Dune Restoration

In general, weather forecasting has been significantly developed at a large scale and, joined with statistical techniques, is used to predict at a local scale. However, there is no way to propagate winds between two nearby locations; this is a spatial transference, for example, for the waves. After studying coastal dunar systems affected by winds, we have proposed a way for the spatial propagation of wind for scales under 10 km. The proposed transference is based on local data, and it is developed in an easy and accurate way by different regression methods and the wind profile theory. The aim of this article is to establish a methodology for achieving a wind transfer function for local applications. For this purpose, we analyzed and compared data from a field experiment and from a nearby weather station. A combination of the wind profile and statistical downscaling technique formed the basis of this research, which leads to transfer equations for wind speeds and directions. To clari...

In general, weather forecasting has been significantly developed at a large scale and, joined with statistical techniques, is used to predict at a local scale. However, there is no way to propagate winds between two nearby locations; this is a spatial transference, for example, for the waves. After studying coastal dunar systems affected by winds, we have proposed a way for the spatial propagation of wind for scales under 10 km. The proposed transference is based on local data, and it is developed in an easy and accurate way by different regression methods and the wind profile theory. The aim of this article is to establish a methodology for achieving a wind transfer function for local applications. For this purpose, we analyzed and compared data from a field experiment and from a nearby weather station. A combination of the wind profile and statistical downscaling technique formed the basis of this research, which leads to transfer equations for wind speeds and directions. To clari...

Coastal dune habitats have been declining globally over the last several decades due to rapid urbanization. Within remaining dune systems, dune fixation has resulted in further losses of mobile dunes with negative impacts on their associated species. Some studies suggest vegetation removal can initially promote habitat heterogeneity, and increase availability of suitable habitats for psammophile, xeric and endemic mobile dune species, but longer-term responses are generally unknown. We investigated the temporal trends of four taxonomic groups to determine the effect of vegetation removal on dune assemblages over a 12-year period at an LTER site. Three different forms of removal are investigated here—removal in a grid form on fixed dunes, removal of the wind-facing slope vegetation on semi-fixed dunes and opportunistic off-road driving on disturbed dunes. Results were varied across taxa, highlighting the need for multi-taxa monitoring in conservation and restoration management. Overa...

Geomorphologies tend to categorize dunes into three major states (mobile, semi-stabilized and stabilized) based on their shape and mobility rate. However, the ecologists try to find bio-indicators that can characterize the mobility rate and the ecological features of the various dune states. Unfortunately, there are limited numbers of significant bio-indicators, if any. The aim of our study was to develop a Dune Assemblage Index (DAI) in order to indicate the affinity of annual plants and arthropods assemblages to dune mobility. The DAI values range between 0 for stabilized dunes and 1 for bare and active dunes. The index was calculated for 10 coastal dunes in Nizzanim nature reserve, located at the southern part of the Israeli Mediterranean coast, from data that were collected in the years 2006 and 2007. Generally, the lower the vegetation cover is, the higher are DAI values for both taxon groups. Generalist species tend to mask the differences between active and stabilized dunes whereas psammophiles (sand-dwelling species) tend to increase the DAI values. Additionally, the DAI may differ among dunes with the same perennial coverage due to differences in the spatial plant distribution patterns. Likewise, the DAI depends also on the distance of the dunes from rural areas, which encourage invasion of generalist species, thus decreases the DAI value. This new defined spatial index that relies on plant and animal assemblages, rather than on individual bio-indicators, can be adapted to any taxon and dune ecosystems. The use of several taxons may support better understanding of the ecosystem state of the dune.

The northwestern coast of Cadiz (Spain) presents a variety of coastal engineering and coastal management problems whose solution is not an easy task due to the complexity of the parameters involved. Two cases of dune zone management in this a rea are described in this paper. Punta Candor beach, a very popular recreational area in Rota municipality, experiences one of the highest dune erosion rates in Spain of more than 1 m/yr. In order to address this coastal degradation, the Atlantic Andalusian Coastal District has performed beach and dune restoration planning, described in this paper as an example of sustainable coastal management. The Valdevaqueros dune area also represents an

Close range digital photogrammetry, which involves the application of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), has been used in a growing number of diverse applications across different scientific disciplines. Our objective was to use the mentioned method in the survey of the contemporary geoecological conditions of the coastal area on the example of Portuguese northwest coastal zone. The coastal zone can be subdivided into two geomorphological sectors: Sector 1, between the Minho River and the town of Espinho, where the coastal segments consist of estuaries, sandy and shingle beaches with rocky outcrops, and Holocene dune systems. The estuaries and the foredunes in particular are very degraded by human activities; and Sector 2, between Espinho and the Mondego Cape, where coastal lagoons and Holocene dune systems occur. We chose two beaches for surveying-Aguçadoura and Ramalha to which the drone swinglet CAM took the photos. We used the ground control software eMotion 2 to plan the flights over the study area and controlled the drone's trajectory during flight. After processing the obtained images in the program of AgisoftPhotoscanPro, we generated the 2D orthophotos and 3D digital elevation models (DEM) of the research sections. At this stage of study we derived the above product without using the ground control points, or we used only the camera GPS data. Based on these models the compilation of the large-scale maps of high resolution (1cm-5cm) will be possible in the GISs for monitoring and management of the geoecological state of the mentioned beaches in case to precise the x, y and z values of the models with the geodetic device of Differential GPSs in the selected ground control points (GCP).

