Coastal and river dynamics

At the end of this course, the student:

1. has acquired a generic understanding of the natural and human-induced factors, processes and morphological features that determine the system behaviour of fluvial (rivers), estuarine and coastal sedimentary systems;
2. can distinguish between the various spatial (sediment particles to landscapes) and temporal scales (seconds to centuries) associated with fluvial, estuarine and coastal behaviour and can determine which scales are relevant to a specific situation;
3. can apply approaches, methodologies and tools for fluvial and coastal research and can discuss their applicability in solving applied and scientific research questions;
4. is able to individually analyze and evaluate cause-effect relationships including process-landform feedbacks in fluvial and coastal case studies;

The course contributes to the following transferable skills: 

1. Problem-solving skills: application of conceptual, empirical, analytical and numerical tools to fluvial and coastal problems;
2. communication skills: produce individually written reports (on exercises, papers and case study) in English, where results are presented in graphs and illustrations, and findings are linked back to knowledge on fluvial and coastal dynamics. Present main finding(s) and convey key message to a specific audience;
3. using peer-reviewed literature: acquiring skills to study and extract information from peer-reviewed journal publications and assess the quality and reliability thereof 
4. systems thinking: linking between small-scale, short-term processes (e.g. sediment transport under waves) and larger scale, longer term forms and behaviours (e.g. infilling of a tidal basin), identifying positive and negative feedbacks and, in relation to scales of interest, identification of relevant initial and boundary conditions.

A series of (in part pre-recorded) lectures will provide the theory, terminology and methodologies in studying fluvial, estuarine and coastal dynamics. Tutorials and scientific papers will help put the material from the lectures into practice, by developing skills in applying the major concepts and principles. Discussion in class will clarify these matters.

The second part of the course focusses on developing skills to interpret and analyse data from field measurements and (lab and numerical) experiments and discuss these within the context of the system dynamics of fluvial, estuarine and coastal landscapes. For this, students will write a report on data and observations from a case study. Students will provide and receive peer-review on preliminary versions of reports and will share their work during short presentations. This course is complementary, and well-linked to, the other courses in this direction.