iCOASST – integrating coastal
sediment systems
James Sutherland
HR Wallingford
the iCOASST project
• Four year R&D project funded by Natural
Environment Research Council (NERC) and
supported by Environment Agency (EA)
• Runs from 2012 to 2016
• Coordinated by University of Southampton
The iCOASST team
Organisation
PI & researchers
University of Southampton
Robert Nicholls, Justin Dix
University of Oxford
Jim Hall, Andres Payo
UCL
Jon French, Helene Burningham, Gillian Thornhill
Swansea University
Dominic Reeve, Harshinie Karunarathna
University of Manchester
Peter Stansby
NOC, Liverpool
Alex Souza, Jenny Brown
HR Wallingford
James Sutherland, Richard Whitehouse, Jonathan
Simm, Paul Cleverley, …
BGS
Michael Ellis, Andy Barkwith, Martin Hurst
Subcontractors
Cardiff University, Royal Haskoning and CCO
iCOASST objective
• The objective of this programme is to improve
our capability to predict long-term and
regional scale change on the coasts and in our
estuaries in the UK.
iCOASST approach
• To develop, integrate
and implement a
hierarchical modelling
framework.
iCOASST system map
• Systems mapping to
characterise the
relationships between
coastal landforms and
interventions
– Exchanges of sediment
– Influences
iCOASST System Map
Hierarchy of
• Landform complexes
• Landforms
• Interventions.
Identifies sediment
pathways and
influences
iCOASST System Map
Maps can be analysed
• Common linkages
• Determines range of
behavioural models
• Helps to identify
feedback.
• Used to develop
consensus and
understanding of coast
as a system
iCOASST behavioural landform models
• A new generation of
behavioural landform models
– capable of coupled
application at regional scales
– to resolve key feedbacks
between climate forcing,
sediment supply,
morphology, erosion and
flood risk
iCOASST behavioural landform models
• NERC’s proposal stated that:
‘Community modelling’ lies at the heart of model-based
science that seeks to understand environmental dynamics
at a system level.
An OpenMI-coded modular format should be used to
develop the concept of ‘community modelling’.
Generic cliff model
iCOASST behavioural landform models
• Used for modelling scenarios
• Multiple runs to give a range
of outputs
• Anticipate likely range of
outcomes
• Influence coastal
management
iCOASST coastal area models
• Coastal area models
– Quantitative analysis of
sediment pathways
– Particularly large-scale
exchanges of fine
sediment
– supported by empirical
analyses of shelf
bathymetry and substrate
iCOASST
http://www.icoasst.net/
J.sutherland@hrwallingford.com