Collection 

Monitoring of coastal zones

Submission status
Closed
Submission deadline

Coastal zones are ecologically rich and diverse interface environments in which land and water interact. They contribute to Earth's biodiversity, help in climate regulation and protection from natural hazards, and support a range of economic activities; even though coastal zones constitute only 18% of the surface of the globe, they represent 80% of the marine biodiversity, provide 25% of global biological productivity, and concentrate 90% of commercial fishing activities.

As the intersection of land and sea, coastal zones - and the physical, chemical, and biological processes innate to them - are exposed to a range of natural and human-induced stressors, which can have significant impacts on their health and functioning. Additionally, these sensitive areas tend to respond to changes at different timescales (from individual events to long-term trends), and at different magnitudes, making their monitoring a demanding task.

Monitoring coastal zones is essential for the effective management and conservation of these vital ecosystems, as well as for the sustainable use of the resources they provide. While modern engineering solutions have greatly improved our ability to monitor coastal zones, remaining challenges, ranging from the lack of standardisation, to limited spatio-temporal resolution and accessibility of coastal data, to the negative environmental impact of on-site monitoring, are necessary to be addressed in order to ensure that monitoring programs are effective and sustainable over the long term.

This collection is dedicated to the latest research on the monitoring of coastal zones. We welcome engineering and computational solutions with the potential to improve the process of coastal zone monitoring, and to assure its long-term sustainability.

coastal zone

Editors

Asunción Baquerizo is Full Professor at the University of Granada where she does research in the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Group. Her interests are focused on coastal hydro-morphodynamics and risk and reliability in coastal and maritime engineering. Prof Baquerizo has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2021.

 

 

Magaly Koch is a Research Associate Professor at Boston University and a remote sensing geologist with more than 30 years of experience in applied environmental research, including groundwater resources in drylands, land degradation problems, natural hazards, and human impact in environmental change. She is particularly interested in projects addressing global water scarcity and coastal zone geohazards through an interdisciplinary approach. Dr Magaly has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2017.

 

David Menier is Full Professor in Marine Sedimentology and Geology. He is an expert in Seismic Sequence Stratigraphy, in Marine Sedimentology and Geology (both clastic and carbonate). His research is focused on the quaternary sedimentary fill from detailed process-oriented studies to large-scale work to explore how coastal and shelf systems respond to changes in quaternary relative sea level and climate. Prof Menier has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2023.

 

 

Ana Cláudia Moreira Teodoro is Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Dep. Geosciences, Environment and Land Planning (DGAOT) in FCUP, and a senior researcher at the Earth Sciences Institute (ICT). Her research interests include remote sensing, image processing, GIS, coastal zones, and geological and environmental applications. Dr Teodoro has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2022.