Onshore-Offshore Geophysical and Remote Sensing Techniques for the Study of the Coastal Environment

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal areas are strongly affected by natural and anthropic impacts. This is the alarming forecast of a growing number of scientists and environmental NGOs. Among these impacts, sand depletion is due to reduced fluvial sediment supply and sand mining. Sand is, in fact, a vital commodity for our modern economies, since it is used in a number of applications, such as houses, skyscrapers, bridges, airports, etc., and represents the most widely consumed natural resource on the planet after fresh water. Several factors contribute to the disappearance of many beaches all over the world, including sediment traps constituted by artificial damming, uncontrolled sand mining, and the combined effects of global sea-level rise and land subsidence.

Apart from political considerations, understanding natural and anthropic variables which control erosion vs. deposition in the coastal environment is a fundamental step toward preservation of such important ecosystems, which involves a combination of investigative approaches, such as biology, physical and chemical oceanography, and geology. The starting point of each of these studies is the knowledge, at different levels of accuracy, of the sediment–water interface. Morphology and acoustic reflectivity changes of the seafloor are the fundamental variables for describing the status of the system and monitoring its evolution. The main characteristic of coastal areas is the extremely shallow bathymetry and the high lateral variability of bottom types, controlled by geological/biological factors, such as mean grain-size of the sediments, erosional or diagenetic levels, presence of bioconstructional features, etc. Additionally, subsidence induced by natural and anthropic causes, such as withdraw of water, oil, and gas, is an important, rapidly evolving factor in the instability of coastal zones. Although under particular circumstances, remote sensing mapping in coastal areas can be achieved using satellite or aerial surveys, conventional sonic/ultrasonic soundings are still more accurate, because remote sensing techniques are restricted to shallow, clear water areas, with small changes in bottom types and free from atmospheric contamination. A combination of remote-sensing, geodetic, and conventional geophysical surveys could be an ideal approach to this particular problem. However, acquisition of bathymetric and seismic reflection data in shallow water is difficult because the average depth is often below the limit of conventional echo-sounders and boat accessibility, and noise due to waves and turbulence in the water column strongly affect the quality of the measures. In this way, the first few meters of water depth, the most dynamic in term of erosional and depositional processes, are less investigated. The introduction of an autonomous system for carrying out repeated geophysical surveys of coastal areas, in conjunction with remote sensing techniques, would provide an interesting opportunity to collect high-resolution data in coastal areas, opening the doors to repeated (4D) surveys.

In this Special Issue, we collect multidisciplinary contributions from scientists dealing with the study and monitoring of coastal areas, including geodetic measures, offshore–onshore geophysical prospections, remote sensing techniques, as well as innovative technological improvements to provide continuous monitoring and collect 2D, pseudo-3D, 3D, and 4D (repeated in time) data from these important environments.

Dr. Luca Gasperini
Dr. Nicola Cenni
Prof. Dr. Claudia Romagnoli
Guest Editors

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• coastal areas
• sediment erosion vs. deposition
• geophysical surveys
• acoustic and ultrasonic soundings
• geodetic measures
• autonomous/automatic monitor and data acquisition
• pseudo-3D, 3D and 4D (repeated) surveys