dates: May 2014
Client: Southampton University
  • Combined supratidal and subtidal survey.
  • Single-beam bathymetric survey.
  • RTK-GPS topographic survey.
Perranporth Beach Bathymetry Survey

Assessing the performance of Boscombe artificial surfing reef

Location: Boscombe, Bournemouth, UK
Project dates: May 2010
Client: Bournemouth Borough Council
  • Wave refraction modelling over the measured reef bathymetry to examine wave focusing and breaking on the reef.
  • Surfer mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) data recorded during surfing sessions at the reef and the beaches next to Boscombe pier.
  • Tidal height predictions, providing estimates of water level on the reef during observations.
  • Observation of surfer numbers on the reef and pier beaches taken by Seafront Rangers.
Boscombe wave

Project case study PDF