The northwestern coast of Cadiz (Spain) presents a variety of coastal engineering and coastal management problems whose solution is not an easy task due to the complexity of the parameters involved. Two cases of dune zone management in this a rea are described in this paper. Punta Candor beach, a very popular recreational area in Rota municipality, experiences one of the highest dune erosion rates in Spain of more than 1 m/yr. In order to address this coastal degradation, the Atlantic Andalusian Coastal District has performed beach and dune restoration planning, described in this paper as an example of sustainable coastal management. The Valdevaqueros dune area also represents an

The Cassino Beach is a low-lying coast with high inundation susceptibility in southern Brazil. To map this vulnerability, a low cost alternative to the increasingly employed fine-scale remote sensing is the employment of a digital camera coupled with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). However, this was only achieved through the adoption of photogrammetric principles and computational advances of structure-from-motion (SfM) algorithms. The study objectives were: a topographic reconstruction of the Cassino beach; an accurate digital terrain model (DTM) generation from the dense cloud classification; and inundation maps based on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change using the bathtub approach. The primary input of the inundation model was a DTM with spatial resolution of 0.1294 m and an RMSE elevation of 0.0607 m. The high-resolution and vertical precision were appropriated to the bathtub approach, with the mapping identifying the exposed areas with the drowning potential correctly connected to the source. The inundation maps revealed that: in the 2046-2065 RCP scenario, the urban drowned area has varied between 37 and 41%; in the 2081-2100 RCP scenario, the urban drowned area has varied between 51 and 73%; and in the 2100 RCP scenario, the urban drowned area has varied between 54 and 82%. The bathtub modeling shows that low-lying coasts are highly susceptible to sea-level rise effects, and the use of UAV-SfM technology in the production of topographic data was suitable for the study area.

Background/Question/Methods For the last 3 decades, the western-Negev dunes system undergoes a stabilization process in which shifting dunes gradually become stable and covered by biogenic soil-crust, due to the lack of soil-breaking agents, such as Bedouin activity (trampling, grazing, wood collection). Consequently, we are currently loosing the important shifting-sand habitat as well as the overall habitat heterogeneity of the entire landscape. In turn, the structure and composition of the faunal communities inhabiting the dunes, including the psammophilic rare and endemic species, change. In order to reactivate Aeolian activity on the dunes and subsequently restore the shifting-sand habitat, in June 2010 we broke the biogenic soil-crust and partially removed vegetation on extensive area on 8 different dunes, each having a manipulation and control plot. We monitored changes in the physical environment and the response of reptiles, rodents and ground beetles to these changes. Resul...

Coastal sand dunes are highly dynamic aeolian landforms where different spatial patterns can be observed due to the complex interactions and relationships between landforms and land cover. Sediment distribution related to vegetation types is explored here on a single ridge dune system by using an airborne hyperspectral and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing dataset. A correlation model is applied to describe the continuum of dune cover typologies, determine the class metrics from landscape ecology and the morphology parameters, and extract the relationship intensity among them. As a main result, the mixture of different vegetation types such as herbaceous, shrubs, and trees classes shows to be a key element for the sediment distribution pattern and a proxy for dune sediment retention capacity, and the anthropic fingerprints can play an even major role influencing both ecological and morphological features. The novelty of the approach is mostly based on the synergisti...

Intertidal zone is not only an important marine ecosystem but also serves as a buf er zone to minimize the impact of natural disasters such as storms and coastal erosion on the interior land. To study the intertidal zone, the topographic map of the intertidal zone is of great importance. However, with the specific geographical location, the establishment of topographic maps of intertidal zone is very dif icult if applying traditionalsurveying methods. Unmanned aerial vehicle with low flight altitude, flexible flight ability can overcome the limitations of traditional measurement methods in making the intertidal topographic map.
In this paper, we present the approach of using unmanned aerial vehicle in intertidal topographic mapping. Our method focuses on selecting the optimal timing for flight to determine the extent and topography of the intertidal zone. The orientation element of the image is determined by satellite positioning technology combined with the IMU system in order to overcome the limitation of the ground control arrangement in intertidal zone. We then evaluated the results of the intertidal topographic mapping using drone technology

