Physical characteristics of estuaries and coasts – A synthesis

This chapter provides an introduction to Volume 2 of the Second Edition of the Treatise, which deals with the physical aspects of coastal and estuarine sciences and provides summaries of up-to-date knowledge and understanding of all the relevant processes. These include water, solute and sediment transport, and geology and geomorphology related to estuaries and the coastal zone. The first few chapters are concerned primarily with buoyancy and its consequences for circulation and include topics such as stratification, turbulence, estuarine circulation, surface fronts, plumes, and mixing. Subsequent chapters consider barotropic and wind-driven motions, especially tides, winds, and waves. Coastal and estuarine interactions, incorporating river plumes on the shelf and coastal oceanography, microplastics, biological interactions and sediments and particularly hydrodynamic interactions with biota and sediments. Measurement and modeling techniques for estuarine and coastal waters and issues to do with storm surge are also covered. This Volume also includes information contained in Volume 3 of the First Edition, covering aspects of relevance to geology and geomorphology, including sandy beaches, tidal mud flats, or rocky coasts and in a range of latitudes from the tropical to polar shores. A key theme of these chapters relates to the scientific understanding of climate change, and the associated coastal responses, from a physical point of view.