Integrated Numerical Models in Coastal Areas: An Example of Their Application in the North Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed considerable developments in the field of integrated numerical models used for simulating dynamic processes in coastal areas, that can now provide quantitative support to decision makers for questions such as erosion and coastal vulnerability. Improvements in various theoretical formulations and an on-going increase in computing power (alongside the growing availability of long-term observations and numerical output from meteorological and sea-state models) allow the implementation of high-resolution and long-term applications.However, the efficient use of these numerical tools is a function of their capacity to describe a variety of physical processes that are ‘integrated’ amongst themselves correctly. Indeed, from the air-sea interface to the turbulent mixing of water masses and the water-sediment interaction, integrated numerical modelling has to face a series of scientific and practical challenges still open. Examples include the non-linear interaction of waves and currents, the problem of turbulence, the modelling of resuspension and sediment-transport processes, the role of longperiod waves in generating beach and dune erosion. Dealing with these using numerical models is necessary for a variety of reasons, from protecting the coast to search-and-rescue activities and support for marine construction work of all types.