Dune management along developed coasts has traditionally focussed on the suppression of the geomor-phic dynamics of the foredune to improve its role in sea defence. Because a stabilized foredune acts as an almost total barrier to aeolian transport from the beach, the habitat diversity in the more landward dunes has degraded. With the overarching objective to mitigate this undesirable loss in biodiversity, dune management projects nowadays increasingly intend to restore aeolian dynamics by reconnecting the beach-dune system with notches excavated through the foredune. Here, we use repeat topographic survey data to examine the geomorphic response of a coastal dune system in the Dutch National Park Zuid-Kennemerland to five notches excavated in 2012–2013 within an 850-m stretch of the 20-m high established foredune. The notches were dug in a V-shape (viewed onshore), with a width between approximately 50 and 100 m at the top, a (cross-dune) length between 100 and 200 m, and excavation depths between 9 and 12.5 m. The 1 Â 1 m digital terrain models, acquired with airborne Lidar and UAV photogrammetry, illustrate that during the 3-year survey period the notches developed into a U-shape because of wall deflation, and that up to 8-m thick and 150-m long depositional lobes formed landward of the notches. Sand budget computations showed that the sand volume of the entire study area increased by about 22,750 m 3 /year, which, given the 850-m width of the study area, corresponds to an aeolian input from the beach of approximately 26.5 m 3 /m/year. Between 2006 and 2012 all wind-blown beach sand deposited on the seaward side of the foredune; since 2013, the notches have caused 75% of the sand to be deposited landward of the foredune. This highlights that the notches are highly effective conduits for aeolian transport into the back dunes. Future monitoring is required to determine for how long the notches will stimulate aeolian dynamics and if (and when) vegetation eventually starts to regrow and enforces the degeneration of the notches.

The Valdevaqueros dune is located at one of the windiest points of Europe, where the frequent occurrence of strong easterly winds has generated a highly mobile dune. Several rotating cup anemometers in vertical array and a self-designed vertical sand trap, were placed to retain the drift sands at different heights over the surface in order
to determine theoretical and actual sand transport rates in the Valdevaqueros dune system. General results show that 90% of the wind-blown sand is transported within the first 20cm above the dune crest surface. Theoretical transport rates based on different empirical formulae were 0.33 to 0.78 times the in-situ sand transport rate detected, which was 2.08·10-2kgm-1s-1 under moderate wind power (mean speed ranging from 8.4 to 17.9ms-1). Analysis of different statistical grain-size parameters helped to understand sand transport distribution at different heights.

While there have been many studies of Michigan coastal dunes, few studies have focused on the interactions between dune management and human impacts. This project investigates how management actions affect the unmanaged trails on the North Beach Dune, a large parabolic dune in Ottawa County, MI. In 2004, the dune was advancing towards an important access road at 0.67 m/year; subsequently the managers implemented a combination of stabilization strategies including installing sand fences, extending the elevated boardwalk, planting vegetation, and constructing signs limiting access to the dune. In Fall 2012, we examined the characteristics of the unmanaged trails to evaluate whether the management efforts were successful, leading to a more stabilized dune. We mapped all of the unmanaged trails on the dune using GPS. We also measured the width of the unmanaged trails and the density of vegetation near the trails. We compared photographs from 2007, 2009, and 2011 to look for changes. Our results showed an increase in the number of unmanaged trails, but a decrease in trail widths. This stabilization of the unmanaged trails contributes to the stabilization of the entire dune. The highest trail density occurred in the area of the dune where the pre-2007 boardwalk ended; this suggests that visitors climbed over the railing at the end of the boardwalk. We conclude that the severity of the unmanaged trails has lessened since the management efforts have been implemented on the dune. Our study shows that management can successfully reduce human impacts in the form of unmanaged trails on a coastal dune.

While there have been many studies of Michigan coastal dunes, few studies have focused on the interactions between dune management and human impacts. This project investigates how management actions affect the unmanaged trails on the North Beach Dune, a large parabolic dune in Ottawa County, MI. In 2004, the dune was advancing towards an important access road at 0.67 m/year; subsequently the managers implemented a combination of stabilization strategies including installing sand fences, extending the elevated boardwalk, planting vegetation, and constructing signs limiting access to the dune. In Fall 2012, we examined the characteristics of the unmanaged trails to evaluate whether the management efforts were successful, leading to a more stabilized dune. We mapped all of the unmanaged trails on the dune using GPS. We also measured the width of the unmanaged trails and the density of vegetation near the trails. We compared photographs from 2007, 2009, and 2011 to look for changes. Our results showed an increase in the number of unmanaged trails, but a decrease in trail widths. This stabilization of the unmanaged trails contributes to the stabilization of the entire dune. The highest trail density occurred in the area of the dune where the pre-2007 boardwalk ended; this suggests that visitors climbed over the railing at the end of the boardwalk. We conclude that the severity of the unmanaged trails has lessened since the management efforts have been implemented on the dune. Our study shows that management can successfully reduce human impacts in the form of unmanaged trails on a coastal dune.