Research interests

The CCRU carries out fundamental research on coastal, estuarine and nearshore processes, landforms and ecosystems; environmental monitoring in the coastal zone; and research consultancies for both governmental and non-governmental agencies. In addition, it offers scientifically-informed advice on the sustainable management of coasts and coastal ecosystems.

Current and future research projects include:

Temperate environments

• Large scale (> 1km), long-term (> 1yr) coastal evolution
• Waves and tides in UK East Coast Estuaries
• Numerical and physical scale modelling of coastal hydrodynamic processes
• Application of remote sensing to the study of sedimentation and vegetation in the coastal zone
• Wave/tide - sediment - vegetation interrelationships in the intertidal zone
• Wave energy dissipation over intertidal surfaces
• Monitoring of foreshore recharge and salt marsh creation schemes
• Nutrient fluxes in tidal ecosystems
• Coastal settlements and flooding risk, UK East Coast

Tropical environments

• Global biodiversity in coral reefs, mangrove and seagrass ecosystems
• Large-scale space-time dynamics of coral bleaching in the western Indian Ocean
• Records of sea level change from Central Pacific and Indian Ocean corals
• Coral reef dynamics and environmental change on Cuban coral reefs
• Biogeomorphology of tropical coasts
• Fish population dynamics on coral reefs in the Seychelles