This text will deal with fundamental coastal processes and landforms at undergraduate to MSc level, but a strong emphasis on the effects of climate change, and ways of coping with these through coastal management and engineering, will be maintained throughout (i.e., not dealt with in a chapter at the end). This constitutes a main difference with existing coastal texts, which focus solely on the physical aspects of coastal environments (e.g., Trenhaile, 1997, Coastal Dynamics and Landforms; Haslett, 2000, Coastal Systems; Bird, 2000, Coastal Geomorphology; Masselink and Hughes, 2003, Introduction to Coastal Processes and Morphology; Woodroffe, 2003, Coasts: Form, Processes and Evolution; Davies and Fitzgerald, 2004, Beaches and Coasts). There are several coastal texts that are somewhat similar in approach to the proposed text, but these are out of date and limited in scope (Carter, 1988, Coastal Environments; Viles and Spencer, 1995, Coastal Problems; French, 1997, Coastal and Estuarine Management).
There are two other main differences between the proposed text and existing coastal texts:
· This will be an edited text with specialist authors contributing chapters to produce the necessary breadth and to ensure that the most up-to-date material is covered.
· At least a third of the material will be presented in self-contained ‘Boxes’:
o Climate change – Specifically addressing climate change predictions and consequences (2 boxes per chapter)
o Concepts – Difficult concepts (equations) and measurement/analysis methods for advanced readers (3 boxes per chapter)
o Case Studies – Well documented case studies covering management and engineering (3 boxes per chapter)
