Hydrodynamic conditions of Posidonia oceanica seagrass berm formation and dismantling events.

Seagrass berms are a natural accumulation of seagrass leaves along the shoreline, which play an important role in coastal protection. Seagrass berms have been shown to reduce wave energy, helping to shield the coast from erosion. However, their protective role is debated in coastal management, where there are contrasting views on whether berms should be left in place or removed to improve beach aesthetics or accessibility.

Shoreline response to sea-level rise according to equilibrium beach profiles.

Shoreline position is a key parameter of a beach state, often used as a descriptor of the response of the system to changes in external forcing, such as sea-level rise. Changes in shoreline position are the result of coupled hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes happening in the nearshore and acting at different temporal scales. Due to this complexity, methodologies aimed at reproducing shoreline evolution at decadal time scale require many simplifications.

Ten years of morphodynamic data at a micro-tidal urban beach: Cala Millor (Western Mediterranean Sea).

Systematic and sustained high quality measurements of nearshore waves and beach morphology are crucial to understand morphodynamic processes that determine beach evolution, to unravel the effects of global warming on sandy coasts and thus improve forecasting models. In 2011 a comprehensive beach monitoring program, the first in the Mediterranean Sea, started at Cala Millor Beach on the island of Mallorca (Spain). The aim was to provide long-term datasets of near-shore morphodynamics in a carbonate sandy micro-tidal and semi-embayed beach fronted by a Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadow.