Sandy dunes protect the hinterland from coastal flooding during storms. Thus, models that can efficiently predict dune erosion are critical for coastal zone management and early warning systems. Here we develop such a model for the Dutch coast based on machine learning techniques, allowing for dune erosion estimations in a matter of seconds relative to available computationally expensive models. Validation of the model against benchmark data and observations shows good agreement.

The combination of seawalls and vegetation may be the key to Guyana's survival against rising water levels; however knowledge about the system behaviour and use of vegetation is inadequate. This paper comprises the first dataset since the 1970s along the Guyana coastline. Instruments were deployed to capture data on the water levels, waves and sediment locally. Data revealed the ways in which sediment is transported and deposited, as well as the wave damping of the mangrove–mudflat system.

Overtide is a shallow water tidal component and its interaction with astronomical tides induces tidal wave deformation, which is an important process that controls sediment transport. We use a numerical tidal model to examine overtide changes in estuaries under varying river discharges and find spatially nonlinear changes and the threshold of an intermediate river that benefits maximal overtide generation. The findings inform management of sediment transport and flooding risk in estuaries.

We investigate sources of uncertainty in coastal flood risk assessment in São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island developing state. We find that, for the present-day scenario, uncertainty from depth damage functions and digital elevation models can be more significant than that related to the estimation of significant wave height or storm surge level. For future scenarios (year 2100), sea level rise prediction becomes the input with the strongest impact on coastal flood damage estimate.

The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale (SKIM) monitoring mission is a proposal for a future satellite that is designed to measure ocean currents and waves. Using a Doppler radar, the accurate measurement of currents requires the removal of the mean velocity due to ocean wave motions. This paper describes the main processing steps needed to produce currents and wave data from the radar measurements. With this technique, SKIM can provide unprecedented coverage and resolution, over the global ocean.

Creating estuaries in the laboratory has been challenging. When the ebb and flood currents are driven by ebb and flood in the sea, they are too weak to move sand. Here we describe how the periodic tilting of an entire experimental set-up leads to ebb and flood currents with similar behaviour as in nature and with enough strength to move sand. This means that this novel set-up now allows for the creation of estuarine landscapes in experiments.