Abstract
Woody debris is ubiquitous in coastal waters, and on shorelines proximate to forested regions. Logs and driftwood play a vital role in coastal and global ecosystems, and can provide valuable data to support studies of oceanography, geomorphology, ecology, history and archaeology. There is growing interest in the role that woody debris can play in nature-based coastal engineering solutions. However, large quantities of woody debris in coastal waters can pose significant hazards to communities, infrastructure, navigation and ecosystems. Thus, the changing abundance and distribution of coastal driftwood, driven by factors including human activities and climate change, has potential for both positive and negative consequences. A better understanding of coastal driftwood fate and transport processes is needed to inform management practices, uses, and sustainable ecosystem management. To date, research on physical transport of woody debris, has been concentrated on tsunami and inland (riverine) environments, where spatiotemporal scales and driving processes are significantly different from typical climatic or even extreme (storm) conditions in coastal waters. In this paper, we describe a series of scale physical model experiments, conducted to provide insight to debris transport processes in coastal waters under a range of controlled wave and water level conditions. The experiments were conducted in a 50.4-metre by 29.4-metre wave basin, in which a 1/30 scale model of a natural shoreline comprised of a shallow fringing reef, a sandy shoreline, and several small coastal structures (groynes and breakwaters) was constructed. Wooden dowels and tree branches, scaled to replicate the size distribution of woody debris observed on Pacific Northwest shorelines, were released in the model. Despite some limitations (e.g., model scale effects), the experimental test results provided several valuable insights to factors affecting debris mobility in coastal areas. The results will inform the parameterization of important physical processes in a numerical model being developed to predict the fate and transport of woody debris in coastal waters.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/hvBHZVObDhY
Highlights
Woody debris is abundant in coastal waters and on shorelines around the world
Driftwood is of interest to researchers in a variety of fields, providing data to support studies of oceanography, geomorphology, ecology and human occupation (Steelandt et al 2015)
Driftwood has traditionally been used for firewood, tools and construction (Lepofsky et al 2003, Alix 2005)
Summary
Woody debris is abundant in coastal waters and on shorelines around the world (Thiel and Gutow2005). Woody debris is abundant in coastal waters and on shorelines around the world Logs and driftwood play a vital role in coastal and global ecosystems, providing habitat, structure, nutrients, and carbon storage (Gonor et al 1988, Kennedy and Woods 2012, Grilliot 2019). The distribution of driftwood on shorelines can provide insight to historical water levels at sites where gauged records do not exist, or are discontinuous There has been renewed interest in driftwood and logs for use in sustainable energy supply (Bartocci et al 2017) and as components of nature-based shore protection schemes (Wilson et al 2020)
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