Coastal geomorphology

Abstract

This progress report presents a selective review of developments in coastal geomorphological research, and their relation to trends in geomorphology as a whole. The continuing advance of environmental monitoring technology is evidenced by the number of papers showcasing new instruments and the data sets that they can generate, especially in relation to the analysis of coastal change. As ever, some areas of research rise in prominence while others fade away, a pattern that probably owes more to the current vogue for journal special issues than any real focusing or coordination of research effort. Rocky coasts and fetch-limited shorelines feature strongly in the literature for 2009 and 2010, while a more diverse set of studies attack the problem of disaggregating temporal variability in sediment fluxes and morphology into specific process controls. Quantitative sediment budgets continue to underpin analyses of coastal change, especially those that attempt to relate erosion with human activities. Of particular interest are studies that attempt to achieve more rigorous closure of budgets through explicit treatment of onshore-offshore fluxes, and analyses that address the interplay between anthropogenic and natural forcing. More generally, there are signs that a new age of discovery is being facilitated by the worldwide coverage of aerial and satellite imagery provided by portals such as Google Earth. This has the potential to enrich the geographical context of geomorphological research, and to contribute also to classificatory and empirical studies.