Comments on ‘Modelling the morphodynamic impact of offshore sandpit geometries’ by Roos et al. (2008)

Abstract

This brief comment of Roos et al.'s [Roos, P.C., Hulscher, S.J.M.H. & de Vriend, H.J., 2008. Modelling the morphodynamic impact of offshore sandpit geometries. Coast. Eng. doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2008.02.019] paper is aimed at supporting the validity of idealized process-based models as a valuable tool for the design of sand pits. The discussion moves from a brief description of the capabilities of an already existing idealized process-based model [Blondeaux, P. and Vittori, G. 2005a Morphological development of shallow sand pits. Proceedings 29th International Conference Coastal Engineering 2004, World Scientific (Jane McKee Smith ed) ISBN 981-256-995-2 pp. 2581–2593; Blondeaux, P. and Vittori, G., 2005b. Flow and sediment transport induced by tide propagation: part 2: the wavy bottom case. J. Geophys. Res., Vol. 110, No. C8, C08003] which can predict the morphological time development of sand pits. Then, the differences between Blondeaux & Vittori's model and Roos et al.'s model are analysed to give to the potential user an idea of the range of applicability of the different models, also in relation to practical applications.